Scott Nicholson Blog Tour and Kindle Giveaway!!

We're so excited that Scott Nicholson is here with us today.  Read his post below to learn a bit about him and his books, as well as how to enter the awesome Kindle giveaway that he's doing with his blog tour!   As if that giveaway isn't enough, he's also doing a bonus giveaway with us.  You can win a signed copy of Thank You for the Flowers, a collection of his short stories.  To enter, leave a comment below. For an extra entry, follow us on Google friend connect. The book contest will end Monday, 11/15/10 at midnight (EST). Winners will be chosen on Tuesday.  Full details on Scott's Kindle giveaway in his blog post below!

Being “Big”
By Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/


Success for writers gets really squirrelly.

Rankings, ratings, reviews, book advances, agent names, industry mentions, peer perspectives, and so much noise noise noise that sometimes you can’t tell your place in the universe anymore. And, to judge by all the noise, your needle on the hype-meter is the sole measurement of where you are. And what you are. And who you are.

I’ve definitely had my ups and downs, both externally and internally. I went from a guy whose first book was an alternate selection of the Mystery Guild (the mail-order book club, for those who remember the pre-Kindle days), to a guy whose books went out of print almost as fast as they rolled off the press. I went from a guy with an agent at one of the Top Three agencies in the world to a guy who couldn’t even get agents to bother responding to a query.

I went from a Nobody to a Top 30 Amazon Kindle bestseller. And I’m almost certain to be a Nobody again at some point.

And I am almost certain to be exactly the same person, doing the same things, writing the same stories. That’s really the only connecting link and common denominator, besides the loyal core of readers who travel with me.

“Success” as measured by outside observers is a loaded term and attracts weird energy. When I first started self-publishing on Amazon, I’d write “reviews” of my own books, telling funny stories about the book. Someone ratted me out to Amazon—I didn’t know it was against the rules and it wasn’t like I was trying to trick anybody by pretending I was a real critic with a false name.

But even weirder was a few days ago when my wife got a notice saying HER funny reviews were being pulled. Now, no computer on earth would know she was my wife, because we have different last names, if she hadn’t said she was my wife in the review. That means there is someone, or more than one person, going around playing “Amazon cop” on me. Amazon’s message was “It has been brought to our attention…”

After my initial hilarity that someone was so lacking in usefulness as to spend time that way, I felt a little invaded. I don’t care about me, but don’t mess with my sweet little Lefthanded Puppeteer. But she said, “That’s a sign you’re succeeding. People are noticing you. They want to tear you down. That means you’re up.”

Others have told me a lot of people are watching my indie efforts and blog tour, because I am charting a crazy new course. Some will be jealous because they think I am having the success they deserve. Others will support me because they see, like I do, that more people reading good books means more people wanting more good books.

I haven’t been successful at all. What has been successful is the accumulation of book bloggers, partners like Amazon, Kindle Nation Daily, Dellaster Design, Stephen and Neil at Ghostwriter Publications, my supporters that I consider “friends” instead of “fans” or “followers,” and a handful of books into which I poured my heart and talent.

All I can do is write the next sentence as best as I can, as truthfully as I can, and hope that it reflects onto you and gives you a little joy or meaning or escape or insight. That’s what I call being “big.”

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Current 99-cent specials are As I Die Lying and Disintegration. For every book of mine that hits the Top 100 during the tour, I will throw in an extra Kindle 3 giveaway. Tell your friends. Amaze your neighbors. Shock your therapist.

Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including the thrillers Speed Dating with the Dead, Drummer-Boy, Forever Never Ends, The Skull Ring, Burial to Follow ,and They Hunger. His revised novels for the U.K. Kindle are Creative Spirit, Troubled, and Solom. He’s also written four comic series, six screenplays, and more than 60 short stories. His story collections include Ashes, The First, Murdermouth: Zombie Bits, and Flowers.

To be eligible for the Kindle DX or Kindle 3, simply post a comment below with contact info. Feel free to debate and discuss the topic, but you will only be entered once per blog. I’m also giving away a Kindle 3 through the tour newsletter and a Pandora's Box of free e-books to a follower of “hauntedcomputer” on Twitter. Thanks for playing. Complete details at http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/blogtour.htm



Don't forget to visit the other blogs on his tour for more chances to enter his giveaway!