Bad Thoughts by Dave Zeltserman

Over 2,500 eBooks sold

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Barnes & Noble

From acclaimed author Dave Zeltserman comes a dark, captivating thriller unlike any you’ve ever seen, a killer unlike any you’ve ever imagined, and an ending unlike any you’ve ever dreamed of.

One afternoon 13 year-old Billy Shannon comes home to a living nightmare. His mother being brutally murdered is only the beginning…

20 years later, Bill Shannon is now a cop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As the twenty-year anniversary of his mother’s death is approaching, women are being murdered in the same horrific grisly fashion. And while this is going on, he’s having blackouts which only seem to be getting worse…

Everything seems to be pointing to one of two possibilities: Shannon has gone insane or his mom’s killer is back to his old tricks. Except if it’s mom’s killer, he’s come back a long way to do these new killings… all the way from the grave.

Bad Thoughts is approximately 75,000 words long.

Praise for Bad Thoughts:

"A compellingly clever wheels-within-wheels thriller. An ingenious plot, skillfully executed" Elliott Swanson, Booklist

"This fast-paced, gritty psychological tale balances the fine line between mystery and horror" Library Journal

“Bad Thoughts is an ambitious genre-bender combining the paranoia and existential dread of the best noir with a liberal dash of The Twilight Zone. Not to be missed.” Poisoned Pen's Booknews

"Dark, brutal, captivating -- this is one hell of a book, the kind of book that doesn't let go of you once you start it. Dave Zeltserman is clearly the real deal." Steve Hamilton

About the author:
David Zeltserman has over the years worked developing data communication software at some of the world's leading networking and computer companies, including Motorola, DEC, Nokia, Lucent and Cisco. He lives in the Boston area with his wife Judy, is a die-hard Patriots and Red Sox fan and when he’s not writing crime fiction, he spends his time working on his black belt in Kung Fu.

The Truth About Dating by Julie Christensen

9,366 eBooks sold over January and February 2011

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Barnes & Noble

Lifelong introvert Quinn Malone was sick of spending her evenings at home, doing crossword puzzles and watching Jersey Shore. Successful, smart, and funny, 38-year old Quinn embarks on a quest to find a man, using blind dates, speed, and internet dating to get things moving.

Quinn overcomes her shyness to suffer through dates that are so bad, they’re funny (see the chapter on hunchbacks). With the help of good friends, she successfully transitions through the seven stages of dating: excitement (I’ve still got it!); infatuation (he makes me feel beautiful); disappointment (he looks nothing like his online photo); anger (why is he online if he’s married?); fatigue (I can’t bear the thought of another date); depression (I’m going to grow old and die alone); and acceptance (dating: it is what it is). Through the triumphs and heartbreaks of dating, and of life in general, Quinn uncovers the resilient, dynamic person she’s always been. The question is, has Mr. Right been waiting in the wings all along?

About the author:
Julie Christensen is the author of Searching for Meredith Love and The Truth About Dating. A native New Yorker, she studied painting at Pratt Institute and worked briefly in advertising on Fifth Avenue before she realized that her "creative" job was sucking the life out of her soul. Julie worked as a live-in Au Pair in Brooklyn, taught preschool, and lived in Barcelona and New Mexico before finally going back to school to get her Masters in Audiology. She wrote Searching For Meredith Love while living in New Mexico. After graduation, Julie did her fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota before moving to Omaha to work at a center for pediatric audiology. It was in Omaha that she discovered how hard dating is when you are an old thirty-something. She began writing about her horrible dates to amuse her single friends and make her married friends appreciate their husbands. The Truth About Dating is based on these experiences. Julie was introduced to her future husband by an acquaintance who, after reading a draft of The Truth About Dating, realized that she knew the perfect man for Julie. One blind date led to marriage less than a year later. They now have two children, ages 2 and 3. Julie continues to paint (juliechristensen.net) and write (julielivingthedream.blogspot.com). She is currently at work on her third novel, a mystery set in Brooklyn.

Not What She Seems by Victorine Lieske

Over 60,000 eBooks sold since April 2010

Available for 99 cents from Amazon.com and Smashwords and 70p from Amazon.co.uk

Steven Ashton, a billionaire from New York, and Emily Grant, on the run from the law... and when they meet he can’t help falling for her. What he doesn’t know is that interfering in her life will put his own life in danger.

Not What She Seems holds you in suspense from the moment you begin down the path of murder and romance.

Synopsis:When billionaire Steven Ashton couldn’t stand his high society social life anymore, he left the stress of New York on a vacation for his soul. The need to meet real down to earth people lead him to a small Nebraska town he remembered visiting as a child. He didn’t want to lie about who he was, but he couldn’t exactly tell them the truth.

