Back last summer, when I was getting ready for the launch of RADIO FREEFALL, I set myself a goal for the sales of the book. I calculated that Tor would print up about 7000 copies of the book, and I would do my best to help them sell half of those.

I got my first royalty statement yesterday and it looks like I fell a bit short of that goal. RF sold about 2500 copies so far. I suppose a few late sales might edge that number up, but I don't expect many more. I will give myself a B for this result, not bad for my first book.

This also means that I'm a bit shy of earning out my advance, but that's what the paperback is for. In order to earn the rest of the advance I have to sell a little over 5000 copies of the paperback. How am I going to do that? I have just three words for you: cheesy book trailer.

No, I know what you're going to say. "Matt, the web is saturated with cheesy book trailers. How will you get yours to stand out in the crowd?"

Ah, I'm glad you asked. This is where you come in. Yes, you. I'm going to piece together my cheesy book trailer with testimonials from the intrepid pioneers who sprung for the hardcover. Your testimonial could take the form of a voice over with visuals, a special effects laden clip where you act out your favorite scene from the book, or you could just do a puppet show. But your best bet is a video clip of you talking about the book. Just thirty seconds or so, and I'll probably use ten.

Now for your next question, "Matt, what's in this for me?"

Well I did say I had a new contest for you. This time I've got a real prize, not just a RADIO FREEFALL T-shirt or a copy of the book. After all, if you're qualified to make a testimonial about the book, you must have a copy already. No this time I'm giving away a free audiobook of your choice from Audible.com. It's about a $35 value, not chump change at all. You can pick from any of the books I can get for one credit with my account, which I think includes some magazines and newspapers as well as full length novels. (Right now I'm listening to A Distant Mirror by Babara Tuchman. It's going to take me forever to finish listening to it. A lot of stuff happened in the 14th century. Who knew?)

I'll keep the contest open for a month, and give away two audio books to the makers of the two clips I like the best. When you send me the clip you will be giving me permission to edit it and plaster it all over the internet. In turn I promise never to make any of you look foolish. I do reserve the right to leave you looking foolish if that's the way you want to come across.

There, you have your contest. Now bring on the cheese!