Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Mysteries of Amazon

Oh rapturous day! Goals for a Sinner appeared on Amazon.com a week earlier than expected. My daughter noticed and immediately ordered five copies. What a good kid. This purchase catapulted me from 144,000 in the rankings to 124,000. But the next day, Goals sunk back to 344,000, I suppose because a whole lot of new books came out over the weekend. Then, it bounced back to 117,000. People have warned me not to obsess over these rankings. I won't because they make no sense at all.

Then, I discovered that in addition to Amazon, two other places were offering my book new, one for the same price of $11.99 and the other for $1,199.00. Is the last a Nigerian scheme? Money laundering for the mob? A misprint? I do not know. The first gave my book four and a half stars, the other five, but if the book has not been read, how do they know it is worth five stars? Hey, I'm not arguing. I'll take it. Some kind reviews would be welcome, also. Two tags are posted: Great Beach Read and Wonderful Sports Romance. I hope you will agree.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Cold Feet

Lent is over. Easter is past. I've dyed the eggs, lost the egg bumping contest, and made creamed ham and eggs on toast for dinner. Several friends asked if I immediately went to Barnes and Noble to spend a fortune on books after my long book fast. Well, I did go with my son who bought a Pat the Bunny bunny for his godchild. I was tempted by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but went away empty-handed. Maybe later.
So what did I spend my book money on? - one hundred copies of my soon to be released title, Goals for a Sinner, a big number on my credit card, though better after I got my author's discount. This is the proverbial leap of faith. If I can't sell 100 copies of my own book, who can? Our wonderful local bookstore, Books Along The Teche, is holding a book signing for me. I've already asked relatives and friends to come and just stand around so it looks like I have a crowd. I plan to make it fun by having a foam football toss. And maybe we'll have cake. People will cross a room for cake. But beneath it all is the fear than no one will buy my book except the relatives, and no one will like it if they do buy - which will make selling the sequel pretty hard. I believe this is a classic writers phobia. So, I take a deep breath and keep on writing.
What book, other than mine, finally claimed my cash after my not buying books during Lent vow ended - Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz. Love Jayne Ann.