I may be an Australian writer, but my sales here in Australia are usually on the low side compared to other parts of the world. Which is why I was surprised when I logged on to Amazon.com.au this morning and saw the current rankings for A White Cross Beside a Lonely Road:
Of course, Amazon rankings are transitory and mysterious, unlikely to stick unless sales are consistent and other things come together in the dark depths of Bezos’ sales portal. In fact, I’ve slipped down a spot in the time it’s taken to write this blog post because the last sale was a few hours back. Still, look, here I am at number 16 and in some pretty good company on the Australian sites’ ghost story rankings.
The ranks may be mysterious and transitory, but here’s a good rule of thumb in writing: if you wake up one morning and your short story is sitting in between Bird Box and The Exorcist on any kind of best-seller list, you take the ego boost and roll with it.
Then, of course, you move on to writing the next thing.
A White Cross Beside a Lonely Road is on sale until midnight tonight, after which it will go from the early bird fan pricing of .99 cents Us ($1.29 for Australians) to the normal $2.99 price tag for Short Fiction Lab releases.
If you’re up for helping me achieve a little local Ghost Story supremacy, and maybe tip it into the top ten, you could go pick up a copy on the cheap at the Australian Amazon Store some time before the sale ends.