James Piper, Author

Sunday, October 30, 2011 ... trying to make sense of the amazon bestsellers and pricing for e-books ... E ach hour Amazon updates its bestsellers lists. I have taken a daily snapshot of the top 20 bestsellers in the e-book fiction list for the past week. See here . What can be learnt from these data? 1. 4 out 5 of the bestsellers are from print or traditional authors. Most are brand-named authors who dominate the print bestsellers. 2. Almost all of the authors have multiple titles to their credit. The author of The Help is a notable exception. 3. The e-book prices of indie authors are substantially lower than print authors. For the most part, their titles are priced at $0.99. 4. The books on the list fall into four categories: (i) pre-release from brand-named authors, (ii) new or recently released titles (iii) long-term bestsellers (greater than one year), (iv) backlist titles. Indie authors fall into (ii) and (iv). 5. The indie authors includes authors who ...

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 ... the list grows and grows ... H ere are some thrillers people bought in addition to my novel. The Confession by John Grisham American Assassin by Vince Flynn Capital Offense by Kathleen Antrim Permanent Interests by James Bruno The Elect by James Gilbert The Detachment (John Rain) by Barry Eisler Line of Succession A Thriller by William Tyree My King The President by Tom Lewis The Hangman's Companion (A Jim McGill Novel) by Joseph Flynn The Next President by Joseph Flynn The President's Henchman Joseph Flynn House Secrets : A Joe DeMarco Thriller by Mike Lawson The Devil Colony : A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins Bloodmoney : A Novel of Espionage by David Ignatius Early Warning by Michael Walsh Threat Warning (Jonathan Grave) by John Gilstrap The Protectors (A Thriller) by James Piper Posted 2011/10/18 at 00h09ET in Novels , The Protectors (A Thriller) .

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 ... more sales means more book links ... H ere are some thrillers people bought in addition to my novel. 1. The Confession by John Grisham “The secrets of Grisham’s success are no secret at all. There are two of them: his pacing, which ranges from fast to breakneck, and his Theme—little guy takes on big conspiracy with the little guy getting the win in the end.” —Time magazine 2. Capital Offense by Kathleen Antrim "'24' meets 'The West Wing' . . . pulse-pounding thriller has it all, riveting characters, spellbinding plot, and a shocking conclusion. Plan to stay up late. Highly recommended." --VINCE FLYNN, New York Times Bestselling Author 3. The Devil Colony : A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins “Terrible secrets, the sweep of history, an epic canvas, breathless action...nobody—and I mean nobody—does this stuff better than Rollins.” 4. American Assassin by Vince Flynn With ...

Sunday, October 16, 2011 ... there doesn't seem to be a shortage of novels for people to read ... I Here are some links to The President's Henchman and The Protectors . And a blurb on his novel. As we've just seen, it's only a matter of time—and not that long a time—before the United States elects its first female president. Which will make her husband—what? Well, if he's the ex-cop who solved the murder of the president's first husband and brought the killers to justice…and if he's not the kind of guy to stand on formality…and if he doesn't want to be the head of the FBI…and if he takes out a license and becomes the first private eye to live in the White House… That would make him The President's Henchman. Jim McGill's first case is to find out who is stalking a member of the White House press corps, before that stalker turns the tables on McGill and maybe even threatens the president herself. He also has to be a shado...

Saturday, October 15, 2011 ... do you like the cover of this novel ... T here’s James Gilbert, author of The Elect, and me, James Piper, author of The Protectors. The two of us have three great things in common. We’re both authors, that’s clear, but we’re also males and alive. But that’s not the entire point. The point is we have the best first name. No that’s not it either. No. We have readers in common. Here are some links to The Elect and The Protectors . And a blurb on his novel. Reed Thompson is the country's leading conservative talk radio host. His wife Sandy is a successful public relations executive. Together, they enjoy the rarified (sic) life of wealth and comfort in their urbane Chicago social circles. Yet that uncomplicated existence is turned upside down when the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for President is killed in a helicopter crash on the eve of the New Hampshire primary and Reed is cast into the unlikely role as the heir apparen...

Thursday, October 13, 2011 ... don't expect to read sex scenes in my novels ... H ere’s the first indie-book linked with my novel. The link? Someone bought my book and the novel Fifth Avenue by Christopher Smith. I read some of the reviews because I wasn’t familiar with either the book or author. No surprise with a self-published author. It’s hard to know what to think about a book when I see such wide variety in opinion, but one theme of the criticism centred on the author’s sex scenes. It disturbed some. I haven’t read the book so I can’t comment on the content, but I can make a general statement on sex scenes in novels and specifically thrillers. As a reader, it’s not why I read and don’t want to read them. I will skip over them. Call me a prig, fine, but I’m not interested. Since I don’t want to read such scenes, I don’t write them. You won’t find any sex scenes in The Protectors. None. Nor is there any coy romance going on between our hero Baird Carr and his si...

