I Am So Blessed

I got up today without an alarm, as is my usual practice. Dressed, cooked breakfast and brewed coffee. Ate while I caught up on my emails. Then made a grocery run. I like to go weekday mornings to avoid busy times. I remember, in yesteryears, driving home from downtown Dallas, reaching my neighborhood about 7:00 p.m., yet I was with a mob of other people at the market, just wanting to be home already. So I like to avoid those after-work hours to give the nine-to-fivers one less person in their way.

Now I'm home, groceries in their proper places, my hot Café Bustelo espresso at hand, my cats within petting distance and my windows open to enjoy the breeze and sounds of nature. Even though it may reach a tad over ninety degrees today, that is way better than the one-hundred-plus heat of not too many days ago. I'm seated at my computer and can see outside, which may or may not be a good thing. I happen to think it is okay, as long as I pay more attention to my screen than the goings-on in my yard.

I'm in black flip-flops, a taupe prairie skirt topped by a man's white cotton undershirt (love those!). I think I need red nails to match my outfit. So later I'll give myself a mani-pedi. Meanwhile, frozen chicken breasts are thawing, to be breaded and baked for dinner.

And I'm at work.

Yes, too glorious to be true, but it is nonetheless. I am my best boss ever--ha!

I'm an author. And when not creating, I'm a freelance copy editor for two large publishers. Either way, my computer and I are inseparable. I love my profession so much that I work holidays, weekends, my birthday, Christmas, New Year's.

I work probably eleven hours a day. Most days. Now I don't get paid for all that, as I love to research, to read, to learn more about my craft and then to blog about what I've found. I enjoy every bit of it. With no commute, I saved myself fifteen hours a week. And have put them to better use than by incurring a three-thousand-mile oil change every season.

Now there was one day I did copy edit for eleven hours. That was a brutal day. My mind is not set up for that. But I can weather six to eight hours, seven days a week. I happen to think I'm very productive in that mode.

I wish everyone had the freedom I do. To work those sleepless nights from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. and then sleep to noon to be revived to resume work from noon to six that evening. To work around errands. To work outside once the weather gets comfortably into the seventies and hopefully the mosquitoes are gone.

For that matter, if money were no object, I could work at the beach, in a woodsy cabin or on a boat I suppose. As long as I have battery power and an occasional internet connection, I'm golden.

It took me several years to reach this glorious pinnacle, but it was worth every bump. In this my new career, worry is such a waste of energy. It stifles the creativity. And things usually work out. Granted I had to get a McJob in two really lean times, but I'm fully at home now. With steady work and expected earnings that exceed my monthly bills. That, along with my health, is my definition of wealth.

I've never been more broke nor as happy--except at the birth of my son. That remains the ultimate high. But these days, they are right on up there. And now that I've done without for a period, I'm ever-so-grateful for the plenty on its way. And will be a better steward of it because of my new heightened insight.

So, Happy Friday, all! I wish you manifold blessings.

Denise Barker, author, blogger, copy editor

An Overview of Free Campaign

There are many unknown variables involved that I am not privy to.  For instance, how many other free books did mine compete with each day?  If 4,000 on Day 1, then it's a miracle I ranked #99 that first round.  If 100, well then everybody was ranked in the top.

When is the best time to offer your free days?  The middle of the month?  Kind of like Wednesday, Hump Day?  The first of the month?  But mortgages and rent are paid then.  With this major bill a primary focus for most of us, do we automatically then think, I wonder what free books are offered at Amazon?

Should we do all five days consecutively, or pepper them throughout the first three-month exclusive run on Amazon?  Should we have a minimum of two novels uploaded before we offer one for free?  These are just a few questions that I've mulled over and remembered long enough to add to this blog.

Not to mention genre.  My e-book, my debut novel, Good Ole Boys, is a contemporary love story and I have properly placed it within the contemporary romance genre.  Within the Amazon rankings, there are two:  a generic one among all the freebies and then the specific genre-related category for the giveaways.  Emphasis on the FREE in both.  There are other rankings for the strictly "sold" books among Amazon.

In the first FREE ranking, my love story is competing against any and all genres, if I understand this correctly.  In the second FREE ranking, my contemporary romance is competing against all others within that category.  [Remember, as Indie-published authors, we choose our categories.  And as I've noted in an earlier post, there are some fiction books seated in nonfiction categories which makes for skewed bestseller ratings.]  But for our purposes here, we'll assume all books deemed "contemporary romances" were in fact truly a contemporary romance.

However, "tweaking the bestseller rankings" aside, between the general and the specific among FREE offerings, a contemporary romance seems to be a good fit for what readers are seeking, for the rankings were nice numbers for a newbie author like me fresh on the scene.

Plus, I have to wonder how many who downloaded my free book will ever read it.  I know I have many such e-novels patiently waiting for me to have the time to relish a five-hour read, uninterrupted, while working two jobs.

Still, I think most people are like me--downloading only those free books that I truly have an interest in.  So I like to think I have garnered 2,096 readers out of which there possibly are 209 (an estimated ten percent) who will become addicted fans.  Just my mental meanderings here, no math or facts to support it.

