How's Wayback doing?

One of the questions I get asked a lot is "how is the book doing?" This is a question that's hard to answer. Do you mean "Have I made a million dollars yet?" or do you mean "Is it selling enough so that you can write another one and get it published because of Wayback's track record?"

Well, I haven't made a million dollars, but I do think that the Lord has blessed my efforts (and lets face it - it happens only because of Him in the first place). I got some news a few weeks ago that made me smile.

And here it is: after nearly nine months of chasing Logic's End in the Futuristic Bestseller's list on STL Distribution's site (STL is Wayback's Distributor across the USA), Wayback is finally on the top. For the broad, general fiction spot for my publisher I keep horse-racing with Ahriman Gate by Tom Horn for the first slot.

Here's a map of where the readers live in the world (or at least where they hit the web. It's amazing to think that someone in South Africa is reading or has read Wayback.

Reviews continue to come in and I continue to get email from readers. That's why I do this. This week I'm heading to Denver for Jerry Jenkin's Writing Conference. I'm armed with proposals for my next book and looking for an agent and/or a publisher for Maximal Reserve.

Mike Dellosso Reviews Wayback

Mike Dellosso, the author of Scream, The Hunted and the forthcoming Darlington Woods reviewed Wayback on Amazon: Intellectually Stimulating Thriller Batterman's WAYBACK is more than a thriller . . . it's an education. Meticulously researched, this book is an intelligently written, thought-provoking, yet action-packed ride. It gave me much food for thought without taking from the entertainment value. I've often wondered what it would be like to go back to the time of the Great Flood. To see Noah's ark. To experience life as it was lived before the deluge. This book satisfied my curiosity. Time and time again I found myself sharing insights and ideas from the book with my wife. If you're looking for a story that will satisfy on a number of levels, stimulate you intellectually, hold your imagination captive, and keep you turning pages, WAYBACK needs to be at the top of your list.

2 New Reviews

Greetings! Hope your new year is going well.

Alisa Wagner has posted a review of Wayback and an interview of yours truly on her fabulous blog: Faith Imagined. Alisa has poured countless hours into her blog site and the number of people following her on Twitter and as Google followers shows she's having an impact. Check out her site.

Andy Anglea posted a review on his site as well after reading Wayback over Christmas break.

If you're a writer and are planning on attending the Christian Writer's Guild in Denver, Colorado make sure you look me up for coffee. I'll be there trying to find a publisher and agent for my next novel, Maximal Reserve. I'm just finishing the 5th draft and it's 90,000 words - that's around 350 pages. Some early readers that have read it have even said they think it's better than Wayback.

I guess I should be getting better over time. That's the whole idea, right? :)

Please pray for the poor souls in Haiti struggling to survive amidst the devastation of the earthquake that hit there two days ago. Also, consider making your faith and prayer more concrete by sending money to a respectable humanitarian aid organization like the Red Cross.

Blessings to you,

Sam

Another good review of Wayback

Mark Buzard of Thoughts of a Sojourner has posted a review of Wayback. You can visit his site and register for a signed copy of the book over the next 10 days. Here's the review (with Mark's permission to repost):

Sam Batterman, the author of Wayback, emailed me recently and asked if I would be interested in reviewing his book. I read about it - it sounded pretty good, but it is not from a big Christian publisher, so I was a bit dubious, but I went for it, and am glad I did.

This is a time travel book, but is the best one I have ever read - and I have read a few. I found it entertaining, fascinating, and even educational. A team of experts in their fields is sent back in time to just prior the Flood. Though the book is the author's idea, based on the Bible and help from Answers In Genesis, I still was intrigued by the description of how things might have been.

The author uses a fictional story to show how intelligent design and Creationism have to be right. Through discussions with the characters in the book, he presents the proof for Creationism. Some on the team are Christians who believe completely in God and Creationism, while others are not Christians and embrace the theory of evolution, until they take the trip of a lifetime.