Emily could have easily fallen in love with Steven, under different circumstances, but her past was catching up with her and she needed a new life. If the authorities found out about her, she could lose the one thing that meant everything, her four year old son.

Not What She Seems is approximately 67,000 words long.

This book is a "sweet" romantic suspense, appropriate for all ages.

About the author:
Victorine and her husband live in Nebraska where they manufacture rubber stamps for the craft industry. They own and operate Victorine Originals Rubber Stamps from their home, where they raise their four children. Victorine has a degree in Art from BYU Idaho, and designs many of the rubber stamps they sell. She has always loved to read, and in her spare time she writes.

Four Years From Home by Larry Enright

Over 12,000 eBooks sold since October 2010

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and B&N

Good book! Very funny and definitely kept me reading to find out what happened. I was very surprised by the ending, I didnt have it anywhere near figured out! Great first novel, I will be waiting for more from him. — Joy Unger, Librarything.com

Tom Ryan — firstborn of five children in an Irish Catholic family, smart and acerbic, a cheat and a bully — calls himself the future king of the Ryans. There are other opinions. His mother calls him a holy terror. Mrs. Ioli calls the police on him. His father says that had Trouble been a saint, that would have been Tom’s middle name. But his parents, neighbors, peers, and siblings all must bow down before him or suffer the consequences. Just ask the Christmas turkey leftovers he buried in the side yard.

Harry, the youngest Ryan, was the shining star of the family. Bright, sensitive, and caring, he was protected by parental radar, called by God and Grandma Ryan to the priesthood, and was in Tom’s eyes, a brown-nosing little punk who had become a threat to his kingdom and the primary target of his search and destroy missions.

Then Harry changed. He abandoned his vocation and quit the church, and when he left for college, he left for good. He never called. He rarely wrote. His picture disappeared from the mantle. It was as if he had ceased to exist and his shining star had been but a passing comet. The enemy had retreated and Tom’s war was over.

“Four Years from Home” begins on Christmas 1972 during Harry’s senior year at college. The Ryan family has gathered without Harry for another bittersweet holiday celebration. When an unexpected and unwelcome gift arrives, the family demands answers and Tom Ryan, bully cum laude, must make a reluctant journey of discovery and self-discovery into a mystery that can only end in tragedy.

Written by the son of Irish Catholic immigrants, “Four Years from Home” redefines brotherly love in the darkly humorous and often poignant actions of its principal skeptic, Tom Ryan.

And the point of this blog is....

In a recent interview as part of an excellent series on e-publishing, Spinetingler Mag asked me the goals of this blog. I replied, "Very simple: to showcase ebooks that sell and bring them to the attention of a wider audience. I love the indie spirit and as an agent I know there are an awful lot of excellent novels that are never going to find a home in traditional publishing these days."

 

So receiving the following message recently on a Kindle forum was extremely pleasing. I've asked permission to post it here.

 

Allan, following a link on your profile I have downloaded and am reading Crack-Up by Eric Christopherson.

This is fantastic and I cannot believe I am reading a book of such quality for a few pence. It is going to be up there with one of the best books I have ever read over a great number of years. It's great of you to promote the author. It always amazes me that a book of this quality is not sold or distributed in the normal way via bookshops and writing material of this quality deserves to be showcased.

Thanks, sir!

Observations from the e-front

Some early thoughts on selling ebooks:

1: it's an impulse-driven market, particularly in the UK
2: price is paramount (see above: $2.99 works in the US but not in the UK)
3: readers don't care one iota about an author's sales track
4: Amazon doesn't care one iota about an author's sales track
5: to sell ebooks, it helps to go where readers of ebooks hang out
6: an Amazon customer review is priceless
7: Amazon know how to sell books
8: the more you sell, the more you sell
9: promotion is much more efficient and enjoyable when you have access to your sales figures
10: the US and the UK are completely different markets and it's extremely rare to do well in both

Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.

Remix by Lexi Revellian

Over 13,000 eBooks sold since August 2010

49p on Kindle, 99c on Nook and Smashwords

Caz Tallis restores rocking horses in her London workshop. When shabby but charismatic Joe and his dog turn up on her roof terrace, she is reluctantly drawn into investigating a rock star’s murder from three years before – an unsolved case the police have closed. Somebody is prepared to kill to prevent it being reopened – and is Caz's judgment clouding as she falls in love?

REMIX is a feel-good page turner, that you won't want to put down until you reach the satisfying ending.

About the author:
Lexi Revellian is a London jeweller/silversmith with a passion for writing. She enjoys novels that compel you to keep reading, with believable characters and a satisfying ending. That's the sort of book she tries to write.