Tag: I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin

  • 5 Places to See Dead Human Body Parts [video]

    5 Places to See Dead Human Body Parts [video]

    See hair in Turkey, skulls in Paris, an Arm in Maryland, several penises in Iceland, and human skin pants in Iceland, really Iceland again? You can even visit a few strange human part themed roadside attractions in my novel I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin.

    1. Hair

    Avanos Hair Museum in Cappadocia, Turkey contains hair samples, names and addresses from more than 16,000 women from all around the world. The founder, Chez Galip, admits that the hair collection began as a way to increase membership in his pottery workshops.

    While visitors to the cave are not required to donate a lock of hair, each year Galip does select 10 locks of hair at random whose owners are awarded with a trip back to his pottery studio and are allowed to stay in his guest house free of charge.

    2. Head

    The Catacombs of Paris, are essentially underground walls and walls and walls built with human skulls. Why? In the 1700s in Paris a series of forgotten mines buckled under the enormous weight of a series of maybe forgotten cemeteries. The city needed new walls for the mines and the human bones needed new places to conjure up nightmares for children. Therefore, skull walls.

    3. Arm

    In Boonsboro, Maryland you can visit the Boonsboro Museum of History and be duped into thinking you’re looking at something much cooler than you really are. Despite the Civil War context of the museum, the shriveled arm that’s on display behind glass is most likely not from the civil war at all, but is rather a regular ‘ol medical school specimen, says Museum Curator Doug Bast.

    4. Penis

    The Icelandic Phallological Museum is home to 215 “down theres” belonging to the various mammals found in Iceland.

    5. Legs

    The Strandagaldur Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft contains as one of it’s famous exhibits the skin of a male bottom half.

    The display isn’t meant only to be creepy, but actually illustrates a macabre Icelandic legend. According to the legend, after a man dies, the non-torso skin can be worn and if a coin, stolen from the man’s widow, is placed into the necropants’ scrotum, that scrotum would produce an endless supply of coins.

  • FREE Caleb J. Ross novel. Read today. Change life tomorrow.

    FREE Caleb J. Ross novel. Read today. Change life tomorrow.

    GrumpyCat-FreeKevin

    Every once-in-a-while one of my novels gets promoted as a FREE Kindle eBook for about a week. That every-once-in-a-while has come again, now. Head over to Amazon.com to get your absolutely FREE copy of I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin. No fine print (except for the super fine ass print that is I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin).

    Click to start reading now: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0088QLPFM/thecalebrosso-20

    FREE not enough to convince you? Check out some of the wonderful things some wonderful people have said about this wonderful novel:

    Publishers Weekly

    “A stirring novel, this extraordinary work plays upon the reader’s willingness to suspend disbelief and turns it on its ear…The novel casts a similar spell on its readers…Covering ground similar to the works of Sherman Alexie and Chuck Palahniuk, this is an author worth keeping an eye on.”

    Rayo Casablanca, author of 6 Sick Hipsters and Very Mercenary (Kensington)

    “Brilliant…one of the most amazing fiction concepts I’ve ever read.”

    Joey Goebel, author of Torture the Artist and Commonwealth (MacAdam/Cage)

    “In I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin, Caleb J. Ross writes fearlessly, never shying away from the wild, insane places where his fertile imagination leads him. The first half a twisted take on small-town aimlessness, the second half the American road novel from hell, the book is ultimately a darkly comedic evaluation of a generation of motherless men.”

    Paul Tremblay, author of  The Little Sleep and No Sleep til Wonderland

    You read this for the truly memorable cast of characters and Caleb’s smart, funny, and imaginative spin on a Palahniukian conceit…Here’s hoping some of that mainstream audience can pull their heads out of their asses long enough to read Ross, and then be gloriously horrified.

    Ready to spend your hard earned nothing on this book? Go here now: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0088QLPFM/thecalebrosso-20

  • A Drinking Playlist for Reading I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin

    A Drinking Playlist for Reading I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin

    A drinking playlist. A brilliant idea, or the brilliantest idea? Lori, over at The Next Big Book Blog was kind enough to have be back after my August stop at her blog when I read my story “Petty Injuries.” This time, she asked me to supply a drinking playlist, which is exactly what it sounds like: what to drink to elicit or compliment specific moods, specifically with regards to books. I outline for you a playlist according to my novel, I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin.

  • Day 4 and 5 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Day 4 and 5 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    (Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. No excuses. I just forgot)

    Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the fourth and fifth in the 5(ish) part series.

    For full details about the test, see the first post here.

     Day 4 tactics

    Day 5 tactics

    Day 4/5 results

    As of 8:52 pm, 8/28/12, the metrics are:

    • Total copies downloaded: 1,004
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #1,168
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #25 (though I actually saw it at #18 at one point, but failed to get a screenshot)

    How am I feeling after this fifth day?

