You bet I was pleased as punch about this. I can safely say Rachel Gibson’s books are, hands down, my favourite single title contemporary romances. I have the lot of them in print and by April 1, 2012, I’ll have them all in digital too. Just want to share the good news.

She’s 33, unmarried, and stuffed into a Bubble Yum pink bridesmaid dress. And the whole town wants to fix her up with anyone with a dental plan… Who’s going to rescue Sadie Hollowell now? Everyone in Lovett, Texas knows Sadie has always been a ‘notional’ kind of gal. She got a notion to leave town asap , and never visit her daddy (bless his heart). Now, she’s back and got the notion to invite a good-looking, hard-muscled, total stranger to her cousin’s wedding. Better a stranger than some of the losers she’s dated.

Vince Haven got his muscles the hard way—as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. He’s staying in Lovett to visit his crazy aunt—the proprietor of the local Gas N Go. Before he can get the heck back out of the small town, his aunt makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Maybe he’ll stick around Lovett for a while. Maybe he’ll make a ‘go’ of the Gas N Go. Maybe he’ll rescue Sadie out of that pink dress!

Don’t forget RESCUE ME, the first chapter in Gibson’s new series on men of the military, will be on-sale 5/29/12.

NOW AVAILABLE AT THE DISCOUNTED PROMOTIONAL PRICE OF $5.99

True Love and Other Disasters

Nothing But Trouble

True Confessions

Sex, Lies and Online Dating

I’m in No Mood for Love

Tangled Up in You

Not Another Bad Date

Lola Carlyle Reveals All

Any Man of Mine ($4.99)

NEW TO EPUB RELEASES ON 4/1/12 ALL ONLY $3.99!

Simply Irresistible

It Must Be Love

See Jane Score

The Trouble with Valentine’s Day

Truly Madly Yours

Daisy’s Back in Town

It looks like I’m getting very very close to giving away that Kindle Fire. This morning I added up all the free downloads for ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION and as of today, they are currently at 232, 260. I said I would give away a Kindle Fire once they reached 250,000 so I’m only 17,740 downloads away. At the current pace, that’s approximately 2 to 3 weeks away.  For anyone who posted my ad on the sidebar on their site or blog back when I was giving away the iPad 2 in December, you will automatically be entered to win with 10 entries (as it was through your help I’ve gotten this far). All you have to do is comment on the post when it goes up and mention you had the ad up in December to win the iPad 2 (I have all the emails from the people who posted, so I’ll be able to match you up).

I honestly didn’t think I would reach this goal until mid year so I’m pleased as punch that I’m this close to not only my goal, but giving away the Kindle Fire. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that I have the best fans, most loyal visitors as well as the most supportive. Thanks so much, everyone!!!

So last year, when I had Kim Killion of HotDamnDesigns create the cover for my upcoming release, AN HEIR OF DECEPTION, only one other author had used that particular stock photo. And the good thing about the Mary Jo Putney cover was that 2/3 of the photo was covered. You could barely tell the photo was the same. Well, fast forward a year later and that photo is super popular and has been used on about 8 (eight) more covers.

When I saw the last beautiful rendition of this photo I wanted to cry. Yes, it was beautiful, but my cover could now be mistaken for a good half dozen other books. What was I going to do? I decided I needed to commission Kim to make another cover but this time I bought all rights to the photo. Unfortunately, although Kim created a lovely cover for me, it wasn’t as good as the one I have and there was no way I would replace my current cover unless the new cover was either as good or better.

So I tried once again to get another cover made and that didn’t even make it off the floor. I swear, I wanted to cry. What was I going to do? So then a fan emailed me to kindly let me know she’d seen my photo on another cover. I thanked her and told her that I intended to have a new cover made. She pleaded with me to please think about changing it because she loves the current cover. To her, the couple on the cover is Alex and Charlotte and she suggested I open up the question to my readers. So today, that’s what I’m doing. The question is simple: do I commission someone to create a new cover for the third time or do I keep the cover I have with the firm knowledge, it won’t be unique?

