Happy Birthday, Baby! Sultana, Book 1 is officially ten years old

Time flies when you're having fun. Hard to believe this book baby is a whopping ten years old! I can still remember everything that led to its publication and all that has come afterward.

 

Years of obsessive research among dusty library stacks and across the internet. The first perfect night in Spain where not even the frigid temperature or an undercooked meal of paella and sour sangria could have ruined my initial sight of Alhambra Palace from the Cuesta de Los Tomasas. Long hours of writing and revisions, coupled with some key advice from my critique group, whose members helped shaped Sultana into the novel it is today. The support of the best writing friends and the encouragement of readers, who responded so well to the book, they inspired me to write a series. Speaking and reading engagements at libraries and presentations for the Historical Novel Society.  The first offer of translation and the others that followed. The delight on my mother's face as I shared my love of Moorish Spain during our stay in Granada - her approval and praise after she read the book meant the world to me.

All that has occurred because of a novel some said would never be successful once self-published. Still amazes me.

In celebration of its tenth anniversary, I'm pleased to offer Sultana for FREE all month long starting February 1, exclusively.

Sultana: free for 3 days on Kindle

Sultana: A Novel of Moorish Spain (Sultana: Book 1) is free on Kindle April 17 - 19. Get caught up on the series before the fourth book, Sultana: The Bride Price, makes its debut in May. http://authl.it/16r.

In thirteenth-century Moorish Spain, the realm of Granada is in crisis. The union of Fatima, granddaughter of the Sultan of Granada, with the Sultan’s nephew Faraj has fractured the nation. A bitter civil war escalates and endangers both Fatima and Faraj’s lives.

All her life, Fatima has sheltered in lavish palaces where danger has never intruded, until now. A precocious child and the unwitting pawn of her family, she soon learns how her marriage may determine her future and the fate of Granada. Her husband Faraj has his own qualms about their union. At a young age, he witnessed the deaths of his parents and discovered how affluence and power offers little protection against indomitable enemies. Guilt and fears plague him. Determined to carve his own destiny, Faraj struggles to regain his lost inheritance and avenge his murdered family.

Throughout the rugged frontiers of southern Spain, the burgeoning Christian kingdoms in the north and the desert states of North Africa, Fatima and Faraj survive ruthless murderers and intrigues. They unite against common enemies bent on destroying the last Moorish dynasty. While Fatima and Faraj establish a powerful bond, the atmosphere of deceit creates opportunities for mistrust and tests their love.

Snippet:

Aisha smiled again, but it seemed sad. “Hush now, child, listen well. Understanding shall come. Even when you must do what others command, never forget the power of your own reasoning. One day, your husband may rule your body, he may even come to rule your heart, but your mind is and always must be your own, where none but you may rule. Promise me that you shall never forget these words.”

Fatima swayed slightly. Her throat hurt, but she whispered, “I promise.”

She returned Aisha’s intent stare, for the first time, unafraid. Aisha’s eyes glistened like gems in the lamplight.

“This is the only measure of advice I can give you, Fatima. You must learn the ways of men, as I have. Do not trust in men alone. Love, be dutiful and respectful, but trust yourself and your instincts first. They shall always guide you rightly.”

Power of Free: A Continuing Debate

In a sea of freebies available through from authors through Amazon KDP Select and online sites that curate the listings of available free e-books for their visitors, it's becoming increasingly difficult for authors to leverage the power of giveaways. How can we, rather our titles, stand out?

In almost three years of of self-publishing, I've offered a few freebies to grow an audience and encourage readership, and discussed the pros and cons HERE and HERE. The latest is for Sultana on the two-year anniversary of its publication via four channels; Amazon.com, Kobo, iTunes and Smashwords. This giveaway ends in five days, so get a copy before the offer expires. The goal is to boost interest in the series leading up to the third book, which comes out later this year. Since February 10, there have been 19,012 downloads of the title on Amazon, 2,319 on iTunes and maybe 120 via Smashwords; haven't paid as much attention to the latter. Kobo doesn't provide information on freebies downloaded, but the total tally is around 21,451 downloads in almost two weeks. I view this figure in a variety of ways; some will like the title and want more, or never read it, or just added another free book to their growing list. It's 21.5K people I didn't influence before the title was free.

