The week I became a bestselling author

One year ago today I became a bestselling author.

That seems like a pretty cut-and-dried statement, but as with everything else in life, it seems there are degrees of bestsellerdom. The top of the heap, maybe, would be occupying a spot on the New York Times bestseller lists.

I've never done that. In all likelihood, never will.

At the bottom of the heap, maybe, would be occupying a spot on the list of bestselling titles of a tiny publisher nobody has ever heard of.

I've never done that, either, and have no intention of ever doing so.

So in the universe of "bestselling" authors, I'm somewhere in between the two extremes. But I still get goosebumps when I think about the fact that a year ago today, my thriller, THE LONELY MILE, blasted into Amazon's Top 100 overall paid bestseller list, eventually peaking at #21.

I wrote the 21st bestselling book at Amazon out of the millions of books available at the world's most prolific bookselling site.

I don't say this because I'm boasting. I'm not. It's actually just the opposite - I still have a hard time believing the events of last February actually happened, despite the fact I can remember them like they took place just last week. I'll never forget them.

The book had been released the previous summer by StoneHouse Ink, and despite our best efforts, sales had languished at around thirty a month, give or take. Other authors, I'm sure, can relate. There are a lot of books out there, all seeking readers. Most of those books will never find any.

In mid-January I asked Aaron Patterson at StoneHouse about the possibility of taking advantage of Amazon's new Kindle Select Program and making the book free for a couple of days. I thought we might give away a couple of hundred copies and take advantage of the resulting exposure, maybe selling a few extra copies when we started charging again for the book. What did we have to lose?

THE LONELY MILE went free on February 2 and within hours had zoomed to Number One on the free list, where it stayed for nearly three full days. By the time we ended the free promotion, we had given away 46,000 copies and gotten invaluable exposure.

On February 5, one year ago today, THE LONELY MILE returned to its regular price of $2.99 and began selling at an incredible rate. By the end of the day we had broken into the Top 100 paid list at Amazon. Over the course of the next three days we sold eight thousand copies, a rate that would probably disappoint Lee Child but which completely flabbergasted me.

On the afternoon of February 7, which was a Thursday and the third day of incredible sales, I made the comment to my wife that maybe this was really happening, that maybe we had crossed some invisible threshold and my name was finally going to become recognizable, a key aspect when it comes to selling books.

The entire last three days I had been holding my breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop and for sales to dry up. They never did. Then I made that comment to my wife, and right on cue, sales began slipping.

It took a few more days to drop out of the Top 100, and for the entire month of February we ended up with over 12,000 sales, my best sales month ever by far and one I'll never forget.

A year later, THE LONELY MILE still sells the most consistently well of all my titles, and that's cool. It's a book I'm extremely proud of and a damned good story, if I do say so myself.

I'll never forget the week that made me a bestselling author, and while I'm working hard to get back there, if it never happens I'll always remember the week (and maybe even the month) I outsold Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and so many other unbelievable authors.

Winning free stuff has never been easier

I've had a number of folks tell me I need to establish an author page on Facebook. I'm not exactly sure why I need one, but all the cool kids are doing it. Now, I've had a personal Facebook page for years, and having an author page too always seemed to be not only a duplication of efforts, but kind of self-indulgent, too.

Well I've finally knuckled under. The Allan Leverone author page is live, and now that I have it, I'm looking for readers and interested Facebookers to populate it.

So, to that end, I'm running a little promo. To qualify, all you need to do is "Like" my Facebook author page by 9:00 a.m. Friday, May 25. That's it. Just click "Like" on my author page. Do that, and you will be in the running to win one of the following:

- A signed trade paperback copy of my Amazon bestselling thriller, THE LONELY MILE. This book's sales exploded in February, reaching #21 overall at Amazon, #16 in all fiction titles, and #2 in Suspense Thrillers, behind only Lisa Gardner's CATCH ME. Scott Nicholson calls THE LONELY MILE "a taut crime drama," and it has earned a 4.2-star rating on seventy Amazon reviews.

- A signed, limited-edition mini-hardcover copy of my Delirium Books novella, HEARTLESS. This is an author promotional copy of the 19,000-word novella, of which only 150 retail-sales copies were printed, and sells for $30.00. The striking cover art was created by the amazing Daniele Serra.

- A signed, hardcover copy of NORTHERN HAUNTS. This 2009 anthology from Shroud Publishing sells at Amazon for $26.59 and includes 100 terrifying New England tales from a diverse collection of authors, including Nate Kenyon, Steve Vernon, Stephen Mark Rainey and many others. My story, "Heart and Sole," is included.

- A signed, trade paperback copy of Northern Haunts. This is the exact same book as above, except in paperback rather than hardcover. The paperback edition sells at Amazon for $18.99.

- A signed copy of the Summer 2010 issue of Needle: A Magazine of Noir. This is Issue #2 of the magazine that has quickly become a noir legend and features stories from Ray Banks, Chris F. Holm, Nigel Bird, Frank Bill and others. My story, "The Waiting," is included.

- A signed copy of the Fall 2011 issue of Needle: A Magazine of Noir. This is Issue #11 and includes stories from Keith Rawson, Stephen D. Rogers, a brand-new, previously unpublished story from the late Gil Brewer and others. My story, "The Ticket," is included.

Here's how this will work. Friday, May 25, I will draw the first winner and contact that person via Facebook message. That person will get the choice of any of the above six prizes.

Once the first winner has selected a prize, I will draw the second winner, who will get the choice out of the remaining five prizes.

We'll continue until all the prizes are given away. I'll post the selections of the winners on my author page as they are picked, and depending on how long it takes for people to pick, may take a couple of days to complete.

There you go...good luck!

Available FREE for just two days - Paskagankee

After the almost unimaginable (by me, at least) success of THE LONELY MILE in the Kindle Select Program - somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 sales after giving away over 46,000 downloads, I was chomping at the bit to enroll my new supernatural suspense novel, PASKAGANKEE, in the program as well.

No offense to all you Nook owners out there, but Amazon knows how to sell books, and for me to achieve 14,000 sales of THE LONELY MILE outside of the Kindle Select Program would have taken...well, let's just say I'm pretty sure I won't live that long, and neither will my children or my children's children.

So I approached StoneHouse CEO Aaron Patterson with the genius idea he had probably already thought of weeks ago, and he enrolled PASKAGANKEE in the program, setting up today and tomorrow, March 10 and 11, as Free days for PASKAGANKEE in the Kindle Store.

I have no idea what to expect. I know it's unlikely we will match the results of February 4, 5 and 6, when THE LONELY MILE spent the better part of two full days as the #1 Free download in the Kindle Store, and then tore up the Paid charts when we began charging for it again, but you never know unless you try, right?

Anyway, I would love to see everyone who has supported me get the chance to download this book for free. I'm proud of it, it was a long time in the making, and I think it tells a pretty cool story.

But you gotta hurry. I can't say it won't eventually be free again, but why take the chance? Download it now at the Kindle Store, and if you don't own a Kindle, don't worry, Amazon has free Kindle Apps for every conceivable device, and probably a few that haven't been invented yet. Like I said, Amazon knows how to sell books.

Thanks again for your support and I hope you enjoy PASKAGANKEE...