    Great! I passed the 1,000 downloads goal. However, I’m pretty far away from the other three goals I had for myself (outlined here). All in all, I’m quite happy. Now, I hope that those who downloaded the book actually read it.

  • Day 3 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Day 3 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the third in the 5(ish) part series.

    For full details about the test, see the first post here.

     Day 3 tactics

    Day 3 results

    As of 8:59 pm, 8/26/12, the metrics are:

    • Total copies downloaded: 798

    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #860
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #24

    How am I feeling after this third day?

    Good. I think the download goal of 1,000 copies is achievable. However, the free Kindle store rank continues to drop, and I’m back at #24 in the overall Literary Fiction category. Fingers crossed for a big Monday.

    Click here to read days 4 and 5 results > > >

  • Day 2 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Day 2 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the second in the 5(ish) part series.

    For full details about the test, see the first post here.

     Day 2 tactics

    • I was informed by a generous friend that $50 has been donated to promoting a Facebook message about the giveaway. Thanks to you, anonymous SuperPac donor.
    • 12:00 am (CST): Goodreads CPC ad at a $0.50 CPC bid and a $5 daily cap.
    • 5:28 pm: I sent an email blast to my 145 email newsletter subscribers. I assume many of these subscribers already caught wind of the giveaway via my 8/24 whorings, so I was sure to include a bit of an apology at the front of the email.
    Goodreads Ad

     

    Day 2 results

    As of 9:15 pm, 8/25/12, the metrics are:

    • Total copies downloaded: 677

    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #607
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #23

    How am I feeling after this second day?

    Still pretty great. I’ve over half way to my download goal of 1,000. Though I’ve dropped some places in the free Kindle store ranking, I’ve gained a position in to overall Literary Fiction category. I do think, however, that I’ve about exhausted any distribution lists, so now I’m having to rely on word of mouth.

    Click here to read day 3 results > > >

  • Day 1 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Day 1 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the first in the 5(ish) part series.

    The plan

    I am giving my newest novel, I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin, away for FREE through the Amazon Kindle store from 8/24 through 8/28. No catches. No gimmicks. Totally Free. My hope is a simple one: I want to see how many free copies get downloaded, which I hope translates into a few reader reviews, which I hope perpetuates future readers to buy the book (once the free giveaway is finished).

    Metrics

    I will be measuring 3 things:

    • Total copies downloaded
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen capture) in the free Kindle store
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction)

    What would I consider a successful campaign?

    Honestly, I don’t have any context for success here. How about:

    • 1,000 total downloads
    • 2-3 Amazon reviews
    • a top rank in the free Kindle store of 300
    • a top rank in the Literary Fiction category of 5-10

    The total download count is arbitrary; I just pulled a number out of my ass. The Amazon reviews might be asking too much considering someone would have to read the book within the short 5 day giveaway time. As for the rankings, I don’t know if those are realistic or maybe even if they are ridiculously easy to attain. We’ll find out.

    Day 1 tactics

    • 12:00 am (CST): The giveaway goes live. No way was I going to try to push any books any earlier than 9:00, so any downloads that came during this first 9 hours are just icing.
    • 9:14 am: I sent an email to 70 friends alerting them to the giveaway. In this email I asked if they wouldn’t mind sharing news of the giveaway however they feel most comfortable doing so (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blog, etc.).
    • 9:58 am: I sent a tweet via my personal Twitter account. My personal twitter account has 7,438. My guess is that like 10 of those aren’t auto-follow bots, and of those 10, maybe 3 actually saw the tweet. Takeaway: I don’t put much stock in the reach of my Twitter account.
    • 10:33 am: I posted a message to my Google+ page.
    • 10:35 am: I posted a FB message on my “fan” page. My “fan” page has 871 likes. As of 8:54 pm, 135 people have seen the post.
    • 9:59 am and 3:58 pm: I sent a tweet via my literary news aggregator Twitter account. This account has 3,528 followers. Perhaps there are a lot of bots here, as with my personal account, but I assume the “true” follower ratio is quite a bit better than my personal account.
    • 8:48 pm: CPM Facebook ad goes live. This is a very simple ad targeted to people who are already somehow connected to my Facebook page. I know, it’s probably a bit redundant to speak to people who already know me, but my thinking is that perhaps the people who “like” me have read a book by me that isn’t I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin. I might change this targeting after a couple of days.

    Day 1 results

    As of 8:22 pm, 8/24/12, the metrics are:

    • Total copies downloaded: 390

    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #570
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #24

    How am I feeling after this first day?

    Great, honestly. The numbers seem pretty good for the first day. I hope the momentum gets going.

    Click here to read the Day 2 results > > >