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Thursday, August 11, 2016

Rant - Your Gamebook is NOT a "#1 Amazon Bestseller"

One thing the OSR is usually good about is hype, or lack there of. Even out best selling products do so by word of mouth, not manipulation of truth.

So things like Arena Fighters (Rule Book) from M. R. Mathias really piss me off. Why? Here's the screenshot at DriveThruRPG:


Look Ma! It's a #1 Amazon Bestseller! It must fucking rock!

So, it went up on OBS August 10th, 2016. That's yesterday. When did it go up on Amazon to make the bestseller list?

It went up on August 4th, 2016. Wow, less that a week and it made #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Science Fiction & Fantasy Gaming > Dungeons & Dragons. Er? Okay.

And it is #1 in that very specific category. 1 of 1 that is.

That's it. Its the only book in the category.

Its 2 of 2 in Changleing. How it dropped there, no f'n idea.

So no, asshole, Arena Fighters is NOT a #1 bestseller. Its in a category unto itself.

Is the author prolific when it comes to Kindle Fantasy Fiction? Yes. 

Is he awesome? Just read what he has to say about himself:



Eh, might be hard to read as a screenshot:
M.R. Mathias rose from unknown to award-winning, best-selling author at a pace most authors can only dream about. He is a prolific writer of epic fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. Despite his busy writing, publishing, and promotional schedule Mathias continues to aid his fellow indie authors by posting about their books at Twitter and Facebook etc. 
He shared his considerable knowledge of self-promotion in publishing The First Ten Steps. The book has become an important indie guide for navigating the often murky waters of using social media sites to get your eBook in front of avid readers. 
Mathias has taken cross promotion to a new level in his "Indie Kindy" giveaways where he gives away a FREE Kindle Touch and or Kindle Fire loaded with independently published books. These events create a great deal of interest for the authors involved and to independently published books as a whole.
I can't speak for his fiction, but his first gaming release on OBS is a social media fail.



17 comments:

  1. I cry BULLSHIT! I think we know who wrote his profile.
    While I make no claims to be a reviewer or review service, I have never heard of this guy. How can that be? I've not seen him anywhere in social media before this.And now he's the "go-to" guy for things fantastical?

    ReplyDelete
  2. At a pace most wouldn't dream about because they wouldn't skew the data. This means your blog Tenker is the Number one blog in Tavern based form.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congrats on being #1! I'm sure the competition will be fierce.

      Delete
    2. So I guess I can claim to be the number one commenter (on this particular post, of this blog, with my name, on this day). Man, I'm moving up in the world!

      Delete
  3. As the top poster on your blog*, I feel confident in calling this...the greatest hyperbole of all time!

    *top poster among people in my house

    ReplyDelete
  4. "I'm awesome. Just ask me, I'll tell you."

    ReplyDelete
  5. If this guy can "successfully" write fantasy, I should be able to squish out a decent novel or two... with one tentacle tied behind my back!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why do we care if some guy hypes himself?

    Is the game good/fun? The description sounds kinda neat.

    ReplyDelete
  7. He's pretty good at selling his BS I'll give him that ... though he may oversell... and after more than 20 years in sales we have a few things to say about people like that (something with not touching with a 10ft pole)

    ReplyDelete
  8. He's pretty good at selling his BS I'll give him that ... though he may oversell... and after more than 20 years in sales we have a few things to say about people like that (something with not touching with a 10ft pole)

    ReplyDelete
  9. heh, I think it's a little amusing. He's not wrong and he definitely ain't right.

    ReplyDelete
  10. In his defense I would never heard of him if he hadn't got your attention here. Now I can't not hear about him....oh wait, yes I can. What were we talking about? Another Amazon #1....yawwn. Here, let me give you my remaining fu...oh wait, all out.

    ReplyDelete
  11. For some reason I'm reminded of that guy that ripped of the World of Darkness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Although here it sounds like a variant on Melee and Wizard, and the old "fighter books" where each person had a book full of pictures of different maneuvers and duked it out. That said.....I'm kinda tempted to check it out, once I see some reviews somewhere, if they are positive.

      Delete
  12. Oh this is amusing and a sheme tjat hadnt even crossed my mind yet :D

    ReplyDelete

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