Well, as you probably know we're in the middle of renovating our French farmhouse at the moment. Since last August we've plasterboarded/dry walled and everything else that has been needed in six rooms. We're in the final stretch now, the master bedroom ensuite and dressing room should be completed in the next week or so. It's been hard work but we've thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, however, we've decided to leave the kitchen renovations until later on in the year, until our backs are better and our hands have recovered.
During the renovations I've been amazed that I've still managed to write three thrillers, two in the Justice series, Guaranteed and Ultimate Justice and also the first book in a brand new series titled Torn Apart. Maybe that shows how determined I am to succeed at this writing lark.
It's been a very exciting week for me this week in other ways too. A couple of weeks ago I pulled the Justice series out of Amazon's exclusive scheme called Select. As a Brit, living in France, I'm unable to upload my books direct to the other major sites such as, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iTunes, instead I have to upload through a new site I've discovered which acts as a go-between called Draft2Digital. Boy, am I glad I came away from Smashwords, D2D have been wonderful and bent over backwards sorting out any problems I've had with my books on these sites.
This week I advertised Foul Justice at the reduced price of $0.99 and it romped up the B&N chart to #13, which I was over the moon about but then something very bizarre happened. The first book in the series, my best-selling thriller Cruel Justice suddenly took off on B&N too and shot up to #21 in the chart, instead of dropping however Cruel Justice has remained in the top #100 for the past four days.
Imagine my surprise to wake up to someone sharing a link on my Facebook page for this article on GalleyCat, in which Cruel Justice is named as one of the must read mysteries for April on the B&N site. Foul Justice and Cruel Justice are both named in the best-selling Indie list for April at #4 and #9 on Barnes and Noble GalleyCat BestSellers List and Foul Justice was named at #10 on iTunes also.
At this moment I'm feeling more than a little shell-shocked as you can understand.
What a year it has been, I'm physically and emotionally exhausted but elated beyond words at the same time.
Thank you to everyone for their support since this incredible journey began. It doesn't get better than this folks if you're an Indie author, and I'm without doubt proudly one of those.
Go Indies!
YAY!
ReplyDeleteFab news, Mel. Well done. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell deserved, Mel. Sometimes it just takes time for readers to sift through everything that is out there to find the hidden gems. You deserve to be on top. Double Yay!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys, you're so sweet! x
ReplyDeleteThat's terrific news, Mel. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteIs Draft2Digital aimed at British authors, or can U.S. authors use it too? And what was your experience like with Smashwords?
Congrats Mel, very well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks Karl.
ReplyDeleteHi Lyn,
D2D is for anyone, I have to use it because PubIt or Nook press won't allow anyone outside the US who doesn't have a US address to upload their books. They pay monthly instead of quarterly like Smashwords and are far superior in every way to SW. They're in beta mode at the moment and I don't think they're taking anyone else on for now.
I got fed up with SW when a price change took 3 months to take place on B&N, when I contacted the admin the assistant told me that she wuld deal with the matter once she got back from her holiday and ended her email with a smily face, not helpful and very unprofessional in my book.
I changed prices on D2D this week and it was almost immediate. Sales are updated daily too, on SW they happen once in a blue moon. I would NEVER recommend SW to anyone again. :-)