'Last Night on Mars': Futuristic, sci-fi action adventure

[ChristianH]

Hello,

I'd like to rant about my new novel 'Last Night on Mars.'

The idea took form about 10 years ago. After a decade, it's now a cool and intriguing (or so I've been told...) novel.

Set in a very plausible future that sees humanity colonising Mars and also building orbiting space stations/buildings in which people live, it's a futuristic action adventure with suspense.

The plot, characters and situations are wrapped in a scenario that is true to the genre, but not cliche.

Here's the synopsis:
It’s the 22nd century and life’s good.

Stefan Cooper owns a plush condo in the orbiting space towers, has a lucrative job on the moon and a hot date with the beautiful and intriguing Angelique.

Things don’t always go according to plan as a shocking act of violence turns everything upside down.

Unable to turn back, Stefan finds himself in the midst of a high stakes struggle which begins on the colony of Mars.

What happens on the red planet pits him against a powerful and vengeful figure. Racing against time and his new enemy, Stefan’s only hope is a shadowy ally.

Even though the odds are stacked against him, giving up was never an option.

Will he survive, or will this be his 'Last Night on Mars'?

The book's currently available as an eBook from the following places (updated). It's an easy read at a very, very nice price, but by no means an IQ lowering experience.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/last-n ... 6745?mt=11
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/last-ni ... 1624882012
http://www.eBookPie.com (all eReaders )
http://www.kobo.com
http://www.theCopia.com
https://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/chris ... 0000872607

Free chapter excerpts are available on the web site http://www.lastnightseries.com

The first few chapters can be sampled in their entirety, for free, on http://www.goodreads.com

Thank you,

Christian

[Stephan]

Welcome Christian! It actually sounds pretty nice. Except for the spelling of the protagonist's name.

[ChristianH]

Hi Stephan. Thanks a lot.
I'll defer to your spelling of the name, since you're obviously more familiar with it than I am...

Check out the free excerpts when you have a minute. If you end up buying it, a review would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Christian

[ChristianH]

Welcome Christian! It actually sounds pretty nice. Except for the spelling of the protagonist's name.

Since you share a name (spelling aside) with the under pressure hero of 'Last Night on Mars' and were the first to respond to the thread I'll send you a copy of the book (if you'd like). Let me know which format i.e. .ePub or .mobi.

Thanks,

Christian

[Stephan]

Cool! I read mobi.

[ChristianH]

Send an email to ChristianHesse@lastnightseries.com and I'll respond with the eBook in mobi format.

Later,

Christian

[ChristianH]

I might have a reading either this month or next. It'll probably be a massive disaster since I speak a mile a minute. It almost sounds as if I'm 'ranting'...

Maybe I can find someone else to read it for me.
www.lastnightseries.com

[ChristianH]

The creative process was so much fun. The characters, situations, actions, consequences were all a blast. Especially coming up with the 22nd century tech used in 'L.N.o.M.'
Cutting edge, futuristic stuff (well most of the time anyway..) and still realistic. The year 2173 of 'L.N.o.M' is very interesting.

In the 22nd century, everyone has an M.H.I.A...

[Rebecca]

I think I shall have to add this to my list of books to read...

[ChristianH]

I think I shall have to add this to my list of books to read...

Excellent thought! Thank you.

[ChristianH]

All of the tech in 'L.N.o.M' is plausible, but certainly very, very advanced (okay I used hyperspace travel as well and that one is still the realm of people like me...).

For example the orbiting habitats (blocks of flats/condominiums) would use a 22nd century method of construction, which is based on how the space stations are currently built. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=112314781

[ChristianH]

Okay, I've got a legitimate gripe to rant about. Here we go...

Not sure what amazon's playing at. They initially listed the ebook's (Last Night on Mars) length at 140 pages and are now displaying it as only containing 62 pages. Pure rubbish!

I contacted them and they gave me a ridiculous answer. Well I'm one of those who will keep asking until they get an answer that's logical. That's how it's done in the 22nd century...

[Rebecca]

Eesh. Good luck getting that figured out.

[ChristianH]

Eesh. Good luck getting that figured out.

Thanks.

Contacted the Better Business Bureau and will also get in touch with the FTC.

Couldn't ask for a better start to the new year...

[ChristianH]

Things are moving along (slowly, but moving) with the marketing.
Hard copies of the book are necessary, so that's part of this second stage.

Still haven't resolved the amazon okey-doke. Very interested to see what the Federal Trade Commission and the BBB have to say about amazon's new policy re. estimating the page length of ebooks. Then again with my luck they might just ignore it and move on.

[ChristianH]

Finally asked Amazon and BookBaby to remove 'Last Night on Mars' from Amazon. Tried to resolve it, but alas...

Whatever...life goes on. Based on this experience I won't sell the second installment in the series on Amazon.

[Stephan]

That's so weird! It's sad, though, because I imagine Amazon has pretty much the biggest audience for self-published books.

[ChristianH]

That's so weird! It's sad, though, because I imagine Amazon has pretty much the biggest audience for self-published books.

Thanks.
It is sad, but in light of how irritated (putting it mildly) I was by their attitude of "we can do whatever we want to his book, we're Amazon," I'm actually very relieved that I no longer have anything to do with them.
Re. the book's prospects, it's available every where else anyway and que sera, sera...

Started working on the second installment and it's really rewarding to notice how much my writing has improved (if I do say so myself...).

[Stephan]

I've heard more complaints about their attitude. Do you notice a decrease in sales without Amazon?

[ChristianH]

I've heard more complaints about their attitude. Do you notice a decrease in sales without Amazon?

My experience, so far, is that generating sales as a self-published author is definitely a marathon.

Removing 'Last Night on Mars' from amazon has actually been irrelevant to sales.
Their initial display of an incorrect page total had a decidedly negative effect on the number of units sold there. The 'paid kindle' rankings dropped precipitously as soon as they made the change.
It went from a fluctuating paid kindle (as opposed to the free stuff) rank of 40,000ish/100,000ish on amazon.co.uk to 500,000ish (and worse) and from about 100,000ish to 800,000ish on Amazon.com, so our parting of ways was a good thing.

Also, I haven't really started any proper advertising i.e. paid advertising, launch party, sending press kits etc. Once that's going, I expect to see a bump in sales from the other places, or should I say 'hope'...