I am greatly blessed and I would like to thank all of you, my readers and friends, from the depths of my tattered heart for being a large part of my blessing.
Background Information: Several years ago, when I was heartbroken from my husband's infidelity and divorce suit, and shortly after I moved in with my daughter to my parents' home, I had a little argument with God. You see, He wanted me to write a book about my experiences during my discovery of my husband's infidelity and my fight for my marriage. But the whole thing just hurt too deeply and I did not want to write it. So we fought: Me refusing to write and He prodding and nudging in the direction of writing.
Well, God is God. He wins everything. So, eventually, I caved and put pen to paper. I told Him that I would write, even though I did not want to, but He had to find the readers. That was the deal and it took me about half a year to finish -- even though I cheated by using many of my own journal entries. For His part, God was much slower than half a year to come through. Let's see... that was about the end of 2009 and it is now the beginning of 2012. Along the way, He did put people in my path who would read and tell me I needed to continue writing. (Which I did.) I won a Silver award for that first book and a Bronze award for my second book. But, regardless of my awards, I sold NO copies of the book I fought with God about writing AND I cannot find a publisher to put it in book stores for me. It just sat up on Amazon.com as a print-on-demand by unknown little me. After a while, I figured out how to put it on Amazon Kindle, too. But still it sold zero copies.
A few months ago, I got an email from Amazon Kindle talking about its "KDP Prime" program and lending library. It allows authors to put their books in the lending library for free download by subscribers. E-books are enrolled for 3 months at a time and Amazon gives authors a total of 5 days during the enrollment period where they will promote the book for free on their site. There are two catches: During the free promotion days, the book can be downloaded by readers for free vs. just lent out. And enrolled books cannot be sold by any other electronic publishers than Amazon. (But electronic copies can still also be sold to Amazon patrons.) Well, I was selling NO copies of The Disposable Noble Wife, so I decided that I had nothing to lose by enrolling it in the KDP Prime lending library for 3 months.
I scheduled my first 3 days of "free promotion" for a Friday through Sunday during the first month and wound up "selling" just over 300 copies of the book that had previously sold none. I felt elated, to put it mildly, and praised God for leading me to this Prime program where people could find and read my writing. I proceeded to enroll two of my other writings so that I could keep my name as an author in front of Prime members on at least one day a week. I scheduled Saturdays for the promotions and it has been quite fun to watch the number pf my books "sold" each Saturday for the last few weeks.
Now, last week, I got an email that said something about a free webinar to teach authors how to make bunches of sales and money. I attended the webinar and they want lots of money to enroll in their program, of course. I don't have any money, but I did learn what I could from the webinar and one of the things said was to promote books on weekdays instead of weekend days. I figured I would try the advice. After all, I have nothing to lose. Right?
This Tuesday was my trial. I sold 2987 free copies of The Disposable Noble Wife. Yesterday, Wednesday, one of those readers added a review of the book to Amazon.com. I was elated but curious because that reader gave me a two-star rating. I have honestly only ever received positive comments about this book from anyone who has actually opened its pages and read it. (This sums to one reader comment on Amazon.com and one 5-star review from Reader's Favorite reviews.) A co-dependent suffering from many years of attack on my self esteem, I was interested in any constructive criticism of how to improve my writing. I read what the reader had to say... and was crushed by it.
First, I tried calling a friend for emotional support. My friend did not answer her phone, so I ran to Facebook to express my dismay. I posted the entire review to my Fan page, to a private Christian group and sent copies to both my dear friend Holly Hartz (who is a more tenured public figure) and my new friend Ess-jee Rautenbach (a newer public figure but OH so spiritually in tuned).
The response and outpouring of support I received was astounding and truly humbling. People downloaded and read my book, then offered me their words of encouragement, support and very HIGH praise. Just over 300 people downloaded to read it. Talk about incredible! In addition, Christian vocalist/recording artist Holly Hartz, my dear friend from college, gave me words of encouragement over private message. Christian author Ess-jee Rautenbach messaged me with his spirital insights and encouragement. Minor and growing in Celebrity Darryl Markette even chimed in via private message and expressed his confidence in my writing abilities.