If you're considering offering freebies, be prepared for the following:

• You won't be entirely able to control pricing updates, particularly if you're not enrolled in KDP Select or channels where you can easily edit the price. 
• You can't control when or if Amazon decides to price match, based on a  freebie offered elsewhere. Outside of KDP Select, experience suggests it takes up to a week for Amazon to offer a title for free and up to two weeks to revert to the original price. Why do you care if Amazon price matches? Because they have the most impact in the e-book market. For now.  
• You can't assume freebies will gain you additional reviews or sales of your other books; mine typically do, especially last year at this time when I offered Sultana for free and saw the boost in sales of Sultana's Legacy. Not so much now. Experience suggests going free works best when you have a series; I would never suggest it to an author who has only one book available, and slightly on par, if you write stand-alone books. 
• You must accept that some people hoard free books which they will (1) never read (2) never review  (3) trash with one-star reviews because it's not a genre they normally read (4) truly, only downloaded the title because it was free.  

So, what can you control?      

It still starts with the book. If you've written and edited the best book you could, you've laid the groundwork for lots of interest in your freebie. It might surprise you to know, but I think Sultana's Legacy is the stronger of the initial books in my series; Sultana sets up the relationships and conflicts to come, but the consequences that follow in the sequel make it richer and more poignant. But it's not one readers automatically gravitate to after they've read the first book. Interesting, but what do I know? I'm just the writer.

What happens if you haven't produced your best work? Be prepared for those one-star reviews. No amount of planning and promotion is going to help you if everyone thinks the book is a dud. Remember, you can lessen scathing comments by offering up your best work. Mistakes happen, which most except the truly unforgiving trolls will overlook in favor of a good story. Don't feed the trolls by giving them a half-baked book they can devour and spit back at you.  

Setting up distribution channels. You can determine when to make a book available for free via certain channels. For authors still enrolled in KDP Select, one of the benefits is having the power of free at your fingertips are at least for five days in your KDP dashboard. What about the rest of us?

Since removing my titles from KDP Select, this has meant relying on making a title free through Smashwords and its distribution channels. An action that more often than not led to wasted time, tremendous effort and nightmares in general, as certain channels took forever to alter the pricing. In the meanwhile, I'm sitting on my hands waiting for Amazon to price match - here's how it happened this time. I set the title free on Feb. 10. Sales during the week boosted it to the top 100 on Kindle in the Biographical category. Just as it's taking off, Amazon price matched. Figures.

Did you know that if you make your book available directly through Kobo, you can set the price as zero? You do now. Even better, there's now Draft2Digital, which lets you upload a title and distribute via Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo and Amazon (I haven't verified the latter due to my direct uploading to KDP). Even better, using Draft2Digital, you can alter your price to free AND see the number of downloads. Draft2Digital is still in its infancy and doesn't have access (as yet) to Sony, Diesel, Page Foundry, Axis 360 or Blio as Smashwords does. If you're like me and selling next to nothing on these sites, it may not matter. What does, if your title is going free or reverting to the normal price, is the ability to edit and see a change reflected in a business day. Keep an eye on Draft2Digital.  

Planning promotion. Another area you can influence is the number of sites that feature and promote your freebie. You aren't planning to do it all via your website, blog, social media outlets and newsletter, right? Word-of-mouth is key in building momentum for your freebie, especially when you want your title to stand out among the rest. The good news is that most if not all of these sites have Twitter and Facebook accounts that will gain your title more exposure. Experience shows there are tons more sites that will feature your title if it's free on Amazon than any other distribution channel AND there are many that expect you to pay for promoting your free title.

Yup, you read that right - expect to pay something to promote your free title. Seems strange to pay someone to promote what you're giving away, doesn't it? Doesn't mean you have to do it. Your title just won't be featured of those sites that ask for payment. The largest are E-Reader News Today (ENT) and Pixel of Ink (PoI), but BookBub is growing. So are their prices. BookBub did a free spotlight for me so I could test drive their abilities. Otherwise, I wouldn't necessarily want to pay a couple hundred to promote. I'm keeping an eye on them though.

These sites often operate as affiliates and earn commissions off of the traffic they deliver to the online retailers. Most affiliate sites book slots early and often. Here are a few you can approach that have little to no cost associated with featuring a freebie. Also, they don't just highlight Kindle titles.

