Part of my morning ritual is checking my sales rankings on Amazon.  Some mornings it makes my day and others…well, let’s just say that no amount of Mountain Dew and Funyons can bring me out of my funk when my rankings are free-falling.  I’m like a yo-yo but without the cool tricks. (Not that yo-yo tricks are cool. I mean what kind of dark and mysterious writer would be interested in walking the dog or spinning his glow-in-the-dark Duncan yo-yo around the world, right?)

Right this minute Asylum Lake stands at #20,197 in the Kindle Store.  This means that exacyly 20, 196 other books are selling better than mine.  At first blush that may seem disappointing, but there’s a helluva lot of books out there. My thriller has been as high as #98 at it’s peak and as low as #35,000 during its basement period. The last month or so it has remained right about #20,000. I think it’s possible that Asylum Lake has reached it’s maximum exposure.

That being said, every time a new review goes up I see my sales rankings improve. I estimate that between paid sales and free days more than 50,000 people have downloaded Asylum Lake.  Add in print sales and there is a fairly large audience of readers who in some way, shape or form have been touched by Asylum Lake. Out of all those touches I have 89 reviews posted out on Amazon – and I am grateful for each and every one.

Some are critical reviews and comments from the world of publishing, but the vast majority are from readers just wanting to share their feedback. There was a time when a bad review would crush me. Now, I’m just happy to know that people have taken the time to read my creepy little tale.

Each review improves my status on Amazon – meaning Asylum Lake is more likely to be served as an ad or suggested read to possible shoppers. I can tweet about Asylum Lake and post endless updates into various facebook groups in hopes of enticing readers to dive in, but it’s the suggested reads on Amazon that really build traction.

So if you’ve read Asylum Lake, I thank you. Your financial and time investment in my work is very much appreciated. And, if you care anything about my health and Mountain Dew consumption, could you please post a review – no matter how brief – out on Amazon.  You know I’ll be watching.

Cheers from Bedlam Falls,

R. A. Evans