Help me make the right choice. I think I’m too close to the issue and I trust your collective judgement.

“When was he born?” he asked quietly, bracing his hands on the pillow at the sides of her face as he closed the gap between them. “And this time I want the truth.” His tone held a warning note.

As if the truth was alien to her tongue, Charlotte started to speak several times before the word finally emerged breathless and broken. “February.”

Alex said nothing for several seconds, just held her captive in his flat, empty stare before lowering his head until his mouth brushed the lobe of her right ear. “See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” 

~ AN HEIR OF DECEPTION
    Coming Spring 2012 

A random commenter will receive a $10 eGift Certificate.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KING

“ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL”

“I HAVE A DREAM”

Avon Books has created a quick, 10-minute survey asking readers their reading habits—how they find and buy their books, how they engage with authors, publishers, and other readers online, what they like about romance novels specifically, at what price point they will buy who and what etc. Please take a little time out of your day (or weekend) and offer your valuable input.   Here’s the link to the survey, which can be found on Avon’s  Facebook page.

I’m curious–okay just downright nosy–but I got to wondering about readers’ buying habits with the advent of digital books.  Has it changed? How much as it changed.

So today I crunched the numbers on the free downloads of ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION, and so far as of 10-29-2011, I can tell you there have been 173,289 downloads from Amazon, B&N, iBookstore and Sony. My ultimate goal as I’ve stated in prior posts is 250,000–that’s also when I’ll celebrate by giving away a Kindle Fire.  Do I believe it’s attainable goal? Absolutely, or I wouldn’t have put it out there. Do I think it’s an easy goal to achieve? Nope, but then nothing and I repeat nothing about being a successful author is. And since I’ve always been a pretty ambitious person, I’m striving to be as successful as I possibly can.

Many of my readers have asked me what’s next after AN HEIR OF DECEPTION. Well, I’m taking the plunge and switching gears for a bit to write a contemporary novella. It will be the introduction to my Creme de la Creme series, which is about three friends  who decide to open an upscale bakery together specializing in French pastries.  In the novella, to which I have no title yet but on some days fondly call ‘Kick Him to the Curb’ and on others, ‘Ultimatum’, a week before her 30th birthday, my heroine ends her two year long relationship with her 35 year old ex-football player boyfriend, who is not ready to go another round with the marriage institution. Unfortunately, for him (our stubborn hero) more than marriage, he detests the thought of his girlfriend all free and single or, even worse, with somebody else. I’m looking for a title that somehow relates to food, pastries, baking, what have you. Any suggestions will be most welcome.

After I go contemp for a bit, I’ll come back to historical romances and I will finish the first book in The Temptresses series, which will spin off The Elusive Lords. The first book in the series is titled TWICE THE TEMPTATION and features Catherine (Charlotte’s twin) and Lucas (American business man introduced in An Heir of Deception).  Here’s the a short blurb that summarizes the series:

Temptation is as old as Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, succumbing to it is as natural as breathing to the gentlemen in the haut ton.  But the secret society of the TEMPT club (Test Eligible Males’ Proof of Trustworthiness) will save prospective brides bent on fidelity, by discerning the faithful from the philanderers. And the founders and sole members of the club—Catherine Rutherford, Olivia Wakefield and Meghan Townsend—are ready and willing to apply themselves fully to that task. What they hadn’t counted on was emotional entanglements…

Speaking of temptation, today I’m giving away the appropriately titled contemporary, TEMPTED AGAIN by Cathie Linz. I have to say, this one got me at, “Enter sexy lawman Connor Doyle–bad boy who took her virginity back in high school.” 

