Thursday 9 June 2011

Kindle Publishing Success: Mark Edwards and Louise Voss Follow-up

I'm postponing Part 2 of my interview with Bobbie Darbyshire for a day or two (sorry Bobbie!) because I just had to write a follow-up to the interview I ran in two parts back in May with writers Louise Voss and Mark Edwards. (Check out Part One and Part Two). At the time they had published their dual-narrator stalker novel Killing Cupid on Amazon. They were enthusiastic, fired up, hoping for success - and aiming to follow up Killing Cupid with another thriller, Catch your Death, a pacey conspiracy thriller 'involving deadly viruses, mad scientists and robotic killers' - great stuff!

When I interviewed them, Mark and Louise had been working incredibly hard to promote Killing Cupid: and this is what it's all about when you're self-publishing. You have to let the world know, somehow, that your work is out there. That's the challenge - and they were rising to it magnificently. On 5 May, sales of Killing Cupid stood at 800 copies and they were averaging 40 sales a day. Mark said he was 'desperate to hit the top 100!'

Well, what say you to number 1 in that top 100? Yes, that's what's happened: Mark and Louise released Catch your Death and it's gone to number 1 with a bullet (or a viral bug ...). I have to say I had doubts about the wisdom of releasing their second book so soon, but it's turned out to be an astute thing to do. They've capitalised on the success of Killing Cupid, and are clearly building awareness of their 'brand'. I'm absolutely delighted for them. They are proof that this Kindle publishing approach works: I do hope they'll also bring out print copies, keeping the great covers that were designed for the e-books. And I hope that the film version of Killing Cupid comes out: the story is absolutely perfect for dramatization.

I've just checked Amazon: Catch your Death is at number 1 on the main list and on the Crime, Thrillers and Mystery list. Killing Cupid is at number 4 on the main list and number 3 on the Crime, Thrillers and Mystery list. How brilliant is that? Mark wrote for The Bookseller's futurebook blog on Tuesday, describing how Catch your Death 'went whoosh'. As of yesterday they'd sold 10,000 books and 8000 of them had been in the past week!

Respect, Mark and Louise. I couldn't be more pleased for you. All credit to you and all good wishes with your future publications! Thanks for showing us dreams really can come true and for proving what a transformative gizmo the Kindle can be.

Catch your Death on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0050X8HGG
Killing Cupid on Amazon: http://amzn.to/fnxVQY
Mark's blog: http://www.indieiq.com

3 comments:

Mark Edwards said...

Thanks so much Lorna. Its been a quite incredible week - Killing Cupid started selling about 180 copies a day around a week ago (I just had to check I hadn't got my dates mixed up, but yes it was only last Wednesday that we met up to celebrate being in the Top 40.)

Then it exploded.

Killing Cupid rose up into the 20s and Catch went into the top 100 on Friday night.

On Saturday it rocketed, overtaking Cupid sometime in the afternoon. Louise and I kept exchanging disbelieving texts. When I went to bed it was No.13.

I woke up on Sunday and it was No.9. At that point a massive wave of emotion hit me; a release after all those months of promotion - and years of dreaming. It was insane. By the evening we were no 3.

The next day we hit no 2.

Then at 5.40 I refreshed Amazon and started shaking. A bolt of adrenaline slammed into my system. We were No.1!!

I immediately phoned Louise and I've never heard someone sound so happy.

And 2 days later we are still there. Sales yesterday were unbelievable. They are almost as good today, although we are watching the Orange Prize winner approach us with alarm!

Catch Your Death is not only the biggest selling book on Kindle but the biggest selling fiction book on Amazon.

Now we just need to conquer America ;)

Thanks again for all your support over the last few months.

bobbie said...

I don't mind at all. What an amazing success story. Well done, Mark and Louise xx

Sally Spedding said...

Fantastic news for Mark and Louise, and how lucky they are to have had Lorna's support. Generous writers like her are sadly, thin on the ground.