I remember the conversation as if it were yesterday. Darlene and I were driving from our home in Wrightstown, WI down Route 96 headed to Kaukauna, WI to get something to eat. We had been messing around with the "intention" or "desire" to get Darlene's first novel, Until Forever published but hadn't yet made the commitment. "We don't have the money!" "We don't have the time!" "What if nobody buys the book?" "What if we go through all this effort and the results are depressing?" "What if____________________?" (just fill in whatever comes to mind) What if, What if, What if? Since we started self-publishing our own books and helping other authors to do the same, we have heard the same exact excuses from literally hundreds of authors. Our question to them is the same one Darlene & I asked ourselves on that fateful day on that fateful drive. Looking over at my wife, I asked her "Are we going to get this book published or not? Yes or No." Her answer was "Yes". And here we are. 13 Self-Published titles later. 200,000++ book downloads later. 48 consecutive months of receiving Amazon royalty payments later. Because we said "yes" even when we didn't have the time or the money and no guarantees we would ever sell a book. I believe that's what some people refer to as 'faith' while others simply label as 'crazy'. Maybe it's 'Crazy Faith'? Do you have enough 'Crazy Faith' to just go ahead and get your book published? I pray that you do. I promise, you will never regret it. Talk Soon, Dan & Darlene
We never claimed to know it all. In fact, we learn something new just about every day. Case in point... ![]() We have been enrolled in KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Select with some or most of our books during the past five years or so of being self-published. Mother’s Day is a big day for promotions as moms everywhere are getting e-readers for their big day. Darlene planned a giveaway for her first cozy mystery and we helped one of our clients with a giveaway for that weekend as well. Our client eagerly filled out the online submission tool that sends out the promotion to 30+ online E-Book promoters. They will in turn send out 1,000’s of emails to their subscriber lists letting readers know the book is free and when. After having her do that, Darlene reminded her to go and make sure her dates were secured for the giveaway on KDP. A little while later, we received a frantic message from her that KDP would not allow her to schedule her free days. Darlene signed into her account and lo and behold, her 90-day renewal date for KDP was the Friday before Mother’s Day, which happened to be the proposed first day of her promotion. Big smack upside the head! We could not schedule the promotion until the new term actually began! Darlene ended up staying online until 3 am on Thursday night to set up her free days—once her KDP Select automatically renewed—and we totally missed out on the first free day, Friday. Lesson learned? Schedule the FREE days first in your KDP account before doing any promotion! Today officially marks the beginning of the second week of 2020.
That's right. Week #2. How are you doing so far on those 'New Years Resolutions'? If you're like most people, you've already 'fallen off the wagon' in one way or another and are now 'back to normal'. If not, congratulations. We'll commiserate with you next week :-) Although the beginning of any new year is a great time to decide to make positive changes, I believe that ANY time can be a great time. Every moment we are here on this earth, we have the ability to alter our futures, design our destinies and 'change the family tree' as Dave Ramsey likes to say. If you find yourself cursing at your apparent inability to keep a resolution, just take a deep breath and DECIDE to try again. And then DECIDE again. And again. As many times as you need to. For you, it might be just once more. Or it might be a thousand 'once mores'. Every one of us is different in that resolve. But, the one thing that we ALL have in common, is the ability to DECIDE. What decision do you need to make right now? Make the decision. Now. And act on it. Now. Hi Everybody,
Dan Here. I've got something that has been on my heart for quite a while now and I want to share with all of you. Normally, we try to be the good stewards of our talents that God expects with us being all humble and stuff. Sometimes, though, I feel like shouting from the roof-top and lucky you, today is that day. So, here goes (and to alot of you, this is not NEW news)... My wife, Darlene Shortridge, is an incredible writer. For those of you who have read her stuff, you know this already. For those that have not...you are missing out! Just to get a sample of her awesomeness, you should register to get a free digital version of her first book, Until Forever (which has been downloaded over 200,000 times!). My intent with this post is not to just score points with my wife (although I'm looking forward to that) but to make this point... It's Ok to brag on your wife or husband or kids or grand-kids. It's O.K. to brag on yourself. As long as your bragging is true, appreciative, heart-felt, edifying and done in a spirit of humility and thankfulness, I think it's perfectly O.K. to brag. So, with that, please go check out my wonderful, beautiful, talented, woman of prayer, Darlene Shortridge. Can you believe it is the year 2015? My how time flies. Oh, I probably shouldn’t use that phrase seeing as how it is a completely overused idiom. Then again, I did recently see a clock with wings, so I guess I’ll keep it.
