December 5, 2011

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that getting to number one in Amazon’s UK Kindle chart is now more-or-less impossible because the deal of the day always goes to number one.

That means I have been at number two or number three – always behind deal of the day titles – for weeks.

Today, however, Locked In has returned to the UK No.1 position for the third time. It has also spent over 11 weeks in the top 10, with over three weeks at No.1.

Vigilante is at number eight (with three DOTD titles above it) and has spent around 10 weeks in the top 10, while The Woman In Black is at number 18, having peaked at No.15 over the weekend.

So I still have all three books in the top 20 overall.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading the books and contacting me. I’m still getting some wonderful emails (some shockers too).

Meanwhile, a reader in London blogged a review of Locked In, which you can read here.

December 1, 2011

The third Jessica Daniel novel, The Woman In Black, was released barely a week ago but has now joined Locked In and Vigilante in Amazon UK’s overall top-20 books.

I’ve had some really great emails and tweets about it.

What perhaps makes it all the more remarkable is that there are also three “deal of the day” books in the top-20, which tends to skew the chart as the day’s particular offer always goes to number one.

It’s all a tad overwhelming, so I’ll just say “thank you” for supporting the character.

I will have some more news about future Jessica work in the next few weeks.

November 27, 2011

Since its release last week, The Woman In Black has been doing very well. It is currently just outside of the top-30 on Amazon UK.

Locked In took around nine weeks to reach the top-100 and establish itself. The Woman In Black did it in approximately 42 hours – with no promotion other than through this site.

Popular crime novel review site Crime Fiction Lover has reviewed the book. You can read their verdict here.

Thank you to everyone who has bought it. I’ve had some great emails over the past few days. If you want to drop me a line, just click “E-mail me” at the top of this page.

November 23, 2011

The Woman In Black was released on Kindle late last night. In what is quite astonishing, in under 24 hours it has charged through the charts to such a degree that, in the Women Sleuths chart, the Jessica Daniel series is now the first, second and third books.

The interest shown has been amazing, with people emailing and tweeting me to say they have bought it.

Some people have told me they are having problems searching for it. For whatever reason, when you search for “Kerry Wilkinson” on Amazon, The Woman In Black doesn’t show in the results until position 17.

Amazon say this will change over time but that it is all automated.

For now, the link to the UK version of the book is here. The International one is here.

November 23, 2011

Amazon’s policy of taking 72 hours to publish a book seems to have shrunk a little…

As such, Jessica Daniel book 3: The Woman In Black is now available on Kindle. The UK version is here (£2.59), while the international version is here ($3.49).

It will be available on Waterstones and a few other outlets including iTunes within a week or so. I will add the links to this site as they go live.

It is a little more expensive than book two, which was a bit more expensive than book one. The support for Vigilante has been astonishing and I hope the fact you can pick up all three books for under £6 is enough of a reason for people who liked the first two titles to also pick up the third.

November 20, 2011

On Monday, November 14, Amazon UK launched their Kindle deal of the day. It heavily discounts one book for a 24-hour period. It’s quite a nice little offer and I bought Anne Holt’s Punishment for 99p, even though I haven’t had time to even start it yet.

What it does do is skew the Kindle chart because the deal of the day pretty much always goes to number one.

That means that everyone else is aiming to be with number two or three, depending on how many DOTDs are at the top.

With that in mind, it was really nice for Locked In to return to No.1. I’ve been the top non-deal book for 22 straight days now and, of the 73 days it has been in the top-100, over 60 of them have been in the top-10.

Book three, The Woman In Black, is out this week and I really hope you all like it.

November 18, 2011

I recently did an interview for the Crime Fiction Lover website here ahead of The Woman In Black‘s release a week today.

As a treat for Kindle users, there is a bonus chapter at the back which will not appear in any other version of the book. It is my “thank you” to readers from that channel for sending me to number one.

The chapter does not affect the story in any way – but I don’t want to reveal too much more about it quite yet. I hope it is a nice treat for after readers have finished the tale itself.

November 14, 2011

Unbeknown to me, a rather in-depth review of Locked In has appeared here.

It is very complimentary and probably includes some of the nicest things anyone has written about the book. I have no idea who wrote it but this is just a “thanks” to them.

November 10, 2011

With two weeks to go until the release of book three in the Jessica Daniel series, The Woman In Black, I am starting a competition where you can win signed copies of the paperbacks.

It is completely free to enter.

All you have to do is review any of the first three books – Locked In, Vigilante or The Woman In Black – on Amazon UK, Waterstones, or iTunes.

When you have done that, email me your name and address – plus a link to the review – and that’s it.

If you review all three books, that gets you three entries.

On January 31, 2012, I will draw a winner at random, announce your name on this website and on Twitter, and send you your books.

All current reviews stand, so if you have reviewed the book already, email me your name/address and the link and I will enter you.

It’s as simple as that, so good luck and thank you for reading.

November 8, 2011

There was an article about me on the Spectator’s book blog yesterday, written by Walter Ellis, who has his own book out – London Eye. It has had some quite brilliant reviews.

But that does bring me to the good and bad things about “success”.

I have written before that I never set out to “become an author”. I wrote something to prove to myself I could and, once that was done, I put it out into the market to let it sink or swim.

I had no real expectations but everything that has happened to me is pretty amazing. I have been the number one book on Kindle for ten days now, while Locked In‘s sequel, Vigilante, has been in the top-10 for most of that time.

What that brings with it is a lot of interest. Much of it has been positive, some of it negative. Things like that article in the Spectator is one of the positives.

As for the negatives… you learn to live with bad reviews. Some are constructive and raise valid points, some are borderline abuse and jealousy. I think most people take the reviews – good and bad – with a slight pinch of salt.

I didn’t know if I was going to write about this or not but…

A few days ago I received an email from someone which, on the surface, was very nice. The person said they liked my books and congratulated me on their success. They then asked if I could have a look at their title, which was listed through Kindle and they invited me to read it and review it.

I did have a look at their listing and it seemed all right. I politely replied, thanking them for their email and said that their book sounded interesting. But I did say I was very busy because I have a full-time job alongside my writing. I said I might take a look at their book, and review it, in future – but that I couldn’t promise anything because I don’t get much time.

Within five minutes, the person replied saying that, if I didn’t give his book a five-star review, he would retaliate by giving mine a one-star one.

I didn’t really know how to reply, so ultimately ignored it.

Within 24 hours a one-star review had indeed appeared. It doesn’t refer to any plot points and paraphrases a couple of the other reviews, so I have no idea whether the person has actually read the book or not.

Ultimately, I think most readers are intelligent enough to see through the reviews which sound as if they are making a point but don’t speak in specifics.

I have had good and bad reviews and it’s obvious some people really like the book(s), while others do not. That is entirely their prerogative but I thought I would mention some of the tricks which people employ.

Among the many, many plus points of everything that has happened to me in the last three months, this is a very minor blip. But I guess it shows the other side of making yourself accessible.

NB: People may ask why I don’t contact Amazon about that review. I have contacted them twice before about reviews. It’s not to do with good/bad reviews. One was very abusive to me personally (even though the writer was a stranger), one revealed all of the plot details without tagging them as spoilers. Both reviews fail to meet Amazon’s own review guidelines. Guess what? Amazon refused to remove either, essentially saying they want to cultivate a diverse set of opinions. Diverse is one thing – abusive is another. In the end, the writers edited their own reviews, perhaps realising it didn’t make them look very good either. I’ve had many great experiences with Amazon – but asking them to look at reviews, even when it is clear their own guidelines have been breached, has not been one of them.