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 ... reading anonymous reviews of my writing is something new to me ... I Ten years ago when I told my mother I was writing a novel, she scoffed. “Oh, please. You can’t write a novel. You haven’t read enough!” That was before she read the draft. When she finished reading it, her face was filled with shock and joy. Stunned, I suppose. She was saying: that was good, better than so-and-so, you can write, I take it back. Having read all her life, she’s a good judge of what works and doesn’t work, but it’s my mother. All mothers, well, they lie. They give you that pleasant, warm smile and lie straight to your face. Unless they are particularly angry in the moment. Then you’re likely to hear a multitude of truths. Not much help in gauging where I’m at as writer with this novel. I certainly couldn’t put that in a query letter. Guess what, dear agent, my mother loved it. Yawn. Burn the letter. Pass me the disinfectant. From there, I allowed some f...

Saturday, October 8, 2011 ... what is the best way to start your novel ... C ount them. One. Two. I downloaded two thriller e-books from amazon.com, both published by the author, and they both started the same way: the character waking up and going about some morning ritual. Both books were in the top 100 bestsellers of Mystery & Thrillers Fiction. Both had many positive reviews. Those facts seemed encouraging, but once I read the opening scene, I stopped. I did not continue. But James that seems harsh? Perhaps, yes, but the writer is sending a signal with such an opening. It says, I have more to learn about writing thrillers for today’s audience. Why do I say that? Because a waking-up scene is mundane. It’s ordinary. It happens to us everyday. We don’t read thrillers for the mundane and ordinary. We read them for the extraordinary. We read them to live vicariously through the characters. We read them to be entertained. There is nothing in those waking-up scenes th...

Friday, October 07, 2011 ... if people are reading Grisham and me, does that mean ... S ince my debut novel, The Protectors, has been published, there has been a series of books people have bought in connection with mine. It’s interesting to see these connections. Some times for me, the connection results in an introduction to a new author, but not always. Today it’s John Grisham and his novel The Confession. As it would happen, I have read it. I read it on my e-reader, not a physical book as I’m used to reading. I used my Kobo, although I should add I have a Kindle for reading e-books. It’s the way these days. More and more people are reading novels in the e-book format. Not a paperback, trade paper or hardcover. The world of publishing and reading novels, reading books, is changing. Here are some links to The Confession and The Protectors . And a blurb on his novel. John Grisham delivers his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. Filled with the intriguing twis...

Thursday, October 06, 2011 ... here's another book people bought along with mine ... I like the “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” feature on amazon.com because it exposes me to books I might not otherwise know about. I’m not the only who uses it because people who bought my book also bought Capital Offense by Kathleen Antrim. So cool . Here’s some links to Capital Offense and The Protectors . And a blurb on Kathleen’s novel. IS THE FIRST LADY PLOTTING TO OVERTHROW THE PRESIDENT? This questions seems inconceivable to journalist Jack Rudley, but so did the murder of his own father, Senator William Rudley. Now his father is dead and all roads lead to the White House. Roads Jack must take if he's ever to know the truth. Roads twisted by deceit, revenge, power and murder. Roads First Lady Carolyn Alden Lane navigates with great skill. When she learns she's a pawn in a deadly bid for the White House, her world comes crashing down. Driven by d...

Wednesday, October 05, 2011 ... people who bought my book bought this book ... O ne of the features of amazon.com is “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and the first book linked with my book was Line of Succession: A Thriller by William Tyree. So cool. Here’s some links to Line of Succession and The Protectors . And a blurb on Tryee’s novel. In William Tyree’s debut thriller, the nation is rocked by a series of high-level assassinations so devastating that the magnitude is hidden from public view. As the Pentagon begins retaliating against Islamic radicals abroad, counter-terrorism agent Blake Carver soon realizes that his job isn’t as easy as hunting down a group of foreign extremists. This war isn’t about religion, foreign policy or oil. It’s up to Carver to stop a group of powerful Washington insiders battling over control of the planet’s most precious resource: water. Posted 2011/10/05 at 08h31ET in Novels , The Protectors (A Thriller) .

Tuesday, October 04, 2011 ... you can download excerpt of The Protectors (A Thriller) ... T he Protectors is my debut novel. A thriller.   This is the synopsis : A former CIA officer searches for his missing business partner only to discover a secret that leads to the White House. You can download the full kindle e-book version of the novel from amzon.com ( here ) or amazon.co.uk ( here ) as well as an excerpt by clicking on the “Send sample now” button on the right. The amazon version (MOBI file format) can be read on your kindle or, with a free downloadable app, on your computer, tablet or smartphone. You can download an excerpt in an EPUB file format from goodreads.com by clicking here . This format works for Kobo and Nook e-readers as well with apps for your computer, tablet or smartphone. Posted 2011/10/04 at 15h13ET in The Protectors (A Thriller) .

Sunday, October 02, 2011 Posted 2011/10/02 at 07h10ET in The Protectors (A Thriller) .