MONDAY MUSINGS

It's been an exciting weekend. I offered FOR NICK for free on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I was completely unprepared for the results!

As of right now (Sunday afternoon), here are the stats:

On Amazon.com:

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Inspirational
  • #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Contemporary

On Amazon UK:

• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #11 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
• #6 in Kindle Store > Books > Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

On Saturday afternoon, I received an email from eBook Daily.com. They chose to feature FOR NICK on Saturday. Wow! So awesome!

Total downloads as of Sunday afternoon (4 PM):

11,923!!!!

The best part has been the reviews thus far. 

Amazon.com:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly emotional book, NOT your run of the mill romance! February 1, 2014

First of all, I have always been like Andie, seldom crying, NEVER crying over a book. Until tonight. Or this morning since it is now 4 a.m.

First of all, to anyone who dares to criticize that the writing is stilted or predictable, show your credentials. I have a JD (requires good writing) and a BA in Journalism. The writing was not stilted. It was not meant to be a literary masterpiece, but this was a well-written book. Yes, I guessed who the mysterious "Nick" was; but that is all I got correct.

*SPOILER ALERT WARNING*

I loved the easy romance Andie and Zack found themselves in from the get-go; I hated how he Zack treated her when he believed the worst in her; I fell apart (with actual tears) when Zack fell in love with Nick as much as Andie did and when Nick left, but 10 pages later I was snorting with laughter over Zack's total spaz about hospitals and even how to get to one.

In short, this was not your trite romance, thank God, and I loved it. Now I have to go buy the rest of the author's books. Thank you, Ms. Dean. (I still refuse to watch The Notebook, Marley and Me, and any other potentially sad movies, though!)

5.0 out of 5 stars Love the book! Great Love Story. February 2, 2014

I love this book! I could not put it down, because of this book I am now on my way to finding all books written by Taylor Dean.

I love the characters, Nick was so sweet, smart person.
I am in love with Andie and Zach's love story. The way they fell in love and their love story. This has become one of my favorite Romance novel, I'm glad I gave this book a try. I really can't say much without spoiling the book. So all I can say is read it, it is worth the your time and you will love it. If you are looking for Romantic book, this is it. It will make you laugh, love, cry and everything else you can feel. LOVE IT!

Amazon UK:

5.0 out of 5 stars Would highly recommend, 2 Feb 2014
Absolutely loved this book.
Laughed and cried. Couldn't put it down and read in one sitting. What are you waiting for?

5.0 out of 5 stars Best I've read in a long time, 2 Feb 2014
Heart warming and heartbreaking, had me in tears, lovely story, recommend to all who love a nice love story with a twist.

Perhaps you're wondering why it is beneficial to authors to occasionally offer their books for free.

I mean, after months of hard work, writing and editing, and agonizing over every last word, why on earth would an author give away his/her book for free?

Good question.

Let me explain. 

(Otherwise known as things I wished I had known when I first published!)

First of all, advertising is very expensive. Authors have many different choices at their disposal, however.

One is the blog tour. When an author embarks upon a blog tour, their book is well advertised. But, the amount of readers who actually purchase the book can be low. As a matter of fact, if there is a giveaway included during the blog tour, many readers will wait to purchase the book to see if they won or not first! Don't get me wrong, blog tours and blasts are a wonderful way to advertise and I will absolutely continue to do them. I was able to gain a small following through blog tours, and amp up my social media numbers as well. For me, it did not garner high sales results, however. Sales, yes. High sales, no. This will vary from author to author, of course. I was completely unknown when I first published and blog tours definitely got me started.

There are other options. One is advertising on Book Bub. It was the best thing I ever did. Book Bub offers to advertise your book to thousands of readers through a daily email. You have the choice of offering your book at a reduced rate or of offering it for free. They are a bit pricey, but it was the first time I ever received massive amounts of downloads! It kick-started my sales and they've never slowed down since. (Keep in mind, success is relative. My success could be considered another person's failure. If I sale 10-20 books per day, I am thrilled! It's all relative and depends on what you are looking for out of this endeavor.) Another drawback to Book Bub is that they are very careful about which books they will advertise. Your book must be approved by their editorial team. Hence, not everyone can advertise through them.

That being said, choosing to offer a book for free as part of your advertising efforts gets your book directly into readers' hands--at no cost to the author and no cost to the reader. If your book is exclusive to Amazon Kindle (KDP), you are allowed to make your book free for five days per every 90 day period. You simply schedule it and they do all the work for you. This is free. There is no cost to the author. (I believe they must advertise the free books in their 'Daily Deals' email. I woke up on Friday morning to 400 downloads of FOR NICK and I hadn't even begun to advertise. Not sure about that though. Anyone know?)

Now here's the kicker: When you receive massive amounts of downloads of your book in one day, the odds are with you that it will appear on Amazon's Top 100 Free list, (or Top 100 Paid list, if you offer your book for a reduced amount). Once your book makes a Top 100 list, it is visible to many, many readers who check the lists on a daily basis--readers who would otherwise never hear about your book. This is a huge benefit.

Lastly, if a reader enjoys your free book, most likely they will take a chance on some of your other books. 

I can't think of a better way to advertise than to give nearly 12,000 readers an opportunity to read one of my books and see if they like it! Hopefully they will come back for more! It's a win-win. The reader didn't have to spend their hard earned money to take a chance on a new author. And, hopefully, I will have gained some new fans!

So, this turned out to be a really long blog post. If you're still reading this, thank you!

Have a wonderful Monday!