In addition, my friend who has a Master's degree in electrical engineering and whose opinion I genuinely respect, Tom, took out time to talk to me on the phone last night and promised to read and enter an HONEST review of the book for me.
All I have to say is WOW. You guys are amazing. Praise God for leading so many wonderful and supportive people to read my "compellingly awful" words and hear my "mentally disturbed" voice. Thank you so much for reading my writings for so many months and for being ready to lend me your words of encouragement when I need them. Bless you all.
Background Information: Several years ago, when I was heartbroken from my husband's infidelity and divorce suit, and shortly after I moved in with my daughter to my parents' home, I had a little argument with God. You see, He wanted me to write a book about my experiences during my discovery of my husband's infidelity and my fight for my marriage. But the whole thing just hurt too deeply and I did not want to write it. So we fought: Me refusing to write and He prodding and nudging in the direction of writing.
A few months ago, I got an email from Amazon Kindle talking about its "KDP Prime" program and lending library. It allows authors to put their books in the lending library for free download by subscribers. E-books are enrolled for 3 months at a time and Amazon gives authors a total of 5 days during the enrollment period where they will promote the book for free on their site. There are two catches: During the free promotion days, the book can be downloaded by readers for free vs. just lent out. And enrolled books cannot be sold by any other electronic publishers than Amazon. (But electronic copies can still also be sold to Amazon patrons.) Well, I was selling NO copies of The Disposable Noble Wife, so I decided that I had nothing to lose by enrolling it in the KDP Prime lending library for 3 months.
I scheduled my first 3 days of "free promotion" for a Friday through Sunday during the first month and wound up "selling" just over 300 copies of the book that had previously sold none. I felt elated, to put it mildly, and praised God for leading me to this Prime program where people could find and read my writing. I proceeded to enroll two of my other writings so that I could keep my name as an author in front of Prime members on at least one day a week. I scheduled Saturdays for the promotions and it has been quite fun to watch the number pf my books "sold" each Saturday for the last few weeks.
Now, last week, I got an email that said something about a free webinar to teach authors how to make bunches of sales and money. I attended the webinar and they want lots of money to enroll in their program, of course. I don't have any money, but I did learn what I could from the webinar and one of the things said was to promote books on weekdays instead of weekend days. I figured I would try the advice. After all, I have nothing to lose. Right?
This Tuesday was my trial. I sold 2987 free copies of The Disposable Noble Wife. Yesterday, Wednesday, one of those readers added a review of the book to Amazon.com. I was elated but curious because that reader gave me a two-star rating. I have honestly only ever received positive comments about this book from anyone who has actually opened its pages and read it. (This sums to one reader comment on Amazon.com and one 5-star review from Reader's Favorite reviews.) A co-dependent suffering from many years of attack on my self esteem, I was interested in any constructive criticism of how to improve my writing. I read what the reader had to say... and was crushed by it.
First, I tried calling a friend for emotional support. My friend did not answer her phone, so I ran to Facebook to express my dismay. I posted the entire review to my Fan page, to a private Christian group and sent copies to both my dear friend Holly Hartz (who is a more tenured public figure) and my new friend Ess-jee Rautenbach (a newer public figure but OH so spiritually in tuned).
The response and outpouring of support I received was astounding and truly humbling. People downloaded and read my book, then offered me their words of encouragement, support and very HIGH praise. Just over 300 people downloaded to read it. Talk about incredible! In addition, Christian vocalist/recording artist Holly Hartz, my dear friend from college, gave me words of encouragement over private message. Christian author Ess-jee Rautenbach messaged me with his spirital insights and encouragement. Minor and growing in Celebrity Darryl Markette even chimed in via private message and expressed his confidence in my writing abilities.
In addition, my friend who has a Master's degree in electrical engineering and whose opinion I genuinely respect, Tom, took out time to talk to me on the phone last night and promised to read and enter an HONEST review of the book for me.
All I have to say is WOW. You guys are amazing. Praise God for leading so many wonderful and supportive people to read my "compellingly awful" words and hear my "mentally disturbed" voice. Thank you so much for reading my writings for so many months and for being ready to lend me your words of encouragement when I need them. Bless you all.
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