(Day 9) Today, let’s take a look at just a little of what I’m up against when it comes to discoverability…
So, I go to mighty Amazon. Did you know that their cloud is bigger than Google’s or Microsoft’s? You do now. And unlike Standard Oil, they own a national grocery store chain… “Owe my soul to the company store,” indeed…
Anyway, so I type in “New” then “Gothic” (and they were then kind enough to suggest “novels”)
Here’s what I got (reading from the top on page one):
A Gothic novel (Yay!) published on October 9, 2018 (hmmm…) To the Dictionary! Well, “new” gets you “recent” which gets you “fresh”. Now fresh is where the magic happens. With “fresh” you get “recently arrived”, “just come”, “new” and my favorite of all “not previously known”. So, say if I was looking for a new Gothic novel this past January, 2019… Oh, well, it was already known about then as well, months and months ago…
In second place, A work of NON fiction (Hey Amazon, you do know that a “novel” is a work of fiction, right??)
In third, a free-with-Kindle unlimited (one of their KDP stable of actors…) “Cozy Paranormal Mystery”
In fourth place, a May 2018 novel that could indeed have something of at least southern Gothic to it, but again, NEW??
Next was a thriller (if it had Gothic elements, it wasn’t advertised as such, at least amid my cursory check) published on April 30 2019, so at least “new,” right?
Down the page a bit we find some classics. Shirley Jackson’s dead. Not new, a priori.
And Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was made into a movie over 20 years ago…
If you are an avid reader of GOTHIC FICTION you are probably all caught up, and looking for something NEW. I have something new, something recent, something that’s just come. Please check it out.
UPDATE: My brilliant wife managed to find me on Amazon by the following Byzantine process:
Kindle store > “Gothic Fiction” > then change the “sort by” button on the top right from “featured” to “publication date” > now this will put you eyeballing eBooks coming out in 2030!? From here, you’ll have to travel back in time to our modern era, and when you get to page 13 (Hey, thirteen! At least there’s that) you’ll finally find my book… #64,079 in literary fiction, my ass!
P.S. I’d love to run a giveaway promotion, but Amazon says I’m not eligible. An author like me has to go exclusive for that and that’s just not going to happen. I always thought that public libraries were the way to go with “giveaways”, anyway. If you are intrigued, yet of limited means, please ask for my book at your local library. I am still distributing copies here locally; however, it will be some time before it is in wide circulation. If you are a librarian in the north Florida/south Georgia area and wish for a copy or additional copies (as I’ll be getting to you all sooner or later), please feel free to contact me directly.