Flack's Daily Smack - What Slashdotting Feels Like

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Yesterday, my website got “slashdotted”. Slashdot.org is a technology-oriented news site that is read by hundreds of thousands of people every day. When someone “slashdots” your site, that means that a link to your site has been posted on Slashdot.org, and those hundreds of thousands of readers (or some percentage thereof) all begin to visit your site at the same time. Not only did my website get slashdotted, but I feel like over the past 24 hours, my life got slashdotted as well.

 

It all started just after 3pm yesterday when I received an e-mail order for my book. A few minutes later, I received a second one. Between September 15th and September 24th I sold four books, so two in one day wasnÂ’t bad. As I was reading the second order I noticed it said the buyer had read a review for my book on Slashdot. What? I was on Slashdot?

 

Two weeks prior, fellow writer and filmmaker Jason Scott told me he had submitted a review of my book to Slashdot, but after two weeks of waiting we had both decided they had passed on the story. But suddenly, there it was. As I went online to read the review, another order came in – and then another. I logged into Lulu.com to check my sales. Now I had sold four books. Four books in one day! That’s great!

 

With each order came e-mails from potential customers, telling me about their own BBS stories. I read and responded to each one. Old friends I haven’t talked to in a while saw the story and e-mailed me. I check my sales on Lulu – I was up to ten books. Ten books in one day? This was incredible!

 

As the day went on, things just kept snowballing. By dinnertime, I had sold 30 books through Lulu, and four from my own site (the ones I sell through my own site are autographed – some people prefer them signed, others could care less.) Jason Scott called to congratulate me on the successful comments the review was generating. When I went to bed, I was up to forty sales!

 

When I woke up, I was past 50.

 

The e-mails continue to pour in. Some people ask about books. Some people ask about books, but start conversations as well. Some people just want to chat. I respond to all of them. My Outlook inbox icon has stayed visible in my taskbar all day. I canÂ’t remember a time in the past 24 hours where I havenÂ’t had unread messages waiting.

 

Have you ever been driving down the interstate and stuck your head out the window? The air pressure is so great that itÂ’s hard to breath. Your chest pounds and your eyes water. The wind is deafening. You can force yourself to breath, but it takes effort. ThatÂ’s what slashdotting feels like.

 

In the past 24 hours, IÂ’ve sold over 70 books through Lulu, and all 16 of the books I had on hand. I have 25 books set aside for my book signing this weekend in Chicago, and I am already receiving pre-orders from people who are waiting for my next shipment of books to arrive.

 

People refer to having “15 minutes of fame” as a bad thing, but let me tell you, it feels pretty damn good.

 

 

 

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