FREE EBOOK "BROKEN BUTTERFLY"

It's been almost a year since I published Broken Butterfly and a lot has happened since then.

My publishing company closed, leaving Broken Butterfly homeless. Don't be sad.

A sister company was willing to take on all Crossbooks clients. Westbow Press. Through the next few months, I went through the stages of having them take on my book, they read it, made sure it met their standards, and it was finally in the last stages after taking four months.

Because I was a finalist in a contest with Crossbooks, I had a really nice package. Now, I was told in the beginning of this entire process, that everything would be similar in my package. But, I found out days before my book was going to go live

these were the only things I would receive ...

·         They would publish Broken Butterfly on the Westbow Press website.

·         10 ebook tabs (free ebooks I could give away to whoever I wanted to)

·         Their branding. I guess that was a big deal. It just wasn't that important to me.

That was it.

Not the book sellers return program (and I was so close to getting my book into the Lifeway store) And my number one question to them was this.

Would I keep the book sellers return program?

The reply I received ...

Yes, you will receive a similar package to the one you had with Crossbooks.

They weren't even going to list my book on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. And it's only by chance I found this out. I had asked an Amazon marketing question. I'm so glad I asked that question.  And you can just imagine my shock when she said, "Why are you surprised?"

I wouldn't consider myself a rude person, like ever. But this was one of those moments, I really wanted to be rude. I laughed-out-loud and said, "Thank you." And hung up.

My daughter looked at me and laughed. I guess I wasn't mean enough. Her attitude is a little worse than mine. Where did she get that from? We really need to work on that!

Now I'm not faulting them in any way other than they should've been straightforward with me in the beginning. I wouldn't have wasted four months of my time or theirs.

So, I decided to publish it myself. It was ready. It had already been published. I sold over 200 personal copies already. Not including my previous online sales. I just needed to get it back up on Amazon.

So I did.

Ya'll. I received my first check from Amazon.

I was shocked!!!

The check was for only 16 days and included ebook sales only. My check from Amazon was 27% more than my only check I received with Crossbooks that included ebook, paperback, and hardcopy sales for 4 months combined. This is because they received most of the profit. The checks were from online sales only. This does not include my personal paperback sales!!

I wonder, did I make the right decision?

I think so.

When I published on Amazon, I chose the KDP select program. I wanted to run a promotion to give my ebook away for free for a certain amount of time.

IN celebration of my one year anniversary ... I'm running a promotion the next 2 weekends. It starts today, Thursday, December 4th and will run through Sunday, December 6th. And then another one will run, Friday, December 11th-12th. You can download the kindle version for FREE on any of these days.

I also chose to allow those who purchase a copy of Broken Butterfly to loan it out. Why would I do that? I want people to read my book. I hope they will love it and want to read more of my books when I get them published.

I didn't know it at the time, but I get paid when people read my books. I found this out when I received my check. So, I am giving a blessing, and receiving one in return. :)

If you enjoyed Broken Butterfly you can really help me by doing a few very simple things.

a)   Download a free copy of Broken Butterfly on any of the free promotion days. This will push it closer to the free bestseller list where it will get more views.

b)   Tell ALL of your reader friends about this promotion, so they can download a copy too. :)

c)   Read the pages of the free copy.

d)   Leave a review for me on Amazon!! EVERY SINGLE REVIEW IS IMPORTANT!!! THANK YOU SOOOO VERY MUCH IF YOU ALREADY HAVE!!!!!

You may think your review isn't important ... but it is. It's so very important. Every review bumps me closer to the bestseller list. ... Plus, the more good reviews a book has, the more likely a new reader is to give it a chance. It is always a factor for me when I choose a book.

It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It doesn't have to be long. Short and sweet is fine with me. Just please, if you've read Broken Butterfly and you loved it, do this to help me get more copies into the hands of new readers. And thank you so much in advance. And let me know if you leave one, so I can thank you personally!!

I'm so blessed to have thirty-two 5 star***** reviews today and one 4 star**** review. That is a huge blessing.

You can find me on Goodreads and Barnes & Nobles too!

I'm working hard with my editor on Chasing Paradise. I will be looking for reviews ahead of time before this one is published!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cindy

Interview & Book Giveaway with Katelin Maloney

I'm so excited to have Katelin Maloney, Domestic Violence Advocate, and Author of Drowning here with me this morning.

 

 Welcome Katelin! Let's start by letting you tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hello Cindy. Thank you for the opportunity to share my novel, Drowning. I really appreciate it!

I am a domestic violence advocate and volunteer at the local domestic violence and sexual assault prevention organization, Betty Griffin House, located in St. Augustine, Florida.

I am happily married to a wonderful and supportive husband and I have two great sons. I am proud to say that my older son is also a volunteer at Betty Griffin House.

Besides spending time with loved ones and writing, I enjoy crafting with friends, touring St. Augustine, and exercising, especially walks on the beach. I have written many scenes in my head while enjoying the calmness the ocean brings. I am very blessed.

Having read your book, I have to know how you came up with the idea for Drowning.

Actually, I dreamed the story one night. The next day I was playing basketball in my driveway with my son and the idea of my character, Anna, came to me.  She is an integral character in the novel. After that day, the story played like a movie in my mind. When I wrote the first draft, I felt like I was just writing down the movie.

I’m currently writing a second book called Deception and unfortunately that has not happened! I have to make it up as I go along. 

If you don't mind me asking, what led you to write a story about domestic violence?

I am a domestic abuse survivor and wanted to give abused women a voice.

