Book Signing and Updates

I’m doing a book signing this Saturday at the Layton, Utah B&N from 7-9 PM. I have totally forgotten to publicize this, so if you’re a Utahn, do me a favor and tell your friends. I’ll have copies of everything, including the just released The Grimnoir Chronicles: Spellbound.

Speaking of which, I got my Bookscan numbers yesterday. It had a pretty darn good release for a hard cover. I don’t know about making the NYT though. Keep in mind that it is calculated based on certain specific secret bookstores that report in, whereas Bookscan is a more general nationwide list that takes account of around 70% of all books sold. I sold a whole lot more books than the folks that were at the tail end of the NYT last week, but there are too many variables to guess about this week, like where they sold, and what else came out that week to compete with me.

That’s the tail end of the list. To keep things in perspective however, John Grisham sold literally 53 times as many of his new books as I sold of my newest book last week. :)  

MHA is still kicking booty even three months after it came out. Here is the Locus bestseller list:

  PAPERBACKS    
1) A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 11 2
2) A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 14 1
3) A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 11 3
4) A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra) 10 4
5) The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) 6 -
6) Monster Hunter Alpha, Larry Correia (Baen) 1 -
7) Kill the Dead, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager) 1 -
8) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 21 -
9) Empress of Eternity, L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor) 1 -
10) The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien (Del Rey) 29 -

I’m only behind George Martin and Patrick Rothfuss, the biggest name in fantasy with an awesome TV show and the most critically acclaimed guy in fantasy… This is like the 10th time I’ve been on Locus’ bestseller list. Maybe one of these days they will actually, I don’t know… do something crazy, like mention that I exist or maybe review something I wrote.  Naw…

And last but not least, about yesterday’s Book Bomb. To summarize the results.

HOLY FREAKING CRAP

Yep. Best Book Bomb EVAR.

Rob Well’s Variant shot up the charts. You can see the blow by blow in actual post as the stats updated through out the day. The Monster Hunter Nation rallied. The word was spread. A whole bunch of other authors and bloggers picked up the torch. Rob’s friends got on FB and Twitter. They harrassed their coworkers and bought extra copies for their relatives. It was CRAZY.

When I started this, I though we’d give Rob a nice little nudge. In the past book bombs I’ve been able to get people up into the top 20 of their genre. I didn’t know about this one though, because Rob was in one of the most competitive genres in the entire business. But it didn’t matter. You guys were all like, “whatever, gimme ten more copies.”

By the end of the day, Variant’s rating had improved over 10,000% to become the fastest thing moving up the charts on all of Amazon. That means Rob beat books that had just been on TV. Rob beat books whose authors had just been interviewed on national news programs.

Rob beat damn near EVERYBODY.

We got him up to #57. That’s FIFTY SEVEN out of SIX MILLION.  For one day, Rob Wells was in the top 100 books in the world. The only person ahead of him in his genre is one of the best selling series in history with a mega big movie coming out.

So our little Book Bomb beat books with massive advertising budgets, gigantic marketing pushes, TV shows, and big Hollywood movies.

Basically, we kicked serious ass.  :)

And most importantly, it gave Rob a boost. Financially, he wont’ be able to see the numbers for a week, but yesterday should have put a serious dent in his advance. Strategically, his writing is now in front of a lot of new people who will hopefully become long term fans. And morale wise, Rob knows that there are people who love him and want to support him as he gets through his trials.

Good work, Monster Hunter Nation and friends. I am honored to know you. You guys rock.

11 Responses

  1. It was an honor to take part :) I’m just wondering if there is any more we can do? I got my first copy of Variant earlier in the week and I just got to start reading it last night. And it blows The Hunger Games out of the water. Variant can be so much bigger than The Hunger Games. It has the potential. Growing up there were so many teens who complained that reading was boring because they just didn’t know about books like Variant. There are organizations that promote reading for young adults aren’t there? Maybe we should strike a deal with them.

  2. Also I’m really glad to see MHA beat Richard Kadrey. The Sandman Slim series wishes it was Monster Hunter.

  3. I know the book bomb was technically yesterday, but I saw that Spellbound is “in the mail” to Instapundit today. Someone should tell Glenn Reynolds about Variant (including sending him a copy) and that might get even more bumps for Wells. Reynolds is very good about linking to causes like this. I would do it, but I think something coming from you (since you started the bomb) would get Glenn’s attention a lot faster.

    I’ll take this opportunity to say I’m a new MH fan (holding off on getting into Grimnoir because I don’t want to be bereft of material so long before your next book comes out) and I’m getting my husband into it too via the audio books (daily long commute). We’re both loving your writing. Wish you’d come to Los Angeles for a signing.

  4. Larry,

    I looked into the long, bleak barren future of 2 Correia books per year, and knew I needed more. So I bought one yesterday, told about 5 family members, all of whom love your stuff.

    No need to thank me. Finding good books is an expensive proposition for me, and having your honest opinions helps.

    In case you haven’t realized it yet, you can add “Book Reviewer” to your resume. Thanks.

  5. I’m pretty sure I saw it at #56 right before I went to bed…

    I can’t wait to read it!

  6. I caught a couple of screenshots from amazon the next day. It was incredible. And it made me cackle.

  7. The best part is, it a really good book!! My son loves it and cant wait until the next one comes out!

  8. Pardon if this is a bit off-topic. But I wonder when the audiobook for Spellbound is going to be released ? I’m really looking forward to listen to it.

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