Check out the ornament my awesome sister-in-law Amy gave me!

Revival tells the life story of a rock & roll musician named Jamie Morton from early childhood to his senior years. You get a strong feel for Jamie's first love, his aptitude for music, and his struggles with addiction. As a character study, Revival feels authentic but never really breaks new ground.

Jamie's childhood preacher Charles Jacobs wanders in and out of Jamie's story over the course of the novel. Reverend Jacobs loses faith early on in the story, but he never gives up his obsession with electricity, and each time Jamie meets up with Jacobs, he learns a little more about the mad scientist's latest experiments, non of which really ring true, despite King's huckstering and hand-waving.

And then there's the ending. The ending of Revival would have worked for a 30 minute episode of The Twilight Zone or Creepshow, but in a 400+ page novel, it feels ridiculous. If you really want to know what happens, this spoiler-filled customer review at Amazon sums it up nicely.

I "read" the audiobook, which is narrated by David Morse, who does a fantastic job. I enjoyed the storytelling, but I never felt any tension and I can't think about the ending without shaking my head.

I recently tested some different ads at Goodreads, and it has been a terrific learning experience. 

Goodreads allows you to control how the ads are displayed, and all of mine are targeted toward Goodreads visitors who are fans of the genres and authors shown in the box on the right. Some of these authors wrote books similar to mine, and some are just authors I like.

I spent $50 to set up my marketing campaign at Goodreads, but the money is stored in a pool until users click on the ads. Each click deducts a small amount from my initial contribution.

Goodreads lets you set up multiple ads for one campaign, and that's the interesting part. I wrote different copy for each one and then was able to see which ads were the most effective. 

Here are the eleven ads that got clicks ("CTR" = "Click Through Rate):

What's even more interesting, in my opinion, is to see the seven ads that didn't get any clicks:

I have not seen a big jump in sales from running this campaign, but I have learned from it, and that in itself has been valuable. 

Which ad do you like the best?

Looking for more dinosaur fiction? Check out the Prehistoric Pulp blog!

[Spoilers Below]
Time travel is tricky! I thought it might be interesting to share a chart that explains the timelines at the end of The Dinosaur Four.

Let me be the first to say that this chart is no alternative for solid, easy-to-follow storytelling. If you found the ending of The Dinosaur Four to be confusing, then I am solely to blame.

Nevertheless, it can be fun to see things charted out!


Don't scroll down unless you have finished reading The Dinosaur Four, because this chart spoils the ending.

SPOILER SPACE






The timelines of The Dinosaur Four