  

Throughout the years I’ve known other women who have been in abusive relationships and some people in their surrounding network didn’t understand the dynamics of the relationship. Drowning shows what the victim is living through. Women in abusive relationships will be able to see that the abuse is not their fault and that the abuser is not going to change his behavior.

I have had several women thank me for writing Drowning because of their previous abusive relationships. This feedback has been very rewarding.

I want to include the back cover blurb for Drowning so readers can get insight into the overall story. I hope that's okay.

Drowning, Katelin Maloney

Rebecca has simple dreams. A promotion. Children. A happy marriage. But can she have it with Mitch?

Though she carefully keeps secrets to guard her safety, her marriage to Mitch, a successful doctor, is brutal, and his abuse is escalating. A promotion at the bank could be the answer to her prayers, but Mitch has different plans for her life.

Ultimately, Rebecca must face her own inner demons before she can act. Will she be able to find her former, stronger self before Mitch destroys her completely?

What is the biggest challenge you've faced as a writer?

Learning the craft of creative writing! My background is in Finance and Economics and I have written only non-fiction for the last twenty years. I had no experience in writing fiction before taking on Drowning.

I started going to writer workshops, took classes, and read books on the craft of writing. I joined an online critique group which was very helpful to me. Basically I had to educate myself in a whole new field which didn’t include numbers! J

How do you stay motivated?

A couple of ways. Writing has been a wonderful outlet for my creativity. I’m excited to get up in the morning to start to write.

Even more motivating is the topic that I write about. When I would put Drowning aside for a month or two, I felt the pull to go back and write it because I knew the story would make a difference in people’s lives. I knew in my heart that the story needed to be told and I was the one to tell it.

What do you want your readers to gain from the book?

I’ve been told that Drowning is a ‘page-turner’ by several people, so I hope the reader enjoys the fast pace.

After reading Drowning, people will have a better understanding of abusive relationships and why women stay as long as they do. The reader will ‘walk on eggshells’ and feel that they are in the middle of the storm that the main character, Rebecca, feels she is in.

 Do you have any words of wisdom you'd like to share?

Yes. Has anyone ever noticed a friend or loved one pulling back from your relationship? Saying ‘I’m sorry’ often? Being distant or stopping contact with you? Have you noticed bruises? Does she miss a lot of work? These are all examples of someone who could be in an abusive relationship.

You can reach out to her and just let her know you are there if she needs you. Give her the number to the local domestic violence organization.

Remember, if we can help just one woman, we’ve done our job.

Katelin, thank you for being with us today and giving us a peek into your own personal experience. And readers, be sure to leave a comment to be entered into the drawing and then return next week to see if you're the winner of Katelin's book.

 

You can find Katelin's book ... and follow her here.

Katelinmaloney@yahoo.com

www.katelinmaloney.com

www.facebook.com/katelinmaloneywriter

@KatelinMaloney

Thanks for stopping by. See you next week!

Cindy

Homeless But Set Free

There's a new look on my blog.

I thought it was time for a change. It probably took me twice as long as most people to do something as simple as making changes, and I still haven't figured everything out.

But I'm not going to give up.

Thank you so much for all your love and support of my first novel release "Broken Butterfly". I have been so truly blessed to have so much support from my friends and family.

I have to admit, marketing is not easy. Especially when you feel like those who see your posts will think ... "not again" ... "I'm tired of hearing about this book. Enough is enough." Or I keep offering to give away free books (ebooks) but the response is minimal. I even had one post where NOONE even acknowledged it. Except for one friend, who shared it ... "she had already read it, and was even a critique partner", so technically she doesn't count as someone who wanted to win it! :)

THAT is disheartening. I love to win free stuff. Who doesn't?

If you've seen my posts, you may be wondering why in the world is she giving away so many ebooks in such a short period of time.

Believe me, I would prefer to spread this out over a year. But I wasn't given a choice.

I'm sad to say my distributing company is closing their doors and Broken Butterfly will be unavailable for a few weeks or more. Which means those ebooks I was given to use for marketing (which I'm trying so hard to do) will also expire this Thursday. So, after I got over my initial shock ... I had to go to work getting these ebooks distributed. I wanted to do it in a fun way ... by having contests. I hoped it would benefit me too in my effort to promote Broken Butterfly.

Is it working?

I don't know. But I have to keep pressing forward and do the best that I know how. And learn as much as I can along the way. Don't you love that we learn something new every day and will continue to learn for the rest of our lives. That's the way God designed us.

With Broken Butterfly being "Homeless" for a while, hopefully just a very short time, my marketing will decrease until I can get it distributed.

Which brings me to another point. I was devastated at first to find out this company was closing and I would be losing a lot of what I invested in. But then I prayed about it and came to realize, this could be a great opportunity for my book. I'm excited to start a new journey and looking forward to the doors God is going to open for me. Although Broken Butterfly is homeless, at the same time she's being set free. It sort of reminds me of my main character Mallory. How appropriate!

(My beautiful future daughter inlaw and model for Broken Butterfly...

photo credits go to my daughter Brooklyn Patterson)

If you haven't bought your copy of Broken Butterfly, it will be available on Amazon until April 30th. I do have paperback copies available and have even added a paypal button to my new Book page. You can now buy signed copies directly from me. Woo hoo!

ONE MORE THING!! I have a few more ebook copies to give away. Leave a comment to be entered for your chance to win one of them. If you've already read it and want to give it to a friend or relative, I can send it to whoever you want it to go to. What a great gift that would be! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Cindy