I really, honestly enjoyed this book. It came in the mail today (Saturday), and I took it, climbed in the recliner, pulled a blanket up over me, and quickly got pulled into the story. This was one of my "one sitting reads" - when a book is so good that I read it in one sitting, except for bathroom breaks or an email check. I learned that a book doesn't have to be from a big publishing company to be quality fiction.

Bookmark his site - he's got a lot of great reviews up there.

Blessings,
Sam

2010...and no flying cars (yet)

Wow, can it really be 2010? It seems like just yesterday everyone was worried (needlessly) about the Y2K bug and its civilization damaging effects, and now, ten years later we hardly remember what all the fuss was about.

2009 will always have a special memory for me. The year my first book, Wayback, was published, the year my daughter started playing sports competitively on JV teams, the list could go on and on. New Friends made, friends that have gone on to Heaven, friends moving away. It's a swirl of happiness and sadness all melded into one.

Maximal Reserve is now going through its third revision - the spelling and grammar errors that pockmarked the first draft are now gone and the story has been cut here and elaborated more there. It's gone from a meandering walk in a park to a sprint down a city street.

It's definitely better.

In February I'm going to the Christian Writer's Guild (a writer's conference that was started by Jerry Jenkins) and I plan on talking with publishers and agents about the manuscript then. I will also be posting it on Christian Manuscript Network to see if it gets any action beforehand.

One of the neat people that I became acquainted with in 2009 was Mike Dellosso. Mike also lives in Pennsylvania and he writes Christian Fiction that has a hint of horror and suspense. Can such a genre really exist in the world of Christian Fiction (you might ask)? The answer is wholeheartedly "Yes!!!" I read Scream and ripped through it in a day and a half. He's an honest writer and a master storyteller.

Finally, thank you to all my readers that took time out of their busy, hectic schedules and read Wayback. I much much appreciate each and everyone of you.

Blessings to you and yours in 2010,

Sam

Book Signing at the Alma-Mater

On Friday, December 4, I had the opportunity to do a book signing at the college I graduated from: Bob Jones Univeristy. It was successful in as many ways as you could measure:

• 100 books sold in 2 hours
• got to see the faculty members who gave me my great education
• saw old and new friends
• spent time with my sister, who works down there.

The young lady in this picture is the daughter of my Youth Pastor from high school, Randy David.

Here's me and my Computer Science professor, Dan Wooster. He's a huge supporter of my work and has sure encouraged me over the last year.

In closing off this post, Glenn Young over at his excellent blog: Faith, Fiction, Friends included me in a list of books he describes as the "Best Books he Read in 2009."

Here's his Fiction List...spin over to his site and check out the other categories:

Fiction:
· Providence by Chris Coppernoll
· Dogwood by Chris Fabry
· Chasing Francis by Ian Cron
· Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove
· Lost Mission by Athol Dickson
· Return Policy by Michael Snyder
· The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
· Summer of Light by Dale Cramer
· Wayback by Sam Batterman

Blessings,

Sam

The Alien Relic

Stephen King once referred to the first draft of any novel as an "alien relic." I couldn't agree more.

As I plow through the manuscript of my next novel, tentatively called Maximal Reserve, I am face to face with adverbs (words ending in -ly), broken and grammatically, mangled sentences, mismatched character names and redundant paragraphs that seem to indicate I was smoking an illegal substance at the time of the writing.

To make it worse, I have some early readers providing me thoughts and feedback. I need feedback! I need validation, but this process is exceptionally (look, another adverb!) humbling.

It's a good thing I have great friends!

I also see a lot of places where the plot needs to be tighter and more connected for the reader. This part reminds me of the medieval torture of being drawn and quartered. There is so much tension in the book and the chapters are so intricate in feeding information out as needed that I feel like the whole thing will fly apart.

One of my friends said that she found it interesting to see a book at this stage--fresh from the brain. That pretty much sums it up.

People may like sausage, but no one really wants to see how it's made.