Romance By Catherine: How... Why... What are you doing?

Saturday, November 12, 2011

How... Why... What are you doing?

Today when I climbed out of bed... before I even started that pot of coffee... I jumped online to see where my numbers stood with Amazon for Wife by Wednesday. I know, I'm a total geek and completely obsessed. Wife is my 10th published title and never before have I seen an audience gobble up a book faster than I can hit {refresh} on my computer. Binding Vows / Silent Vows and Redeeming Vows have done amazing... but I never went under #1,000 in the ranks of Amazon with them. Now maybe when Highland Shifter comes out that will change... but that's for a different blog.

Today my lowest rank on Amazon has been #602 - the lowest that I've seen anyway. I had another 5 star review posted and just a ton of hits on this blog.

And... to top that off I've had two complete strangers send me an email seeking advice.Hence the title of this blog - How... Why... What are you doing?

Simple answer - How the {F} do I know. No, wait... I do know a few things, and I don't think my sudden popularity is completely by chance.

1.)  Wife by Wednesday is $0.99.  Believe me, that was a hard decision to make. See, Amazon likes a little more money from authors selling their books for .99 - So in turn, I don't make that much. I started out a $2.99 and after almost two weeks and a ton of research I decided to lower the price. (not something you can do unless you're self publishing) -  I now needed to sell 6 books to make up the money for 1 book with my new price.

But you see, reaching readers is my goal here. Wife is my first contemporary romance where no one travels back to the 16th century or sprouts fur on a full moon. So $0.99 it is.

2.)  And this is going to be a self answered tip - Dear Blog Reader {[ YOU ]} Glance over to the right side of this blog and take a look at the poll question. Take a half a second to answer the question. And if I didn't put your answer in the multiple choice answers, take a second and answer the question bellow. HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT ME?

Twitter
Facebook
Previous Fan of my Work
Writer Forum (HQN - CTR)

or

Saw me on a blog
Loops

If you google 'Catherine Bybee' you are going to come up with nearly 100 pages of me. Sad, it means i have NO life off the Internet (not true but it seems that way) - My readers are e-book readers. E-readers are online.

3.) Product - Yeah, that's right... I think the last reason people pick up my work is because of the product. Don't get me wrong... I work hard to put out stellar stories that entertain you and help you escape into someone elses world for a short time... or in terms of the time travels, capture and makes you read book after book until you're finished with the series.

However, even with a stellar book cover (thank you Crystal) and wonderfully edited content (thank you Sandra aka, the best CP ever) - And then lil' ole' me... A decent storyteller who has a voice lots of readers relate to. But before you glanced at the first few pages of my book to decide if you liked my work I had to get your attention.

So dear weekend blog reader... Take a half a second to answer that poll. If you make a comment here I'll be happy to put your name in the cyber hat and at the end of the day I'll draw a name and give away one PDF copy of Wife by Wednesday. If you've already read Wife - I'll sweeten the pot and give away a PDF of Binding Vows.

8 comments:

Mary Moriarty said...

Thank you Catherine! This is just what I needed and yes, like I told my son I need to have myself out there so people know who I am before I even get my first book out in June. Thank you, Thank you!!
Mary (one of your strangers :-)

Catherine Bybee said...

Thanks for reading, Mary... I do hope I've helped.
Best of luck on your book.

Suzanne G. Rogers said...

I admire your tenacity at promotion, Catherine. You're an inspiration.

Unknown said...

Well you seem to be a somewhat like I am. I am barely up, barely have a cup of tea into me and I am reading more on how I can successfully self publish or e-publish. I do have more questions but will write them out and post them to you soon. Until then have a great day!

Catherine Bybee said...

Mary - You won the drawing for a free download of Wife by Wednesday - Congrats.

Unknown said...

WOW!! What a nice way to wake up. have my tea, opened my laptop and surprise!!
Thank you!!
Mary

Anonymous said...

I heard about you on Amazon. Wife by Wednesday got such good reviews.

Unknown said...

It is a very good book, grabs you from the very start!