Free works: More thoughts and more numbers

Today, for the first time ever, Thagoth has broken into the Top 200 paid fantasy chart on iTunes. It has debuted at #159. Some of the titles it is, at this moment, outselling:

• Changes -Jim Butcher
• A Touch of Dead -Charlaine Harris
• Moon Called -Patricia Briggs
• Flirt -Laurell Hamilton
• Dead Witch Walking -Kim Harrison
• Bearers of the Black Staff -Terry Brooks
• The Two Towers -Tolkien
• A Hard Day's Knight -Simon R. Green

Why now and not in the previous months? After all, 'Thief who Spat' has been in the Top 10 free epic fantasy chart, usually at #1, for more than two months. The answer is 'more free' and 'wider market'. 'Waste Land' is a sci fi short story. It has introduced my writing to a wider audience. It has given more people a reason to take a chance on my not-free writing. It's currently #2 in the Sci Fi & Lit Short Story free category.

As a writer who wants to get read, and maybe even be able to earn a living writing some day, my task is to rid myself of the curse of obscurity. After nearly nine years of stumbling in the dark, I'm starting to see some glimmers of hope.