How My Book Reached #1 On The Amazon Kindle Charts

It's been a crazy couple of days. I've written a crime thriller called 'Run, Run, Run'. And in the last couple of days it's risen from relative obscurity to #1 most downloaded thriller on Amazon UK. Before I tell you how it happened, here's the blurb for the book:

‘Run, Run, Run’ is a crime thriller, a novel that never lets up, taking an ordinary couple into a life they could never envisage.

After giving evidence against a gangster in a murder trial, Dan Thompson is whisked away into the Witness Protection Scheme. But even that can’t protect him and his wife, Sally. Somebody knows their new identity - somebody who shouldn’t.

Frank Tong is an artist who finds inspiration for his paintings from the violence of his criminal life. When his brother is put away for murder he wants revenge. And he has a mole in the Witness Protection Scheme.

Dan and the pregnant Sally have no choice. They have to flee. They go on the run from both sides of the law.

They must learn to lie, steal, shoot and fight to survive. They can’t use their credit cards, cash machines, mobile phones - anything that will give away their location. They must constantly look over their shoulder. It’s living life like a criminal - a difficult task for two law abiding people.

What will it take to return to a normal life? How far are they willing to go?‘Run, Run, Run’ is a crime thriller that will have your heart racing and your mind buzzing.

…Sometimes to get justice, you have to run away from it…

That's what the novel is about. I believe it's a good book, of course. I aimed to write a thriller that had rounded characters the reader would care about without letting up on the pace.

But, as an independent author, it's my responsibility not just to write a good book but to get it out to people. It's tough to pull myself away from the gripping story I'm currently working on. But it has to be done.

When I first released 'Run, Run, Run', I made sure it was available in every online bookstore, including: the iBookstore, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and Amazon.

Then, a couple of months ago, Amazon began their Select scheme. Subscribers to Amazon can download books for free, whilst the author still gets a fee.

If you entered your book into the scheme, you had to withdraw it from other bookstores. I thought about this a lot before deciding to go ahead.

What swung it for me was the fact that you could also offer your book for free for up to five days, as an introduction for new readers. Plus, Amazon has the largest share of the market and, I think, is fairer to independent authors than either the iBookstore or Barnes & Noble.

'Run, Run, Run' went free on Sunday 29^th January 2012 for a couple of days. That's when the madness began. Downloads of the book gradually gained momentum, starting at 600,000 in the charts. By the end of the second day it had become the #1 thriller and #2 overall at Amazon UK, overtaking more established competition.

It was a tough decision to take it off the free list. A writer's main wish is to be read, so it's a thrill to see thousands of people choosing to read your book. I can't thank those people enough and I really hope they enjoy it. But, to keep writing a writer needs to get paid. Whether the book can mirror its success now I'm starting from scratch by going back to charging for it (only a paltry sum), we will have to see. But at least people now know about the book and can judge it on its own merits.

'Run, Run, Run', a crime thriller, is available from:

Amazon US and Amazon UK

The Dangers Of Turning Fact Into Fiction

I love fiction. And I love fiction that's based on fact. But mixing the two can get you into trouble if you're not careful.

For anybody living in London in August 2011, the riots were inescapable. You didn't have to be caught up in the middle of the fighting to be affected. There was a mood, a tension that lingered in the air. Shops were closing at 3 p.m. People were eyeing each other suspiciously. Even a particular item of clothing suddenly acquired a demonic trait. As I put it in my novella, 'Riot Murder':

“The hoodie was transformed from a benign piece of leisurewear into a uniform for the disaffected, the angry, the malevolent. So much so that ‘hoodie’ was no longer a piece of clothing. It was a whole person. A hoodie was somebody likely to steal, plunder and do you unimaginable harm.
People were crossing the street when a hoodie crossed their path - even if it was a 70-year-old gentleman walking his dog. That’s how quickly the fear had permeated the collective consciousness. And lifting the hood was tantamount to cocking a gun.”

The climax of 'Riot Murder' depends on a particular detail of the 2011 riots. It was something so extraordinary that I felt compelled to use it. I can't say what it is because it forms the main twist of the novella. But I can talk about the issues it raises. It concerns a real person.

Now obviously there are legal ramfications to using real people in a novel. Characters can't be lifted directly from real life. Real people can sue.

But here lies the rub. All writers draw inspiration from real life. Even those specialising in the fantasy, or science fiction, realm. And what people do in real life make the very best stories in themselves; even though they are often incomplete and not utterly satisfying.

For a while, I thought about devising another storyline. But I kept returning to this man and what he did. When his court case came up, I decided I had to use the storyline I'd devised. It was a story screaming out to be told. Now let's get one thing clear. I did not know the man, had never met him, or read his life story. It was just one detail I wanted to use, which is perfectly fair game. Every other facet of my fictional character was made up.

But we live in litigious times. People trip on a paving stone and their first thought is who can they sue.

What I did, finally, was set the story forward in time. 'Riot Murder' takes place in the summer of 2012. The London riots have reignited, as many Londoners think they will, and an undercover cop is murdered. Setting it in the near future liberated the story in many ways. I didn't have to feel guilty about taking liberties with what actually happened this summer. So it worked out for my story.

I think the moral of this story is that no writer should be put off being inspired by real life. The real world is the lifeblood of fiction. Stories are important to the progression of society, no matter how trivial. Even a little detective novel can make people think twice. It's why stories were invented by our cave dwelling ancestors.

I want to say: to hell with opportunistic people's greedy need for the fame and potential financial reward of a court case. Stories must be told. But, of course, as a writer, you have to take this into account; you need to be careful. Make sure your character is genuinely different from its real life inspiration. And always include a disclaimer before your story.

There's always a workaround. And that workaround might just open a whole new world of possibilities.

'Riot Murder' – a Myles Morgan mystery by Mark Capell is available from Amazon and Amazon U.K. and will shortly be available from Barnes & Noble and the iBookstore.