Reconsidering My Andrew Patel Stories...

Earlier today I wrote a blog post that referenced how my supervillain protagonist tales "Ubermensch" and "Needs Must" starring Andrew Patel, a half-Indian biomedical engineer with a major Nietzsche obsession, weren't selling well. In 2013 I'd only sold nine copies of "Ubermensch" and three of "Needs Must," although people snapped up a lot of them for free when they were promos. This contributed to my decision to shelve a possible second set of Patel stories and put off creating an anthology of the first set, even though I already had a cover made.

However, I just re-examined my spreadsheet and although the stories didn't sell as well as "Beast of the Bosporus" and "I am the Wendigo" (my two best-sellers), there's a very big reason I'd overlooked--both stories were only made available in September.

They've only been available for a third of the year and yet "Ubermensch" exceeded the older and more popular (in its first few months at least) story "Melon Heads." If they sold consistently throughout the whole year at that rate, "Ubermensch" might exceed "Wendigo" (my best-seller, with 23 copies).

So although I'm still thinking superheroes/supervillains don't sell as well as creature or Lovecraftian horror, I won't be as harsh on Mr. Patel and friends. You may see the "Consequences" collection--four stories covering the battle between Patel and the superhero Silverbolt and its consequences--yet.