My journey to BookBub

29th July, 2014, I finally hit the publish button on Amazon. My novel The Gardener of Baghdad became a reality.

Writing this novel had been an emotional experience. I left Iraq, as the drums of war were getting louder. I only returned back to my hometown eleven years later. Though the visit was short, its effect was intense.

Baghdad despite the wars and unrest was still beautiful in its nature and people. The trip inspired me to write a story of hope and love, a heartfelt tale that would paint another fair picture about this magical city that was otherwise portrayed badly be the media over the years.

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As the days passed by, the reviews were coming from those who had read the novel. Most of them were encouraging, but the success, I had envisioned for this novel was still not what I had hoped for. There was something not clicking, a piece of the puzzle was missing.
This missing piece became more and more important, and reached its peak, when I was rejected by the biggest book promoter for eBooks, Bookbub for the third time.

I finally decided to put this problem on the table, and there was no better place than the friendly blog for authors Kboards. To be precise the Writers' Café thread.

I asked a simple question …..


“Why? Why would Bookbub reject a story that had so much heart into it?”


Many of my fellow authors replied. Some would say it was because it was still new. Give it time. Others mentioned, it needed more reviews. But the majority answered by

“You need to think of a new cover!”

And that was when the artistic Scarlett Rugers, who had done great covers for many, volunteered to take the challenge of designing a new cover for me, and all that, free of charge.
Of course I was more than happy, as her work was more than beautiful.

My Old Cover:




It took Scarlett just over a week to transfer my words into a lovely cover that showed beauty and passion. Something The Gardener of Baghdad showed throughout his journey in Baghdad, five decades ago.





Within a day, I uploaded the new cover on Amazon, and approached Bookbub, the result brought joy beyond any explanation.


“Hi Ahmad,


Thanks for your submission! We’d be happy to feature your title The Gardener of Baghdad.”

My Date with Bookbub is set... 11th of April

I read the email again and again, I was still in disbelief. I danced to some of my favorite music, then when I was back on Earth, I sent an email to the person, who made all this happen, Scarlett Rugers.


Scarlett, thank you. You are a true kind and humble talent.


To all the Iraqis at home, and scattered around the world. We will be back as a united nation.


To all the people around, there is always hope. I dedicate this novel to you.



To enjoy the beauty of Baghdad, visit:









USA http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M91LJGW
UK http://goo.gl/hlOVFS

To learn more about any future releases,and promotions, subscribe to my mail list, visit: http://mad.ly/signups/130001/join

Ahmad Ardalan