Jump When Ready Makes Top 100 Kindle List!

I woke up this morning to learn that Jump When Ready has climbed into the Top 100 Free Kindle downloads list on Amazon! To be honest, I’m still a bit in shock all these hours later. Jump is an indie novel, which I just published last month as an eBook (print version coming soon). In the scheme of things, Jump is barely a blip on the radar. I have no publisher, no agent, no publicist. This KDP Select promotion on Amazon is my first ever promotional attempt. I did some research on this (for example, reading Ryan Casey’s informative blog posts as well as advice offered by Annelie Wandeberg) and followed the advice given (although this first go-round, I was not included in Bookbub, as luck would have it). Did I think anything would happen? Did I think it would work like it has? Not at all! I just assumed I’d be lucky to get some downloads and maybe start to find some sort of readership for Jump When Ready. It never once occurred to me that I might actually break into the Top 100! At the time I’m writing this, Jump is listed as #1 in Kindle eBooks/Teens/Sci-Fi & Fantasy/Fantasy and #2 Kindle eBooks/Literature & Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal).  By the way, it's still free to download today, May 9!

In the end, however, it comes down to all of you who gave me shout-outs on Facebook, who responded to postings on Goodreads, and who saw the book mentioned in one of the promotional sites and clicked on the awesome cover (image created by the very talented Samantha Pandolfe). So, ultimately, this is a long way of saying thank you, guys, for downloading Jump When Ready either today or yesterday! I hope you all enjoy the novel and thanks for supporting this indie writier!!

Jump When Ready, free on Amazon Wednesday & Thursday!

Yes, I did mention this before but here's your chance (today and tomorrow, 5/8 & 5/9) to snag a copy of Jump When Ready for free. Two day deal only! Did I mention that it's free for two days? Check it out and think about leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads if you enjoy the novel! Thanks!

Jump When Ready Amazon Promo!

Jump When Ready will be free for download to Kindle for two days as part of a promotional event. So, if you're a bit tight for cash (I totally understand), mark the calendar! This week, May 8 and May 9, you can snag the eBook version for free (print version coming soon) here!

What can you do for me for the freebie (you might ask)? Well, how about going to Amazon or Goodreads and posting a review if you enjoy the novel? Deal?

KDP Select or Not?

There comes a point in every indie writer’s life when he or she must face the question: “KDP Select or not?” I’ve been looking into this and there’s an abundance of opinions out there (by that, I mean a ton). There are those who think KDP Select has had its day and is not very effective anymore. There are others who indicate that it’s just fine if you have a series of books (or at least other books published) but not much good for the stand-alone novel. On the other hand, there are writers who still see KDP Select as being a successful promotion strategy (with a little more legwork involved, possibly, than in the past). What’s an indie to do?

Fortunately, I came across a very informative series of blog posts offered by Ryan Casey, a writer whose work I am now looking forward to reading. Here is the link to Ryan’s blog and one of the posts (you can follow his discussion back from there). So, it seems to me that I’ve got to get the word out somehow about JUMP WHEN READY so why not try KDP Select as a way to make that happen? Sure, I’ll be locked in with Amazon for 90 days but I guess that’s about the worst thing that could happen (after all, they've treated me nicely so far).

So, the long and short of this is that JUMP WHEN READY will soon be offered as a free download and added to the Kindle Lending Library. Pretty awesome, yes? So, keep checking back (or, better, follow this blog) and I will let you all know when this promotion happens!

Then again, the novel only costs $2.99 now so why wait?