Last month, my younger son graduated from the University of
Arizona with a master's degree in education (his undergraduate degree was in
biology). Since he’s decided he doesn’t want to teach, he faces more than the
usual challenges in searching for a job in Tucson.
Even though he’s finished his classroom learning, he’s now
getting an education in the school of life.
During May, I had my own learning experience. You may recall
that I tried an experiment, offering my novel By Leaps and Bounds free
on Amazon for three days. I’d revised and updated the previously published
romance about an injured ballerina falling in love with a police detective.
I hoped for a few thousand free downloads, rewarding my
readers and possibly gaining some new ones. What I got—hold on—were 38,000
downloads. The book hit Number One on Amazon’s free contemporary romance
bestseller list, and Number Three on the overall free bestseller list (they
also have paid bestseller lists, of course). I was stunned.
Of course, I don’t get paid for these, so how did it shake
out for the rest of the month? Sales of the book increased dramatically, as did
sales of Old Dreams, New Dreams, which is previewed at the end. Also,
some new readers published positive reviews of the book on Amazon, which helps
sales. (The single negative was a one-star review because it wasn’t “fine
literature.” Well, duh.)
Of the free downloads, about 2,500 were in the UK.
Previously, of my self-published books, only my Regency romances were selling
there. Since the experiment, By Leaps and Bounds has been moving on a
par with the Regencies, and some of my other contemporaries are selling as
well.
I don’t see the sales figures on my Safe Harbor Medical
series, since those are reported to Harlequin. However, a reader in Ireland
emailed to say she’d just discovered the series and is posting her positive
reviews on Goodreads. So that might be a result.
Will I do this again? Probably, although I don’t plan to
give away books very often. Still, I’ll keep this in mind as a possibility.
In the meantime, I’m joining a group of self-published
authors in reducing some ebooks to 99 cents on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for a special summer stock-up
promotion June 8-22. Six of my titles will be included: A Lady’s Point of
View (Regency), Unlikely Partners (romantic comedy), Capers and
Rainbows (romantic comedy), Touch Me in the Dark (paranormal
romantic thriller), Danger Music (mystery) and Echoes (paranormal
thriller).
What else did I do in May? In addition to teaching and
revising another previously published book I plan to reissue soon, I finished
writing the tenth book in the Safe Harbor miniseries. Can I go take a nap now?
