By Matt Patterson – Author, My Emily
Just days after making My Emily available via a Christian book launch with Karen, I began to hear mumblings and rumblings of this KDP Select program offered by Amazon. There was a great deal of conversation, chatter, even controversy as to what this could do for independent authors. So much so, it began to create a fear among most writers who were considering it. I, for one, was afraid as well.
My goal was simple. All I wanted was to share my book about my daughter’s story with others.
After drowning out the negative opinions and fears, while hearing and seeing success stories from other authors I decided to jump in. I kept saying to myself, “It’s only 90 days.” Ok, it wasn’t that easy. I stared at the enrollment page on my laptop for what seemed like hours before clicking off on it, but I was in.
We were closing in on the holidays and I wasn’t quite ready to go for Christmas, but I did schedule New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as my first two “free days.”
Tweets and re-tweets were scheduled for the next two days. I had a whole host of supportive authors also sending out tweets and posts in my behalf.
The day couldn’t come soon enough! When New Year’s Eve rolled around, I was beyond anxious.
I began to refresh my reports screen in what seemed like one-minute intervals. There were 5-minute spans where I had more than 50 downloads, 15-minute periods with 100-plus downloads. As Day One ended, I had more than 3,100 downloads (in theU.S.andEngland). When the dust settled after the second day – a total of 4,200-plus people now had my book on their Kindles, phones, or electronic devices.
I figured with the two-day offering complete, “normalcy” would once again return and My Emily would go back to the backburner.
Not so.
For the first 11 days following the free offering, I was averaging approximately 135 sales per day. My Emily was ranked as a number one Kindle best-seller in multiple categories – one of which includes the likes of Billy Graham, Max Lucado and Joel Osteen. Positive reviews from around the country are now starting to come to My Emily’s Amazon page.
Am I happy about my decision to put My Emily into Select? Absolutely.
Everyone’s story is different and unique. If you’re considering whether or not to place your book into the Select program, think it through. I realize there are numerous authors who have far more downloads and sales than me. That’s ok.
What Select did for me was simple. It put my book about an amazing little girl and has shared her story of courage with thousands of people.
I’m more than happy – I’m very grateful.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Matt Patterson is an award-winning writer, editor and communications professional.
His two-plus decades of experience includes public and media relations, as well as print and broadcast journalism.
He volunteers his time to helping organizations and charities dedicated to assisting families with children who have special needs or those battling pediatric cancers.
He currently resides in Arizona.
Visit Matt on his websites: http://my-emily.com or http://mattpatterson.me or on Facebook or Twitter.
Best-selling self-published author, Karen Baney, enjoys sharing information to help authors learn about the Business of Writing. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from Arizona State University and has worked in various business related career fields for the past 20 years. She writes Christian Historical Fiction and Contemporary Romance novels. To learn more about her novels visit her website: