ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS is a bestseller!

Thank you, truly.

I got this text on Wednesday night. I had just gotten back from a day at the mall with my daughter and was ready to get a little work done.

Kosoko responded to my “??” by calling to tell me the good news: Assassins Anonymous had made the USA Today bestseller list! It came in at 144 out of 150. That means out of all the books sold in the United States last week, my goofy little book about a recovering hitman and his cat was in the top 150.

A squeaker, but I’ll take it.

It’s always been funny to me, the perception of my career: The Warehouse was a big deal. One of the most buzzed-about releases in 2019. It got a movie option from Ron Howard, it sold in more than 20 languages…

It also didn’t hit any bestseller lists, and I think it was kinda expected to hit a list.

But I cannot tell you, since then, the number of times people referred to me as both a “bestselling” and “award-winning” author. Neither of those things are true! But I think the perception of the deal was so big that people just sort of assumed those things must have happened.

So of course it served as a constant reminder that they didn’t.

I don’t write to hit lists or win awards, but those things are nice. They’re feathers you get to stick in your cap that convey a certain level of gravitas. As soon as you hit a list, you’re not an author anymore, you’re a bestselling author. As soon as you win an award, you’re an award-winning author moving forward.

Of course I wanted those things. You have to do this for the love of the game, or you’ll never step up to the plate. But you can’t not yearn to knock it out of the park, and for the crowd to go wild.

Reading the tea leaves here—the book isn’t available in big box retailers like Target or Costco, it didn’t get picked for any major book clubs, and it didn’t get a New York Times review. There are a lot of factors that go into making a book a success, but those are three big waypoints.

To land on a list without those things makes me feel like I am building a strong readership. So I want to say thank you, to everyone who bought the book, showed up for events, posted about it, told friends about it… I would not be here without you.

You can still get it, if you haven’t! And there are signed copies available at Murder by the Book and Katy Budget Books in Houston, BookPeople in Austin, Poisoned Pen in Phoenix, McIntyre’s in Pittsboro, The Mysterious Bookshop and The Strand in NYC, and the Staten Island Barnes & Noble. With more to come…