Can You Hear Me Now?

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Just a reminder: It's okay to leave comments!

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Every now and then I check my author ranking on Amazon. Here's what it looks like for the past six months:


My author ranking

You'll probably have to click on the picture to see any detail, but it's been reasonably steady for the previous 365 days with numbers between about 30,000 (best) to 300,000 (worst). Not a bad showing for a writer that doesn't even have a book published under his own name. Everything I've done has gone into an anthology of some sort.

Most of the anthologies to which I've contributed continue to sell at a steady, though dreadfully slow, pace. These are not the ones keeping my author ranking as high as it is. Most all of it is due to one book: In Creeps the Night.

This book is a Halloween-themed horror anthology, so I was wondering why it sells at such a consistent rate, especially since it is a couple of years old now. I contributed a small story to the effort: Little Monsters. It's an okay story, but I doubt it is the major draw for this work. There are maybe 30-40 authors who have stories in this book.

While the Kindle version sells well, what appears to be the major force behind the rankings is the audio version. It is narrated by Elizabeth Phillips.

Audiobook sales for In Creeps the Night

The audiobook sales are really something special for a book with no real advertising behind it. Almost everything driving my Amazon author ranking is from this audiobook. I am very grateful for being included! Here are the current rankings for the audio version of In Creeps the Night on the US Amazon page.

US amazon rankings for In Creeps the Night

I don't know if other audiobooks are having the same success (please feel free to chime in on that), but it seems adding one to your publishing options might be wise.

That's all I have at the moment. Anyway, an hour has passed, so I have to go check my rankings again. I did say now and then...

P. S. Sadly, I make no money on the book. It is a charity anthology. But I'm okay with that.

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© 2017 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

News - In Creeps The Night Audiobook

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Coming soon! Human 76

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I was browsing through Amazon at the books in which I have stories and noticed the "cover" for In Creeps the Night didn't look quite right. The image seemed to be truncated and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized it was the cover image of an audiobook! I didn't even know one was being developed.

The audio book cover for
In Creeps the Night

Now I can hear someone read my story, Little Monsters, back to me! There's ever a sample on the page you can listen to. One warning, however. The audio file for my Android phone is rather large at about 178 MB. Might have to bump up the limit on my data plan if I download a lot away from a wi-fi connection.

When you play the audio (which seems to require headphones/earbuds), the words are highlighted as the narrator speaks. This could be useful in teaching reading. And the inflection isn't always the same as when I read it, but most of the time it's pretty close. Everyone has a different little voice in their head. I have several, but don't tell anyone.

Here's a screen shot of the audiobook page on Amazon (US). You can see the button for the sample audio playback.

They don't list the authors on here, however. Unfortunately, Amazon has a limit on the number of authors it lists even on their book web pages, but I am in the book!

Partial list of authors from a screen shot of the table of contents
showing my name included

Now I have something new to play with—and it includes one of my stories!

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© 2016 K. R. Smith All rights reserved