TEMPTED AGAIN
Author: Cathie Linz
Publisher: Penguin Group
Line: Berkley Sensation
ISBN: 978-0425244548
Retail Price: $7.99
Amazon ~ B&N ~ iBookstore 

She’d been tempted before…

Marissa Bennett needs to start over, so she returns to her hometown of Hopeful, Ohio, and a new job at the library. After a painful divorce. she craves peace of mind and stability. Instead, the first thing she does is accidentally crash the Founders’ Day Parade. To make matters worse, she has to deal with her menopausal mom, a sarcastic sister and a loony library board.he also has to deal with a menapausal mom, a saracastic sister and a loony library board.

…and this wickedly hot sheriff knows her weakness.

The last thing Marissa needs is a new man in her life. Enter sexy lawman Connor Doyle-the bad boy who took her virginity back in high school. She knows she should turn the pages on her past and get her life back on track, but Connor is irresistible. Has she come all the way home just to get her heart broken again?

So here’s the question of the day–and not meaning to getting into anyone’s personal business–but how would you feel if you ran into ‘your first’? If in fact you aren’t currently married or going out with him/her? Comment and enter to win TEMPTED AGAIN!

Amazon is offering self-published authors the option of entering their books in the Kindle Select Program. So here’s my question for readers, would you pay $79/yr for an Amazon Prime Membership which offers the following benefits:

1. Free 2 day shipping.
2. Instant streaming of over 10,000 videos
3. Borrow 1 (one) book a month for free from Lending Library. Currently the majority of these books are self-published and none of the Big6 publishing companies participate in this program.

Now, this latest move on Amazon’s part is to get more books in their Lending Library in hopes of trying to make the Prime Membership more appealing to readers.  As a reader, would you be tempted to get a Prime Membership knowing there will be thousands and thousands of more books to choose from?

Comment and enter to winter a copy of TOO WICKED TO WED!

Click to read review & book details

On June 26th, my first self-published book (a novella), ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION went live on B&N and Amazon. I suffered all kinds of  nervousness about its release. Would readers buy it? Would they like it enough to read the prior two books in the series. More importantly, would their interest be peaked in the next book in the series, AN HEIR OF DECEPTION, of which I’d included the first three chapters at the end of the novella? I had no idea but I cross my fingers and prayed.

Fast forward to the end of September, my novella has sold a modest amount of books–approx. 3300 copies. Amazon and B&N are completely swamped with self-published books, both front list books and reissued books. Ninety-nine ($.99) books seemed to dominate Amazon charts. More and more, it’s getting harder and harder for authors to compete for readers’ dollars with so many books and so many, many cheap books.

The sad fact is, no author wants to sell their work for $.99. Most authors do so in an effort to compete, in the hope of selling enough to land the book on a list. Being on a list means more visibility. More visibility means–hopefully–more sales. More sales, of course, means more readers reading your work and that’s what every author wants. The ultimate would be that a good portion of these readers like your work enough to buy you again.

So with all of this motivating me, I decided I try to reach more readers in a different way. Instead of charging money for my 30k novella, I would give it away free for 2 weeks but just in the Apple iBookstore. At that time, the novella was already in the iBookstore through Smashwords for $.99 but it was only selling a couple copies a day. I really didn’t think I had anything to lose. I then opened an account with Apple myself, took it down from being distributed to the iBookstore through Smashwords and put it up myself. This way, I would get a daily download count.

On October 9th, ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION went free in the iBookstore. The chart below shows what happened to A TASTE OF DESIRE (released Jan 2011 from Kensington).

As you can see from the graph, A TASTE OF DESIRE didn’t do too bad when it went up in the iBookstore January 5th. It spent a fair bit of time in the Top 100 Historical Romances and then it fell completely off around the summer. But on October 10th, it jumped back on the Top #100 Historical Romance list went as high as 7 ( It’s currently #6 in Historical Romance and #31 in Romance). As you can see from the chart, since the novella went free, it’s sustained a ranking in the Top #100, unlike the period when it was first released, when it was popping on and off of that same list.

