'Unfamiliar Country' now at #5 in Amazon free short stories ...

My short story, Unfamiliar Country, at time of writing is at number 5 on Amazon?s free short stories bestseller list. It was set to free sometime last weekend and has downloaded over 220 copies in the last week alone, with a handful of US downloads/sales too.

It is currently 187th out of the 15,000 free books on Amazon, an achievement I didn?t think possible when I listed it. New work is being uploaded to Amazon?s Kindle platform all the time, so the danger of being lost among the piles of books is a very real one.

When viewed in category view on Amazon, it?s listed alongside Michael Faber?s Crimson Petal Stories in the paid section. His book was recently made into a fantastic BBC adaptation, so seeing my work alongside his is very pleasing, albeit it in separate categories ? Paid and Free etc ? but I still like to allow myself this little indulgence!

While making the story available for free won?t make any money in the short term, it?s gratifying to think that people are reading it, which is ultimately what a writer wants from making his or work widely available.

As to why it has suddenly become so popular as a free download is difficult to say, but I suspect a decent front cover helps enormously. The saying ?don?t judge a book by its cover? no doubt has some resonance, but I still believe the cover of a book makes a massive difference. The cover for Unfamiliar Country was designed by a good friend of mine who is a graphic designer, so I am grateful to him for giving the book a professional first impression, regardless of the content

I?m yet to receive any reader reviews on it since it went to free, and maybe people don?t readily do reviews for short stories, but it would interesting to see what some of those 220+ people thought of it.

In the meantime, if anyone knows what 35% of zero is, I?d like to know.

Unfamiliar Country ? UK
Unfamiliar Country ? US

T S Sharp is not an international best-selling author and has not sold thousands of books worldwide. He has not written several books over the years which have been translated into many different languages. He did not go to Oxford or Cambridge University, and has never worked as a journalist for The Guardian, The Observer or The Times. Nor has he ever been a senior editor at a large publishing company.

Source: http://tssharp.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/unfamiliar-country-now-at-5-in-amazon-free-short-stories-ranking/

monaco grand prix californication undefined amish yellowstone monte carlo playstation network status