Blind Scorpion Spy Thriller Released!

I'm excited to announce the release of a new novel that I have co-published with thriller author Farsheed Ferdowsi called "Blind Scorpion:  Iran's Nuclear Sting."  This novel asks the intriguing and frightening question:  what if Iran really IS secretly developing a nuclear weapon?

Here is a synopisis:

The BLIND SCORPION is a Top Secret computer program for simulating nuclear weapons explosions and the catastrophic havoc they wreak. Dr. Ross Shaheen, the developer of the software, is living the American dream. Between his internationally-recognized nuclear weapons research career at the prestigious Berkeley Lab and his picture-perfect family in the San Francisco suburbs, it's a good life that can only get better...until he is lured into lecturing before an elite group of scientists in the country of his birth: Iran.

The seven thousand mile trip takes Shaheen back to the land of the lion and the sun, yet it also delivers to Iran's very doorstep an important American citizen with Top Secret security clearance. It soon becomes clear what the Iranians are really after: the BLIND SCORPION. The coveted software is the key to advancing their clandestine nuclear weapons program without the rest of the world being able to prove its existence. Shaheen becomes entangled in a twisted web of espionage, corruption and survival, putting to the test not only his secret knowledge but also the very core of his allegiance to the land he now calls home.

If he lives, Ross Shaheen could walk away a hero.

The question is, for which country?

This thoroughly researched spy thriller is written in the vein of Tom Clancy/John Le Carre.  The fact that the story was written by an Iranian-American who grew up in Iran gives the narrative an air of authority and authenticity.   In short, I cannot say enough good things about this book.  Normally I don't publish books under the Mike Wells brand that I have not written or coauthored myself, but I made an exception in this case because I was involved in shaping it.  

Farsheed Ferdowsi

When Farsheed decided to write this story, he had never tackled the writing of a novel before, and since we have been close friends ever since college, I agreed to be his mentor.  As he finished each chapter, I gave him detailed feedback and helped him keep the narrative tight, to maintain the high level of tension required to achieve the "unputdownable" reader engagement that I am so particular about.  When the manuscript was finished and polished, Farsheed published it himself in both paper and ebook format under another title (Mushroom in the Sand), but due to his busy schedule and family commitments, he was never able to put a serious effort into promoting it.  However, despite this limitation, Mushroom in the Sand garnered 122 Amazon reviews averaging 4.6 stars, which--interestingly--is almost exactly the same number of reviews/average rating that Lust, Money & Murder 1, 2 & 3  has (126 reviews and 4.6 stars average).

Having said all that, while Blind Scorpion is a thriller, it is not my usual fare, so the story and characters may not appeal to all of my readers.  But no worries--as always, you can download Book 1 of and give it a no-risk try.  If it grabs you, I recommend you buy the three book bundle as you will save money.  The book is available in ebook format on all major retail platforms - links are below:

I hope you enjoy it!

BLIND SCORPION DOWNLOAD LINKS

Book 1 (Free on most sites!)

 Amazon USA - Amazon UK - Apple iBooks - B&N Nook  - Google Play - Kobo - Smashwords 

Book 2

 Amazon USA - Amazon UK - Apple iBooks - B&N Nook  - Google Play - Kobo - Smashwords

Book 3

 Amazon USA - Amazon UK - Apple iBooks - B&N Nook  - Google Play - Kobo - Smashwords

Books 1, 2 & 3 Combined

 Amazon USA - Amazon UK - Apple iBooks - B&N Nook  - Google Play - Kobo - Smashwords

Is the Amazon KDP Select Program Dead? A Fresh Case Study

I have a friend named Farsheed Ferdowsi, and he’s a good writer.

A damn good writer.

Last weekend, he used three of his “free days” in the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing Select program to try and boost the sales of his international thriller, Mushroom in the Sand.

In advance of this, he spent a lot of time preparing.  He fine-tuned his genres/categories so that the book, if downloaded in large numbers, would be listed on as many of the Amazon subgenre bestseller lists as possible.  Meanwhile, he placed ads in BookBub and Freebooksy to appear during those three days to maximize exposure. 

The book went free at 12:01 a.m on Friday, October 18th.  To help him out, I tweeted the news that the book was free several times to my 60,000 Twitter followers.

The downloads took off like a rocket.  By Friday night, the book was already #1 in several categories, and continued to climb in others.

Over the weekend, the novel had over 25,000 downloads!

Here is a summary of its bestseller list performance in Kindle Store eBooks:

#1 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers – all weekend

#1 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Conspiracies – all weekend

#1 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Military - all weekend

#1 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Espionage – all weekend

#1 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Terrorism – all weekend

With performance like this, I don’t have to tell you that Farsheed was excited to see what would happen on Monday morning when the book went back to paid status.

Well, the novel has now been back on the paid list for three days, and has sold a grand total of...are you sitting down?

14 copies.

That’s right, 14 copies!  At $5.95, the royalty payments will amount to about $60.  This doesn’t begin to even cover the costs of the two ads he placed.

Now, before you start thinking, “Maybe it’s not a very good book” or “maybe the subject matter is boring” etc. let me stop you right there.   This is a novel about what would happen if Iran actually develops a functional nuclear weapon. You can’t get much more timely subject matter than that. The story is fast-paced and extremely well-researched.   Readers of spy novels and thrillers love it.  The book has earned 50 reviews on Amazon, averaging 4.7 stars.  I know for a fact that Farsheed has never bought reviews or even exchanged reviews with other authors—every one of those 50 reviews is legitimate, from ordinary readers. 

As an author who has a fair amount of experience in publishing, I can only come to one conclusion about all this, which is pretty obvious.  I personally don’t think it’s worth giving Amazon exclusivity and removing a book from B&N, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords, Google Play, Sony, Flipkart, and all the other ebook retail sites (which is required) to be included in this program.

What do you think?