The Last Stop

A Surprisingly Successful Free Promotion for THE LAST STOP

/ Matthew Hanover

The other day I set up a three-day free promotion for my paranormal thriller short story, The Last Stop. Like most of my free promotions, I expected to move a few units a day, and top out no higher than, say 40 units. The decision to setup the free promotion was somewhat whimsical, and I didn’t even have time to submit to any Kindle promotion sites to help it out.

Yesterday, the first day of the promotion, I didn’t think much about it. But, late in the day I decided to check the ranking… and was floored to see The Last Stop ranking in the top 1,000 free books on Amazon. Holy crap! How did that happen?

As of this post, it is #701 over in free Kindle books, and #2 in Free 90-Minute SF/F Short Reads

This has never happened before. As I said, I’m used to a handful of books moving, and I’ve honestly been pretty happy about it, considering I never used any paid promotion sites to get downloads. Of course, this time I didn’t even use free promotion sites to get downloads. Speaking of downloads… how many did I get?

When I logged into KDP on Amazon, I was shocked. When I first checked last evening, there had been 155 downloads! I’m not even sure I’ve had 155 download, paid or free, ever. Downloads continued through the evening, reaching 224 for the entire day.

Today is looking pretty good so far, too. I woke up this morning to find a dozen downloads already. Crazy.

The question is, how did this happen? I have no idea. I’ve been waiting for a successful free promotion like since for a long, long time. Of course, I wasn’t thinking it would happen this time. In fact, since I’m getting closer to publishing my novel, which is a totally different genre, I wasn’t even sure I should be promoting The Last Stop anymore, but, I figured I’d do one last promotion.  I’m glad I did, but I still can’t explain how it’s doing so well when all previous promotions never performed like this.

Using Google, I couldn’t find any blog sites that took notice. I got a couple retweets on Twitter… but not until the evening. If there’s someone out there who used their reach and influence to give my short story a boost yesterday, I thank you!

Advertisements

‘The Last Stop’ Free on Kindle!

/ Matthew Hanover

For the next few days my paranormal thriller short story, The Last Stop, is free on Kindle. Nick Cole, author of CTRL ALT Revolt! and coauthor of the bestselling Galaxy’s Edge series, calls it “A perfect 30 minute Twilight Zone read for your next commute on a subway. Or your last…”

Six strangers find themselves on a subway train that seems to have no destination. Defying logic and reason, this train has no beginning and no end. These six strangers will find themselves pushed to the limits, overcoming fear and suspicion of their fellow passengers as they attempt to explain the unexplainable circumstances of being trapped on an endless train while trying to find a way off before it’s too late. It’s a train ride they’ll never forget, if they survive.

The Last Stop is free through May 25.

New Cover and Paperback Edition

/ Matthew Hanover

Okay, it has definitely been too long since I’ve posted. But I will try to make up for that. Anyway… A lot has happened since my last blog entry. First of all, The Last Stop has since undergone some editing, a new cover design, and a paperback edition! Here is the new cover design:

The Last Stop

In other news, I’ve recently started a new horror novella… that’s in addition to the novel I’ve been working on for a few years now… I know it’s probably not the greatest idea to start something new when I haven’t finished something I’ve been desperately trying to finish, but have been unable to due to lack of time, but hey… it’s hard to let a good idea go unstarted…

So, that’s the latest… more updates to come in the future and more frequently!

Download THE LAST STOP for Free This Weekend

/ Matthew Hanover

In honor of Friday The Thirteenth, my short story THE LAST STOP is available for free this weekend!

Six strangers find themselves on a subway train that seems to have no destination. Defying logic and reason, this train has no beginning and no end. These six strangers will find themselves pushed to the limits, overcoming fear and suspicion of their fellow passengers as they attempt to explain the unexplainable circumstances of being trapped on an endless train while trying to find a way off before it’s too late. It’s a train ride they’ll never forget, if they survive.

Readers have likened THE LAST STOP to an episode of The Twilight Zone. A paranormal thriller that will make you think twice before taking a late night ride on the subway.

My New Short Story

/ Matthew Hanover

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have written a short story and published it through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.

The story is called The Last Stop, and it is about six strangers on the last train of the evening back to the suburbs. These strangers soon discover they are trapped on the train, which isn’t making any stops. Tensions rise as they try to figure out the nature of their predicament, and how, if possible, to get off the train before it’s too late.

The idea for The Last Stop came to me in a dream I had over a year ago. I rarely remember my dreams, but this one stuck. From this dream I saw potential for a compelling short story based on the idea of strangers stuck on subway in an infinite loop. Subway commuters typically keep to themselves (especially late at night) and I couldn’t help wondering what would happen when an inexplicable problem arises that affects all the passengers.

I never expected I would ever write a story with any supernatural or paranormal elements to it, but the more I thought about the idea the more fascinated I became with where I could potentially take it. Still, at its core, it’s a story about a bunch of strangers in a high stress situation who are forced to deal with that situation as a group.

The Last Stop is available on Amazon as an eBook download for only 99 cents.