AddictedtoEbooks.com: free titles on Kindle, but with links to distribution channels at Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords
AskDavid.com:  free titles on Kindle
Epubdeals.com: free and bargain titles on Kobo
Ereaderperks.com: free titles on Kindle, Kobo and Nook
Trindiebooks.com: free titles on Kobo

Some sites indicate they don't take erotica. The two that I found, Free Erotica and Spicy Romance are either defunct or closed for submissions.

Interestingly, Amazon fired off an email to these sites and others participating in its Amazon Associates program that suggests sites which heavily promote freebies will see negative consequences. This might mean those sites would have less ads featuring freebies and more paid books, AND increase the likelihood of authors paying to promote. Personally, I like the latter scenario better than paying to promote a freebie. Author David Gaughran dissects the email in part HERE.

The debate remains whether free is a viable strategy for growing readership. As I've outlined above, there are ways to make it profitable but no guarantees. The takeaway from this post should be about the planning; (1) write a great book worth reading, (2) schedule distribution via channels where you can control the pricing and (3) promote the title as much as you can, through paid and free means. Your mileage may vary, but those three factors within your control will help you expand your reach as an author.      

Guest Post: Love Request by Tara Chevrestt

Today, I’m so delighted to welcome a guest post from author Tara Chevrestt.

Book Release, Kindle Freebie, & Grand Giveaway!

Love Request /Tara Chevrestt

I’m pleased to share with you my latest release, Love Request. This one is special to me because it’s not only the first romance I penned, but it features a “hearing-impaired” heroine, like myself.

I say “hearing –impaired” because really, there’s nothing wrong with Ciara. She’s not damaged or in need of repair. She just can’t hear as well as others.

As a reader, I grew tired of all the women in romance novels being perfect. In real life, many of us have disabilities—and they are disabilities others can’t see. And worse, they are disabilities others can’t understand, and a lot of times what people don’t understand becomes something they fear…and belittle.

This is where the bullying comes in. You see, this is more than just a romance novel. Open its pages, hit that Kindle “next page” button, and find out for yourself. Learn. Be enlightened. Relate.

Want to sample it first? No problem. Available on Kindle and FREE for the next five days, is a humorous Valentine short story, Mating Instinct.

You’ll find the first chapter of Love Request at the end.

Thank you, readers, for celebrating this special time with me. Happy Valentine’s Day! In honor of you, I’m giving away a print copy of Love Request, a plush dog, a lipstick for that special date, and 5 pheromone-soaked chocolate incense sticks! WARNING: Be careful if dogs are in the vicinity.

Blurb:

When Ciara Littleton finally joins Facebook to socialize without the limits her hearing impairment gives her, she looks up a childhood friend on a whim. In sending him that first message, she ignites the memories of a crush from twenty years ago. Can a simple friend request fix all that stands between them and maybe even lead to something more?

Hunter's plate is full. A recent divorce, a pregnant sister, and now, he realizes he's in love with a woman who lives states away. Can he overcome the boundaries of Internet romance to make this desire turn into something real, or will adversity and distance be their undoing?

This book was formerly titled A Facebook Affair and has been revised with a new ending.

Love Request has been named a LASR Best Book and is now up for vote on Best Book of 2012 Poll. You can cast a vote here. I’m so excited and so grateful!

Blurb for Mating Instinct:

This is exactly what you need!

It’s Valentine’s Day and when Ariel receives a package of incense in the mail from her Pagan friend and mentor, she isn’t sure what to make of the enclosed note. Sure, she has some issues, but who doesn’t?

When the smoke releases its magic, Ariel gets an evening of surprise humor and romance, and it is indeed exactly what she needs.

Links:

Love Request on Amazon

Mating Instinct FREE

Tara Chevrestt is a deaf woman, former aviation mechanic, writer, and an editor. She is most passionate about planes, motorcycles, dogs, and above all, reading. That led to her love of writing. Between her writing and her editing, which allows her to be home with her little canine kids, she believes she has the greatest job in the world. She is very happily married.

