The "Power" of Amazon

I was a little shocked when I came to write today and saw that it's been nearly a year since my last post. There are a couple of reasons for that. 1) I wasn't sure if I had anything to say. 2) I was trying to get my 2nd book finished and build a business.

Well, this weekend all that changed.

I did finally finish my 2nd Custodian Novel. It is called The Emerald Staff and there's a picture and some links in the sidebar. I released it as an e-book at the end of April this year and decided to do a free promo with The Amulet. Lots of other authors do this and I thought I'd give it a go. The Amulet at the time was sitting around #80,000 in the Amazon rankings and had probably been there since it was released in 2009. Writing I can do, marketing, despite my best effort, not so much.

So on Tues 5/10/11 I got an email from Amazon telling me the book will be free by Weds afternoon. Thursday lunchtime I was curious to see if it had shifted at all, maybe to #79,000 :-) I nearly fell off my chair.

Overnight The Amulet was torn from total obscurity to #22 on the Top 100 Bestseller list for free books. By Friday it was at #14 overall and #1 on the Children's Top 100 Bestseller list for free books, where it stayed for 3 days.

Ecstatic could not describe my feelings appropriately, but it just keeps getting better. After a couple of days, sales of The Emerald Staff started coming in and today it debuted at #25 on the Children's Hot New Releases list and broke onto the Children's Top 100 Bestseller list for paid books at #93.

And that, my friends, is the "power" of Amazon.

It has been a roller coaster ride and I'm still a bit dazed. For all of you who are now curious to find out more about me, firstly, I thank you sincerely for your interest in my work and secondly, you're welcome to stay right here and join me on this journey.

I like Surprizes

I had a pleasant and unexpected surprize today. My e-book is currently number 3 on the bestseller list for young adult fantasy at Smashwords.com.

To be honest I nearly fell off my chair!

Thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of my book.

Smashwords Summer/Winter Promotion

I am participating in the Smashwords Summer/Winter promotion. The Amulet is now available as a FREE e-book download for the month of July. Please feel free to tell all your friends about this offer. Use coupon code SW100 at checkout to get your FREE copy. Enjoy!

Click on the title to take you to the website.

Reading at the Library

It's been a while since my last post due mainly to my travels back home and then having to catch up on two weeks of work when I got back. Getting there phew!

Today I was invited to read excerpts from my novel at the local library. I was flattered and obviously accepted with enthusiasm.

The reading went very well and I was really pleased with the comments I received. We are blessed to have such a beautiful library for such a small town, and I like to get involved in anything like that.

So thank you Morgan Co Library for inviting me to speak today. It was a great opportunity and much appreciated.

How Time Flies

I can't believe I've been in the UK for a week already, that's half of my vacation gone and it only feels like I've blinked a couple of times.

Catching up with friends is always good, and a visit to a quaint old English seaside does wonders for the spirit and the inspiration. Having an ice cream cone on the pier is so typically English it sends shivers down my spine.

The next week will be spent having lunch out every day with a different friend, wow didn't realize I had that many :-)

Getting more writing done and it is exciting to be pushing the story forward. On track to get the book out by Apple fest in October this year. Hoping to have another sucessful book signing.

This evening will be spent sipping wine, eating left over curry from last night and watching one of my favorite shows that I can't get in the US... Midsommer Murders. Life is good!

Sitting on top of the Stairs

At the moment I'm sitting on the top stair in my Mum's house. My mum's house is devoid of technology but the neighbors have wifi. They kindly let me have the passkey so I can check my e-mails etc. but the only place I can get a strong enough signal is on the top of mum's stairs. Not that I'm complaining it is very peaceful up here and after living in the country for several years I have noticed that I am becoming less and less tolerant of being around lots of people, and England is filled to brimming with lots of people. So after a day out with mum it's nice to come up here and de-stress for a while.

I am enjoying my visit. I'm getting more writing done and doing some editing.

An End in Sight

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I don't think it's a freight train. Only 10 days left of "headless chicken" mode, then life will return to normal. Well as normal as my life can get. I have managed to write a few more chapters of my next novel in amongst all the W-2's and 1099's, so I didn't completely lose my sanity to the IRS.

I should be able to start blogging again on a regular basis. I am going home to England for a couple of weeks soon and I am hoping that being immersed in the surroundings where I base my story will give me oodles of inspiration and maybe even help me finish off the first draft of my novel. If that doesn't do it, being stuck in JFK airport for 6 hours waiting for my connecting flight just might. Thanks Delta for changing the itinerary on me!

I hope everyone got their fill of Easter eggs and chocolate today. I certainly did :-)

Happy Easter everyone.