Self-Publishing: The Power of FREE
I posted an article in May about my new journey in self-publishing and how offering a free trial spurred a lot of downloads on Smashwords. If I thought the boost on Smashwords was incredible, I had no idea what going free on Amazon would do for me!
It's August 7th, exactly one month after Invisible Justice went free on Amazon US. (It finally went free on Amazon UK on 7/28.) In just the last month, I "sold" 24,678 books (I use the quotes because a lot of these sales are for the free book). Bottom line, in just one month I've successfully started a healthy fan base and now the sales of my two other books are starting to ramp up. This is a major improvement from what I saw in June. If you ask me whether it pays to have one of your books offered free… My answer would be a resounding yes, especially if you are just starting out and haven't made a name for yourself as an author.
And the reviews are starting to come in as well. I won't make you read them all, but I'll give you a recent sample from each book…
Invisible Justice: I usually give a book 20 to 25 pages to get me interested in the story, but this book just grabbed me with the very first page. It jumps right into the adventure. No warm up or lead in to the main characters, Sam, his sister, Lexi, and their new friend Leesha. The three teenagers who were "tampered" with as infants, and 17 years later are having side effects to the tampering. While dealing with the side effects, they are also trying to find who tampered with them and why. Along the way they run into Clint, or I should say he runs into them. The story starts strong and doesn't stop. I couldn't find a single low or slow point in the story. Read the book in about 4 hours. Can't wait to read book 2 and hopefully others after it.
Brute Justice: I was intrigued by Invisible Justice and looked forward to reading the second in the series. I didn't expect much, thinking that the series would be geared mostly for young teen readers. To my surprise, I found that I couldn't put these books down! This second book especially seems to have moved more to an adult feel that I would expect when discussing the thoughts and feelings of 17 year olds. It was not as predictable as the first, and toward the end there were several plot twists that I didn't see coming. Can't wait for the next one!
Misery's Fire: I bought this book after reading books 1 & 2 of The Justice Series by Kim Jewell…and I wasn't disappointed. Misery's Fire was a captivating and thought-provoking story. I loved all of the characters. The main character, Grant, had such a wonderful persona…his character was well-developed and very relatable. The main plot of this book was unique – the idea of high school as hell and turning that hell into a 2nd chance was great. I will definitely be reading more books by Kim Jewell.
Ironically, most of my feedback is coming from adults. I love that grown-ups like my YA books! But I'm still looking for any and all teen feedback – if you know of any who love to read, feel free to pass my links along. Thanks for the help!