Her theme is Strong is Sexy. She shares a website with her naughty pen name: http://tarachevrestt.weebly.com/index.html and they have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tara-Chevrestt-Sonia-Hightower/218383211513877.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FREE isn't what it used to be

Found this out as I'm offering Sultana for free in January, through Smashwords' distributors, and two days ago on Amazon US only (not through KDP Select, but the old-fashioned way). Hard to believe but next month marks one year that the book has been available. The feedback from readers has been positive and heart-warming, especially when I consider my earlier struggles to find representation and then get a publisher to take on the story. In case you're wondering why I would cannibalize sales of the one book among my four that's a consistent money-maker, there's the sequel Sultana's Legacy, which could use a boost in sales and ranking. If you want to find out what makes thirteenth-century Spain so fascinating, pick up your free copy of the book here, here and here by January 31.

What makes offering an e-book for free different this time around? Did I mention KDP Select? Everyone's book is free every other day now, or at least it seems that way. For authors trying to build any momentum, there's a crowded room effect - harder to get your free book noticed when everyone else's own is competing by the same terms. By comparison, the freebie of On Falcon's Wings generated over 10,000 downloads last June on the first day, whereas the latest one managed 4,000 downloads in the same time period. The glut of free has definitely changed things, which tells me marketing had better become more innovative to attract interest. Secondly, this time around I have a sequel to offer, which picks up fifteen years after the events in the freebie end. I'm hoping readers will like the first book enough to buy the second one. So far? Five sales of the sequel the day after the freebie appeared. So, as for whether the free offering will have an impact on sales of the sequel,  it's too early to tell  after two days. I've done all I can to generate interest with complex characters and a layered plot. The rest is up to readers.      

The Power of the Freebie (and Amazon)

If I ever doubted that people love free stuff, I'd know better now. And, if I didn't already know the potential for an author who sells through Amazon, my experience this weekend would have taught me an amazing lesson.

For nearly two weeks, I've had On Falcon's Wings free through Smashwords and its distribution network; see those links off on the right leading you to those sites? I've sold just over 70 copies through Smashwords, but I offered a freebie lately in the hopes of garnering one of those precious reviews. Without one, looks like your ebook's nonexistent on the site.

I learned that Amazon had decided to match my pricing on their Kindle e-books, when I woke up to 1,000+ downloads on Friday morning. You've already heard that I obsessively check my sales ranking, so it should come as no surprise that I was checking Friday morning, okay, so don't roll your eyes at my post here. The downloads data came as a welcome surprise, that only grew. By the beginning of Sunday morning, I had racked up 10,377 downloads and interestingly 6 returns - sidebar here: who in the hell returns a free ebook? I just have to know who says to Amazon, "Give me back my zero dollars!" Moving on.

That number of downloads led me to the highest rank of #12 on Amazon's bestselling free lists and, even better, #1 under the category Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical, where it has remained for the most part. This won't last forever; Amazon freebies are typically offered for a limited time. I don't know what the direct consequence will be when I raise my price back to $2.99 this month, but I am hoping that some people who downloaded the freebie will actually read it, and, I know this asking for a lot, leave a review. If they happen to buy Sultana or any of my upcoming releases this summer and fall, that'll be gravy.

It's been almost a year since I first self-published. My anniversary sale date will be July 11. Next month, when I host a followup with last year's Indie Authors, I'll report a year's worth of highs and lows for On Falcon's Wings and the lingering effects, if any, on sales after this Amazon freebie. For now, I'm enjoying an occasional check on the continued downloads and the many tweets and retweets, while keeping in mind that the work hasn't stopped. I still have to finish the two books I plan to release later this year, after all. As we writers know, sometimes the next book, if it's even better, sells previous ones. Unfortunately, the darn things won't write, edit, beta read or publish themselves! There's truly no rest for the weary writer.

Again, a great big thank you to my writing buds and several book bloggers, who've spread the word about the freebie.

P.S. Edited because I knew I'd forgotten something! Contrary to what I expected, all these free downloads; now over 14,000 (yes, I just checked!), actually earned me some royalties. There were 9 through Sunday morning at the 35% rate and the rest at the 70% rate. Are you as puzzled as I am? What is 70% of zero dollars? Don't quite know how Amazon arrived at the royalty they are assigning me on the freebies, but I am definitely not going to complain if they pay me for making my book free.

Read an E-Book Week at Smashwords Mar 6-12

March 6-12 sees the return of Read an E-Book Week on Smashwords. I'll be participating along with other authors and offering On Falcon's Wings for FREE that week. Stop by and support other E-Book authors, and get a variety of e-books for free or at discounted prices.

Smashwords authors, you can enroll your book(s) here to participate.