Archives for March, 2010

Rotten Little Animals Day–Important Information!

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

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Hi! The following note is long. I understand that you may not want to read it all right away. So here’s the gist of it:

  • Everything is great with Rotten Little Animals
  • I’m halfway to my goal
  • I need your help
  • Thank you!

 

Dear Friends,

It’s been almost 6 months since the launch of my first book, ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS.  Most likely, if you are reading this, you have been a friend or a fan in some way, so THANK YOU. I greatly appreciate all the support, help, reviews, sales, and all the amazing people I have met through this experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

In the past six months, I’ve worked hard to promote ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS, and it’s really been making a difference. So far, I’ve sold over 100 copies on Amazon.com, roughly 40 more on my own, and a number of copies at different conventions. In the past year, I’ve attended Crypticon, BizarroCon, OryCon, and RadCon. Even more exciting is that people are LOVING it. I’ve gotten over 30 reviews at Amazon and rave reviews on my Rotten Little Puppet Show when people see it.

You may already know this, but ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS was published by Eraserhead Press as part of their New Bizarro Author Series. This series gives more new authors a chance to be published. Eraserhead wants to see how dedicated the new authors are, and if they can write books that sell and then actively sell those books. In order to be considered for a five-book deal with Eraserhead, one of the qualifications is that I need to sell a MINIMUM of 200 copies of ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS on Amazon.com in one year to prove I’ve got what it takes. With the current state of the publishing industry, becoming a cult sensation online, and specifically at Amazon, is one of the best ways to establish myself as an author.

As you can see, we are almost halfway through the year and I am about halfway to my goal of selling 200 copies on Amazon.com.

To kick off the second half of this year, I’m declaring April 5, 2010, ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS day. (No, I have absolutely no power to do this. I’m doing it anyway.) On April 5, 2010, ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS will be exactly 6 months old. With your help, I’d like to kick off the second half of the year in a big way, and hopefully easily and quickly make Eraserhead’s initial goal of 200 copies sold. You may ask, How can I help? If you do ask that, there are myriad ways that I’d greatly appreciate: 

  1. If you haven’t already, buy the book on or around April 5th on Amazon.com. (If we can get a number of people purchasing it on the same day, the Amazon algorithms could help to push ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS on to be advertised more by Amazon.)
  2. If you already have a copy of the book, do you have weird friend(s) who might also enjoy a copy? You could purchase it for them or talk them into it.
  3. Fan ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS on Facebook.
  4. Invite your friends.
  5. Share this note on Facebook, your blog, or anywhere.
  6. Post a link to ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS on Amazon.com on your Facebook or Myspace page. Include a glowing review.
  7. Review ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS on Amazon.com and post that review to your page.
  8. Do you have your own blog? Include a review of ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS on your blog, including the link to Amazon.com.
  9. Do you have any contacts at radio shows, tv shows, or newspapers? I’d love to talk more about ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS and Bizarro in general in more venues. Hook me up.
  10. Anything else you can think of to get the word out about my book is WIN!
  11. Let me know what you’ve done so I can thank you personally.

It’s been a fabulous year of dreams coming true for me. Thank you so much for being here with me. But this is just the beginning. There’s still much to do in order for me to ensure my future as a professional author. I truly appreciate any and all help you can give.

THANK YOU!

 Have great days,

 

 Kevin Shamel

Author of ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS

Flashing Fiction

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

dopers

Even when you write fiction, you can’t help but put some fact into your stories.

I’ve got a couple pieces of flash published online right now. Each of them has some truth to it.

The latest to hit the interwebz is, What Name Do I Give Her?  It’s at Every Day Fiction today. That’s the reason for that book cover up there about rock and roll gals. My story has one. It’s an experimental bit (I like to do that with flash) as far as style goes. See if you can tell what I mean. It’s got a lot of me in it, but not enough to make me completely crazy. Please feel free to leave a comment there, and click a star to vote. I like to show the literary folk there some bizarro fandom. Every bit of support helps.

Last week, The New Flesh published my story, Hunting J.K. It’s a joke! No one get mad at me. But even as such, it was inspired by my own little wizard wanna-be running around in a cape while I tried to write an entirely different story.

Two pieces of flash fiction in a couple of weeks, each with a rather large chunk of reality inside.

It must be some unconscious survival mechanism for my psyche. I do what I can to keep myself happy.

Like changing my hairstyle when I get the urge.

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Thanks for reading!

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Video Review of Rotten Little Animals!

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Christy Leigh Stewart, who is amazingly creative, hilarious, and all around awesome, made a video review of Rotten Little Animals today. I LOVE it. It’s hilarious. You should check this out. It’s pretty much a TRAILER for it as well as a review. Thank you, Christy!!

 

This is so awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swu_e2Ccspw

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Free Advertising

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

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A friend of mine clued me in on a special deal at an online printshop yesterday. They were giving away free printed material. Things like business cards, postcards, t-shirts, and car magnets. Yes. Those big magnets that you put on your car door if you’re a realtor, exterminator, or security guard.

Part of the deal was that I had to use stock photos and stock layouts to get the stuff for free. So I spent a while looking through their available designs. Inspiration struck.

I designed a few car magnets to get my name out there and maybe sell some copies of my book.

I’m including a few of them. There’s a whole album on my facebook profile.

What do you think of my ads?

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lightning2

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pizza2

realestate2

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shield2

urine2

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Do you think these will work?

I’ll show you the one I’m going to drive around with and then I’m done. Come to my facebook profile for more! Have a rad day.

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Podcast of Mission Accomplished

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

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We’ve all had the pleasure of meeting missionaries at our front doors, haven’t we? I wrote a story about that, once. Recently, the folks at Every Day Fiction podcast it.

It’s a trip, hearing someone read my writing–especially a voice actor.

I’m sure it’s not the same for the rest of you, but I’ll bet it’s still trippy. To hear my take on spreading The Word (it involves gin and boobs, of course), click this upcoming link and have a listen. It’s less than five minutes long: Mission Accomplished Podcast

Many thanks to Adam Kerby for his reading skills.

Thanks for listening!

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