Now, for the overview of my last five days:

STATS	DAY 1 of 5	DAY 2 of 5	DAY 3 of 5	DAY 4 of 5	DAY 5 of 5
FREE RANKINGS Kindle Store	#1,110	#296	#557	#530	#688
Contemporary. Romance	# 93	#46	#71	#69	#95
DOWNLOADS Fr, It, Es	0	0	0	0	0
Germany	7	9	10	11	11
U.K.	67	97	182	338	374
U.S.	637	1033	1201	1481	1711
Totals	711	1139	1393	1830	2096

The first day had the most downloads compared to the remaining four.  In fact, Day 1 had over 700 downloads and Days 2 and 3 had another roughly 700 downloads, followed by a repeat on Days 4 and 5.  Again, I don't know how that compares to other authors' free campaigns.

Take what you will from my chart, use it as you contemplate your own foray into the five days of promo offered by the Amazon Lending Library.

Best wishes to all!

Five Days and Over 2,000 Freebies Later

Well, there are no rankings to check now.  I guess the freebie status of my e-book put it into a "free" ranking that it does not qualify for now.

There were no downloads in Italy, France or Spain.  I really wanted to see some as these areas are so exotic and romantic to me.  With my sparse knowledge of the VAT tax, I would have thought all those countries "over the pond" would save the most by snagging these Amazon promotions. 

The final copies given away total 2,096.  Good Ole Boys was downloaded by 11 in Germany, 374 in the U.K. and 1,711 in the U.S.  Pretty amazing numbers for a new author with a new book and an, as yet, unknown writing style.

It is quite the experience having all that adrenaline for five straight days--and I guess to sleep that profoundly (and early) was to be expected.  IMO, all newbie authors would benefit from this "worldwide" campaign offered through the Amazon Lending Library that puts your name in front of all those future readers in all those countries.  I did wish I had my prequel readied for uploading before (or during) the five free days, but it wasn't yet ready.  So I would suggest that others have a second book in their Amazon offerings to keep their new readers engaged after the free giveaway program.

My next completed novel is almost ready for publication.  In the meantime, I'm going to get my coffee and enjoy the start of another day.

Day Five, Ending Stats

I will post tomorrow morning about the final numbers garnered up until midnight tonight, when my promo campaign for free giveaways of my debut novel, Good Ole Boys, will end.  In the meantime, and as of 8:15 p.m. (CST), here's the ending numbers for my fifth and final day:

Italy = 0 downloads
Spain = 0 downloads
France = 0 downloads
Germany = 11 downloads
U.K. = 373 downloads
U.S. = 1673 downloads

The rankings as of now are #688 Free in Kindle Store and #95 within the Contemporary Romance Genre of Kindle Novels.

Day Five (and Last), Beginning Stats

The beginning stats for this final day of offering my debut novel for free are starting earlier than the others, as it is 5:04 a.m. (CST).  Good Ole Boys, a contemporary love story, still shows up as item #1 when searching for that title, with three likes so far.  With no downloads yet in Spain, Italy and France, Germany has 11, the U.K. 349 and the U.S. 1552.  A lot of activity in the States since I last reported numbers about 8:30 p.m. last night.

The rankings start off today as:

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #553 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #74 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

Day Four, Ending Stats

As of 8:30 p.m. (CST) on this the fourth of five free days for my debut novel, Good Ole Boys, and here are the numbers.  Still no downloads in Spain, Italy or France.  Germany has 11, the U.K. 338 and the U.S. 1481.  My novel's best rankings throughout today were about 7:30 p.m., as follows:

  Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store 

              #69 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

However, the standings as of now are:

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #71 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

Day Three, Ending Stats

As of 8:25 p.m. (CST), there have been zero downloads in Italy, Spain and France, with 10 in Germany, 182 in the U.K. and 1201 in the U.S.  My novel, Good Ole Boys, had its best rankings today first thing at 8:11 a.m. being #557 Free in Kindle Store and #71 in Kindle Store for the Contemporary Romance genre.  Closing ranks twelve hours later are as follows:

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #718 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
  • #85 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

Day Two, Ending Stats

Still no downloads in Italy, France or Spain.  In the other three countries we have 9 in Germany, 97 in the U.K. and 1033 in the U.S.  My best rankings today were #46 Kindle Store in the Contemporary Romance Fiction Genre and #296 Free in Kindle Store, as of 2:00 p.m. (CST) today.

But currently, as of 8:00 p.m. (CST), Good Ole Boys' rankings are now:

·  Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

• #66 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

Update on Free e-Book Campaign for Good Ole Boys, a Love Story

By 10:30 a.m. CST on this my first of five consecutive days of free promo, my debut e-novel was ranked #99 within Kindle Books, for contemporary romances.

By 11:30 a.m. CST on this first of five consecutive days of free promo, my debut e-novel had hit more than 300 downloads just on Amazon U.S.

I'm grinning like a loon!