This will be a short message today. It's about 2:30 AM here and I have to teach in the morning but I wanted to share the amazing news. I am now a bestselling author!
What?!
That is right. Yours truly is now an actual bestselling author! It happened last Friday during the free giveaway. I was posting promotional information on Facebook and Twitter like a mad fiend. Then I decided to see how it was ranking on Amazon.
Before I started promoting the giveaway for my book, Into the West: A New Home - Special Edition, was ranked in 2,668,815th position on Amazon. Once the giveaway began, the book started rising in the ranks. When I checked on February 15th, my book had jumped all the way to the 57th position! I had cracked the top 100!
It was incredible to finally have a book on the bestsellers list. After working hard to promote the book across the several different social media platforms, the book jumped up to slot 41. Unfortunately, I was temporarily banned from commenting in groups on FB because of too many posts (totally worth it!) and lost out on promoting the giveaway on the last day.
I did try buying advertising on Facebook to make up for it. I only had about 12 hours left on the free giveaway. It took Facebook about an hour to approve the ad to run. Then it actually started getting noticed. After about 6 hours, It showed that 2,000+ people saw the ad but only 9 people had clicked the link to download the book. I killed the ad with a few hours left. It was obviously not effective.
I wonder if it would have gone higher if I had been able to keep posting in the groups, but to be honest, I don't care. Because not only did I finally crack the top 100, I managed to get into the top 50. Not bad for a brain damaged person, who struggles to call her husband and dog by their correctrect name!
The book topped out in the 41st position. I haven't been this happy since I was getting ready for my wedding. Now, I need to gear up for the next promotion. That oe will coincide with the release of part three, Into the West: Sharon Springs, coming in March. Keep watching my social media for more announcements.
Time to head to bed. I'm falling asleep writing this. I will write more tomorrow after I've had some sleep.
Goodnight Posse,
Stephen Burckhardt, Bestselling Western Author.