We've had a few issues formatting the paperback version of the new "Man of War" book, For Honor We Stand for publication as a paperback. It should be available in three or four days. We apologize for the delay to all the folks out there who don't use e-readers.
In other news, the new book is succeeding beyond our wildest expectations. It is the Number 2 Amazon Hot New Release in two categories and #5 in another and is a top ten bestseller in three categories. As of this writing, it is #4 in Kindle Military Science Fiction. The new book's visibility has resulted in a boom of sales in the first book, To Honor You Call Us,, which is now a top ten bestseller in two categories and is in the next ten on the other.
Further, based on customer ratings, To Honor You Call Us is now the #12 top rated Kindle Military Science Fiction book and is #11 in Kindle War Fiction, right behind Uncle Tom's Cabin and four slots above Monsarrat's classic, The Cruel Sea, and several places above the H. G. Wells genre foundation book, War of the Worlds.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not suffering from the grandiose delusion that this means my first effort at writing fiction is actually better than these books in any kind of serious, critical, literary sense. I'm sure people will be reading Uncle Tom and The Cruel Sea long after everything written by H. Paul Honsinger has faded to obscurity, but this rating does say that the book generates a great deal of enthusiasm and approval from readers, which is what I am aiming for, anyway. I'm not trying to write anything like a "Classic of Modern Literature." Good thing, too, because I'd fall flat on my ass if I tried. What we are trying to do is write books that are entertaining. We want the reader to be engaged, to feel the anxiety and anger and relief and triumphs of our characters. These ratings say that we are succeeding in that regard. We will work very hard to get better and better at the craft of novel writing so that we can deliver a progressively better product to our readers.
This has been an exciting journey for us. We hope to entice a great many readers to come along, and that they will feel like they are sitting at the Commodore's Station as Max unleashes his next dazzling ploy against the Krag.
2 comments:
Congratulations on your overwhelming success. Really looking forward to reading your new book.
Thanks for the good wishes. Don't know about "overwhelming success" though. We're not buying Rolexes, loading up the truck, and moving to Beverly (Hills, that is). The books sales are good enough to validate our decision to focus on writing as a full-time vocation and to pay the bills. That is what we call being "commercially successful." I don't know if that is what it's called in the publishing industry, but that's where we draw the line. Anything above that is, as Max would say, lagniappe. We aspire to greater things, of course, but the focus is on writing the books, one book at a time, and making them as good as we know how to make them. Everything else about this business is just a distraction.
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