Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Go Home Already. It's Free (For Some) and #PoweredByIndie (For All)

When I wrote HOME about a year ago, I never imagined the response.  I've gotten emails and messages from all over the world.  It's been incredibly gratifying, especially because it marked my return to self-publishing.

Some of you may already know I signed two book deals (five books) with a great group of people at an independent traditional publisher.  They did what they could to get my books into the hands of readers and onto the shelves of book stores.

I felt, in the long run, though I'd be better off taking the reins myself.  It was a risk.  I had no upfront costs with a traditional publisher and they shared the marketing load.   When I self-publish, I am the author, the publisher, the marketer, and everything in between.

Add to that, I had no idea if anyone would read my newest book, which was my first full length offering in the Post Apocalyptic genre.

Frightening.

Incredibly, over the course of three weeks, the book began selling.  It's rank began climbing.  It reached number one in the Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian genres and held steady in the spot for more than a month.  HOME, without promotion or discount, reached #100 on all of Amazon.

Crazy.

Enough people read the book in January that the book was A Kindle Unlimited All-Star selection.  The websites Bookbub and Boing Boing wrote about the novel and told readers to go buy it.

Incredible.

It's really jump-started my writing career and given birth to all kinds of opportunities.

First, HOME and its two sequels are included in Amazon's #PoweredByIndie promotion this month, which features popular works by independent authors.

Second, HOME is part of the launch for the brand new Amazon Prime Reading library.  Those who belong to Amazon Prime can now read a rotating selection of popular ebooks for free.  It's a wonderful new program for Prime members, which enhances the already valuable (and cheap) membership.  To think that a whole new batch of readers will have the opportunity to find HOME and dive into its story is fantastic.  HOME will be part of the program for about ninety days.

If you haven't read it, I hope you give it a shot.  If you have, I hope you'll recommend it to a friend.

Thanks, as always, for your support.