Comments on: Machine Of Death Is A #1 Bestseller: WTF

By: MattB

MattB — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:42:32 +0000

I bought the book, and had trouble putting it down during a vacation in the Caribbean in good weather. It was really that good.

Tom, your story is one of the best in there. I’ve been getting friends interested in it by having them read a story or two, and Exploded is one of the ones I recommend.

By: Bret

Bret — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:37:17 +0000

Finished.

Man. So good. Creeping existential dread all over.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:31:23 +0000

Awesome, thanks!

The way I’m reading is, when the podcast of a story comes out, I listen to the start of it, and if I like the person’s voice I’ll listen to the whole thing. If not, I read it in the book. Love is very well read. Can’t wait to hear mine, have no idea who did it.

By: Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:37:53 +0000

The book is awesome so far. Every story has been new and interesting and inventive. Only one has made me feel uncomfortable while reading it, but it was purposeful, so made the story more meaningful (if not more enjoyable). In all honesty Tom, yours is one of my favorites so far, along with the one about the lab assistant and his journal. Thanks for the recommendation =)

By: EthZee

EthZee — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:55:50 +0000

Jason: It is! It’s a much larger book than I expected. The illustrations and stories I’ve read so far are fantastic.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:49:42 +0000

It’s a good cover, too.

By: Jason L

Jason L — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:48:24 +0000

It’s a dumb thing to judge a book by, so I’m not, but it’s a much larger book than I expected. More pages, more content.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:14:32 +0000

Woo! The UK copies seem to be arriving much earlier than predicted, lots of people seem to have them now. Party!

By: EthZee

EthZee — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:22:40 +0000

So my book arrived! Today! About two or three weeks early! I’m not opening it yet because there’s some stuff I need to do and I need an incentive, but I am pleased that it came so quickly.

(TWSS)

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:43:53 +0000

“We beat Glenn Beck’s new book on its launch day.”

…
Awesome

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Connective Visions » Viral Can Be Good for You: A Sci-Fi Success Story — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 05:18:45 +0000

[…] Weekly blog, as well as smaller sites such as FrozenYogurt, Pelotard’s Impopular Culture, James by Pentadact, and my own. (There may well be more, but I have to publish this darn […]

By: MadTinkerer

MadTinkerer — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:20:22 +0000

I bought M.O.D. on the day it launched. I also bought Beck’s book. Haven’t had time to read either.

By: EthZee

EthZee — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:32:04 +0000

I can’t wait to get the copy!

And that transcript of Glenn Beck, that’s, well, it’s a thing of beauty. No wonder he’s so popular as a radio guy. Here’s my favourite bit:

“These are the — this is the left, I think, speaking. This is the left. You want to talk about where we’re headed? We’re headed towards a culture of death. A culture that, um, celebrates the things that have destroyed us. Not that the Rolling Stones have destroyed us — I mean, you can’t always get what you want. You know what I’m saying? Brown sugar. I have no idea what that means.”

Mindbending, surreal hilarity.

See, when I played GTA 4, and I listened to that pundit on WKTT, I thought that was a parody. Not so, it seems.

By: Davie

Davie — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:48:59 +0000

My god, you attracted negative attention from Glenn Beck! You deserve medals! Many of them! And I will absolutely buy this if it becomes available retail. Sadly, I have no viable source of internet money at this time.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:27:28 +0000

Heh – yeah, didn’t mean to imply otherwise.

Apparently Novelrank works by inferring sales from changes in chart position. So if you’re low down in the chart, it’s probably not a bad estimate, since a sale will usually move you in the charts. But if you spend a lot of time at #2 or #1, it’d have no way of knowing about the copies you sell while at those positions.

By: malki !

malki ! — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:21:36 +0000

@Dave – I don’t know where Novelrank gets their numbers, but I’m pretty sure that’s inaccurate. I don’t have full details yet but I’m sure they’re much higher.

@Tom – I was paraphrasing the “death-peddlers” part! Don’t want to give the impression it was an exact quote. I’ll post a partial transcript on the MOD blog later tonight.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:56:54 +0000

Apparently it was “a plea to his listeners to buy his book and not let us death-peddlers win”. He’s ahead of us again now, BUT: he is terribly fat.

By: Coded One

Coded One — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:52:03 +0000

Also, I’d love to actually hear Glenn Beck’s quote. Nothing gives me more satisfaction then knowing that I helped to contribute to an angry misquote from Glenn Beck!

By: Coded One

Coded One — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:46:32 +0000

Glad to help! I’m looking forward to reading it :)

By: RC-1290'Dreadnought'

RC-1290'Dreadnought' — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:38:44 +0000

Funny how Machine of Death ‘beats’ a book called Life.

By: Pentadact

Pentadact — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:15:24 +0000

That sounds more likely! I think Amazon’s sales increase percentages must just be pure fiction.

In fact, after a little tinkering, I’ve reverse engineered their formula. It takes yesterday’s sales rank, divides it by today’s, subtracts 1, then multiplies by 100. This gets you: a meaningless number. It means your figure is as dependent on where you end up as on the magnitude of your climb.

By: Tweets that mention Machine Of Death Is A #1 Bestseller: WTF, by Tom Francis -- Topsy.com

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:46:35 +0000

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tom Francis and Johnni Fortune, Mark Richard Danks. Mark Richard Danks said: RT @Pentadact: Machine of Death update: http://bit.ly/modwoo We sold over 6,859 copies, we beat Glenn Beck's book on its launch day, and … […]

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:32:49 +0000

Congrats, I did my part on the day – shipping was £5, but I was too cheap to go for anything above the cheapest option.

http://www.novelrank.com/title/machine-of-death-paperback

Looks like it was actually 115. The whole point was that Amazon daily sales are actually pretty modest, so it wasnt too hard to get to #1. I guess people still leave the house to buy their books these days?

By: Wowbagger

Wowbagger — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:22:33 +0000

Ordering it pissed off Glenn Beck? I guess that was one of my more worthwhile purchases!
Congratulations on your scheme’s success, by the way :)