Turing Evolved - Science Fiction - Full Novel

[speedlever]

Terrific news!

[Freeshadow]

Yeah, what kennyc said.

[IcecreamLtDan]

Good news, let us know how it all turns out!

[shootingMaNs]

Great news, David. Good luck!!

[Spock96]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

OK, something unexpected happened today. Usually Turing Evolved hovers around the top-20 bestsellers in Amazon Free under Technothrillers and Science Fiction.

Today, it's the #1 Bestselling Technothriller on Amazon. Seems the Free Kindle Books blog gave me a good review and they must have a lot of readers, because overnight I moved over 1000 books. I have no idea how long it will stay there - it's an impossible spot to hold without some kind of boost to the normal stats.

But that's not the best news I woke up to. The interesting story is that in a couple of hours, my status of "Independent Writer" may well change. For those who have followed this thread, you may remember my frequent laments that none of the players of that game would read my work and that as a result, I was unable to find a publisher to put it into print or an agent to help me with that.

Well, wish me luck. In a few hours I hope to make a positive change there that may put Turing Evolved on the path to print.

Thanks everyone - it's not an exaggeration to say that I believe the efforts of those on this forum have actually tipped the scales in this matter and there's quite a story to that as well. More information to come after the outcome of this morning's meeting.

David.

I just now saw this.
Best of luck to you my friend.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

OK, something unexpected happened today. Usually Turing Evolved hovers around the top-20 bestsellers in Amazon Free under Technothrillers and Science Fiction.

Today, it's the #1 Bestselling Technothriller on Amazon. Seems the Free Kindle Books blog gave me a good review and they must have a lot of readers, because overnight I moved over 1000 books. I have no idea how long it will stay there - it's an impossible spot to hold without some kind of boost to the normal stats.

But that's not the best news I woke up to. The interesting story is that in a couple of hours, my status of "Independent Writer" may well change. For those who have followed this thread, you may remember my frequent laments that none of the players of that game would read my work and that as a result, I was unable to find a publisher to put it into print or an agent to help me with that.

Well, wish me luck. In a few hours I hope to make a positive change there that may put Turing Evolved on the path to print.

Thanks everyone - it's not an exaggeration to say that I believe the efforts of those on this forum have actually tipped the scales in this matter and there's quite a story to that as well. More information to come after the outcome of this morning's meeting.

David.

Congrats on reaching the # 1 spot on the Bestselling Technothriller on Amazon David. And good luck to you on the other related things.

[TheSFReader]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

Well, wish me luck. In a few hours I hope to make a positive change there that may put Turing Evolved on the path to print.

David, have you some news that you can share ? (good or bad) ? I guess a few days can qualify also for a few hours, right ?

[DavidKitson]

Originally Posted by TheSFReader

David, have you some news that you can share ? (good or bad) ? I guess a few days can qualify also for a few hours, right ?

Hi SFReader,

Sorry for the late response. I did try to reply earlier, but it seems that the exception to rule 7 does not apply to me answering questions like the above, so I'm banned from answering questions for at least 7 days after I make a post... Yes, I pointed out the earlier post in this thread, but if the forum owner chooses to arbitrarily apply rules, I have no choice but to accept it whether I like it or not.

Anyway, on to the answer. A few hours after I posted last, I signed on with a major literary agent who will be taking the manuscript to one of the big publishers. I have no idea what is going to happen next, but am hopeful that that will work out well, though it's still no guarantee of acceptance.

It does mean, however, that they are at least likely to read it before accepting or rejecting it which is something I have not been able to achieve before, so I'm going to call it a win regardless of outcome.

In the mean time, nothing changes. I am still working on the fourth release ( with much assistance ) and the existing copies are still free at the moment, though if a publisher does take Turing Evolved on, the free copies are very likely to disappear from all the major e-book retailers. So to anyone still planning on downloading it - get it while you can as the fourth edition may not be out for very long.

I'll update as soon as that situation progresses, the 7-day rule permitting.

Also, if anyone likes comics - ( I'll try to link )
http://katase6626.deviantart.com/art...2F6729574&qo=5

The "Previous" button changes pages. The artist is Abraham Katase. Or if you locate his page on Deviant Art his username is katase6626.

Personally, I think he did an exceptional job on the artwork and would encourage anyone who likes his work to comment on his page - It's an interpretation of Turing Evolved and not exactly the same as the book, but I found myself wanting to read each following page. He's not intending to complete the entire story atm, but reading through the existing artwork left me wanting more.

I took his image of the Fat Pan and used it as my own desktop image. I really like the way he imagined the AVC control surfaces, blending an almost natural wing with a conventional design. It's pretty different to what what I imagined myself, but no less valid. I think he really nailed the darkness of the prologue also. A very talented artist indeed.

On other fronts ( Since this post counts as my once-per-week "self promotion" ) Turing evolved is now in the top 3 books of both the Technothriller and High Tech Science Fiction "Best Books" lists on Amazon - It's also broken into the "Genre Fiction Top 100 books on Amazon" list - sitting somewhere around #90 at the moment, but moving frequently. It's the only free book currently in the top 100.

OK, well, it's Sunday, so please queue any questions and I'll get around to them on or after the 17th. PMs will elicit a quicker response

Thanks again to everyone. Your help has really been what made it possible for me to get an agent to read the manuscript. More on that story later...

Regards,
David

[speedlever]

I always enjoy reading your updates David. Kudos to you for doing such good work and finally getting some recognition.

... waiting on the movie...

[TheSFReader]

Thanks for your answer (and sorry for my delay )
Had a look at the comics, and yes, it's GOOD ;-)
Please tell us as soon as you have the 4th update up
And I think you'll need then to continue your work on the follow-up.

[DavidKitson]

Update: The 4th edition is coming along. Editing is now complete and I have a re-edit pass to conclude it.

Also, the publisher rejected the manuscript. They liked it, but found it to be a little too "Asimov" for their tastes. Anyway, the manuscript isn't going to be presented to anyone else until the fourth edition is complete so I think it may still be free on Amazon and other e-readers for some time yet.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was disappointed, but Australia is a tough market to push an already-released heavy-on-the-science-fiction technothriller it seems. So for the moment, it's down, but not out.

On the positive side, It's still slowly climbing the charts on Amazon and still sits in the top 20 books in all five of it's genre's;
Action/Adventure top 20 at #12
Science Fiction top 20 at #14
Thrillers top 20 at #15
Technothrillers top 20 at #4
High-Tech Science Fiction top 20 at #4

Regards
David

[speedlever]

Thanks for the update David. As in anything worthwhile doing, persistence is key. Hang in there.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

Also, the publisher rejected the manuscript. They liked it, but found it to be a little too "Asimov" for their tastes.

Ah, what do they know. I'm sure J.K.Rowling met plenty of rejection of her Harry Potter series of books before a traditional publisher picked it up. Hang in there David, I'm sure some publisher out there will see its true worth and want to publish it.

[Freeshadow]

So in short it only wasn't their stuff, but you got professional acknowledgement of the books values: a well done piece of AI development and consequences in Asimovian style of "think further what happens when"
Such a rejection is IMO a compliment and a recommendation for an other (read: topically fitting) publisher.
Heads up Dave!

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

They liked it, but found it to be a little too "Asimov" for their tastes.

I mentioned a leaning towards Asimov in my review. Wasn't a put down though.