Unlike A TASTE OF DESIRE, SINFUL SURRENDER didn’t become available in the iBookstore until September 2011. Not sure why since it came out January 2010. I do know I emailed my former editor at Kensington in August to find out why it wasn’t available. Anyway, as you can see from the above graph, SINFUL SURRENDER had similar results once the novella went free. Two months later, it maintains excellent rankings and hasn’t yet fallen out of the Top #100 Romance.

Fast forward to November 1st. ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION goes free on Amazon and a day later goes free on Barnes & Noble. Here’s what happened to both Kensington books on Amazon. I’ll explain B&N results in a bit.

These graphs are pretty self-explanatory. It’s clear the effect of the free novella was almost immediate. Both books appeared on Amazon’s Top 100 Historical list and remained there for approximately one month. I find that Amazon is much more price sensitive, so it’s no surprise that SINFUL SURRENDER, priced at $2.99, this time around, sold better than A TASTE OF DESIRE ($4.49) and still maintains a better ranking.

Unfortunately, my free novella had no effect on my sales in B&N and here’s why: Barnes and Noble does not advertise their free ebooks. There is no link on their site and no list ranking Top Free eBooks as there is in the iBookstore and Amazon. Even if you search free eBooks and drill-down to Historical Romance, my book (and most free historical romance ebooks) is not listed on the page. There is a definite cause and effect in play here, and if readers can’t readily find my free novella on the site, they won’t be downloading it. This was the one fly in the ointment. I hope one day B&N will reconsider this and advertise their free ebooks.

# of Unique Visitors - www.BeverleyKendall.com

The above graph is the # of unique visitors to my personal website. You will see monthly spikes when I’m announcing a new contest but if you look at October onward, you’ll see a definite increases in new visitors. The traffic to my website has more than doubled (almost tripled) since my novella when free. A good 70% of visitors land on my site having searched for AN HEIR OF DECEPTION (Remember, the book whose first three chapters I included in the back of the novella).

Lastly, let’s talk numbers (the ones I think I know). Prior to the novella going free, both of my Kensington books were selling approx 1-20 books a day combined on Amazon. At the peak of their resurgence, they were selling a combined approx 115 books a day (according to Theresa Ragan’s Amazon Ranking Chart).

To date, between Amazon US, Amazon UK and iBookstore, there have been 88,653 (iBookstore) + 47,857 (Amazon US) + 3,041 = 139,551 downloads of ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION.

Lessons Learned

1. Free works
2. Include an excerpt to other books at the back of your free book
3. Readers should be willing to pay money for the free book. In other words, don’t scrimp on anything: cover, editorial review, story.
4. It’s easier to promote a free book than a paid book.
5. Free book helps weed out readers who won’t like your paid work, which hopefully means less negative reviews of paid books.
6. Free works better with series (connecting books).
7. Authors don’t have to be slaves to cheap book pricing. If readers love your work, they will pay a fair price for your books. (Personally, fair to me is $4.99 for a full-length 90-100k book).

However, the biggest lesson I learned was if you’re going to include an excerpt of other books in your free ebook, make sure the book is available for purchase. I made this mistake by not having AN HEIR OF DECEPTION available and sorely regret that missed a great opportunity to sell that book now, when the interest is hot. Believe me, it’s a mistake I won’t ever make again.

Most of the books I read are professionally edited and the writing is good to fantastic. The issues I have with most books I read is the story and its appeal–or lack thereof.

Lack of appeal could be: characterization, plausibility issues, too much internal examining by either hero or heroine, or the dreaded, nothing is really going on.  But those are taste issues. What appeals to others may not necessarily appeal to me and vice versa. That’s why reviews are subjective.

But if pressed and I had to rate a book that was essentially well written and not to my tastes, I’m not ever going to give it 1 star. If you can write, you will garner at least 2 stars from me on a scale of 1 to 5. Of course, that’s just me. Everyone has their own criteria when it comes to rating books and I’d like to know yours. Specifically, I want to know what would make you give a book 1 star?