The Keeper Game Results

Hi everyone,

First -- to all of you who played The Keeper Game – the game has now concluded and I am waiting to hear from the winner (whose name is posted on the game page www.thekeepergame.com) whether she would prefer a Kindle or a pair of pink boxing gloves. It will be interesting to see if the lady is a reader or a fighter. She could be both, of course!

I found the stats fascinating: 37.4% of players were Warriors. 31.6% scored the profile of Thief and 31% were Healers. Probably a good thing that the pragmatic, feet-on-the ground types are in the majority rather than the obsessives or the touchy-feelies BTW even though there are no more prizes to be won, the game is still active. So if you haven't tried it yet, give it a spin!

Here are the two banner ads I ran on MySpace to advertise the game. As I said before, I'm all for subtlety in my books but when it comes to promotion I have no shame. One was intended for a more general public and one was targeted at martial arts and fighting sites. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which

It was an interesting experience running the ad. One has to conform to strict rules concerning size and layout but it is fair to say that MySpace is not nearly as strict as Facebook. Facebook commercials are very uniform-looking (pretty much like Facebook itself) and do not allow for great artistic freedom. Furthermore, you get slapped down for sloppy spelling, poor grammar and for misleading the consumer: Play the game. Live forever. Obviously a misleading promise. Bad girl.

And then, thanks again to all of you who responded with ideas to my previous blog. I will be making very good use of your feedback next week when I head to New York to attend the annual Thrillerfest convention. I'm very excited – this will be my first attendance and I'm looking forward to the panel discussion. I just hope we draw a good audience. Unfortunately, our discussion goes head to head with two other panel discussions that are scheduled for the same time slot. One of them has the catchy title of "Will you sign my bra?" I'm actually not quite sure what this debate will be about but I rather think it may draw more interest than ‘How international is the modern thriller market."

Anyway, wish me luck! I also have a forty minute taped radio interview scheduled with a very impressive interviewer by the name of Pia Lindstrom. Ms Lindstrom is the sister of Isabella Rossellini but she is known in her own right for her skilled interviewing technique. To say that I am slightly apprehensive is putting it mildly. Ms Lindstrom obviously believes in thorough preparation and has asked me to send her copies of all my books in advance of the interview. My problem is that I can hardly remember my early books. My memory is feeble and I have difficulty remembering the twists and turns of the plot lines. Furthermore, as I am a fickle woman, I tend to forget my heroes as soon as I move on to the next man in my life. Fingers crossed...

Thanks again, everyone! My panel discussion takes place on 11 July and I'll report back to you guys soon after. Have fun and I hope the weather where you are, is as spectacular as it is over here.