As the New Year approached, I couldn’t help but take a look backward and take stock of what I had accomplished in my writing goals. 2014 was a bad year for accomplishing anything. Seriously. 2015 is going to be different. I am going to write the best book yet. Why? Because I KNOW that writing my next best book is the best thing I can do to help propel me forward into a world that is highly saturated with other great authors. Besides that, I have a message I want to share. Have you made a list of your writing goals for this next year? I have. I’m working on a children’s picture book (a completely new writing avenue for me which I am loving!), the next book in the Women of Prayer Series, “Forever Faithful” (should have been done eons ago, yeah, I know.), and a non-fiction book geared toward the heart of women. I’m excited. Can you tell? Our goals for 40 Day Publishing involve helping more people realize their publishing goals, whether it be through our book, 40 Day Publishing, our online Self-Publishing School, “Self Pub 101” or our one on one consulting business. We are looking forward to the best year ever. Take a minute to jot down your writing goals for this year. We would love to help in any way we can. Have a wonderful new year! Dan and Darlene We received a question from one of our Self Pub 101 students regarding the use/purchase of an ISBN. She was re-publishing her book after having it published with a well known subsidy publisher.
First, what is an ISBN? ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. This number is used to identify the book, each edition, as well as the publisher. So, if you are re-publishing a book, you need a new ISBN. If you are re-publishing your own book that has previously been published by someone else, you need a new ISBN. If you are self-publishing on a shoe string budget, then allowing Createspace to issue your paperback book an ISBN might be the route for you to go, at least for now. Your Kindle version will list your imprint as publisher while the paperback version will list Createspace as Publisher, but in the grand scheme of things does it matter? I’m not really certain anyone is swayed by the fact that Createspace is listed as your publisher. Most readers do not pay any attention to who publishes your book. As long as you write a great book does it matter who is listed as publisher? And most online sales are ebook sales…which means the purchaser is still seeing your publishing imprint listed under publisher in the book’s details. If you have the resources, then by all means purchase your own ISBN from Bowker. I’ve listed the link below. Here is a link that tells you exactly what an ISBN is used for. http://www.bowker.com/en-US/products/servident_isbn.shtml Here is where you go online to purchase your ISBNs. https://www.myidentifiers.com/isbn/main We received this awesome comment in regards to one of our blog posts. We felt the questions were so important, we wanted to answer them so everyone could see our response. Thank you, Kris, for your timely questions!
Kris Orkin said: “Okay, I'll be honest and say what a lot of writers are wondering. I'm just plain scared of self-publishing. I know that authors who self-publish have more control over the entire process of getting their books out. I know it's a faster process, though often costly. Nevertheless, I've considered this route and have spent a great deal of time reading books that have been independently published. And I'm sad to say I've not been happy with 90% of the stories I've read. Overall topic ideas seem wonderful, but the actual writing often has disappointed me--not only grammar and punctuation errors, but also blatant weaknesses in sentence structure, transitions, and basic language. It makes me wonder if editors are involved and if author rewrites are required. Every writer wants his/her story published quickly, including me. Do self-publishing companies take advantage of authors like us by printing things that are not yet ready, for their financial gain and our egos? I worry about my reputation as a skilled writer. I worry about handing over my manuscript to someone who will not care enough to edit it and make me improve it. How qualified are the editors of these publishing companies? Book sale numbers really don't mean much. People don't know a story is going to be a bad read unless they first purchase the book, then read it. Meanwhile, records show a documented book sale (of an unread book). And once read, you can't return something that was ill-written. HELP ME UNDERSTAND MORE about this type of publishing. The costs involved in self-publishing need to assure me of a spotlessly clean end product. What say you? (Sorry people, don't judge my curiosity as negativity. I'm trying to be helpful in highlighting concerns that many of us have but are afraid to ask of a self-publishing company, for fear of sounding disrespectful. Please know that I respect 40DayPublishing and trust they will address my concerns in the spirit they were asked.)” Kris, I’m so glad you asked!!! I understand your fears. And they are legitimate. I think first off we need to differentiate between independently self-published authors and subsidy house published authors. There is a difference. And yes, I too have read some books coming out of subsidy house publishers that are horrendous. My first book was published with one such house (which will remain nameless). When I ended the contract with the subsidy house, I was so embarrassed to be associated with them in any way that I destroyed every bit of promotional material I had with their name on it. So, I get that. I really do. For those readers who don’t know…I want to explain the difference between a subsidy publisher and self-publishing. Subsidy publishing houses (also commonly called vanity publishers) accept most manuscripts that pass through their doors. It does not matter what the quality is, if you have the money, they will publish you. Not only do you pay them to do all the work for you (and no, I don’t think we should all work for free) but they also take most of your royalty from your book. Often they control the price of your book as well. The author is usually given creative control BUT I have seen many cases where the author is bullied into doing the will of the publisher when it comes to cover design, back matter etc. The independently self-published author either has to learn to format paperback and ebooks…or they have to hire someone to do it for them. They also must have a cover, either designed by themselves or someone else. They must have an editor. Or not. It’s truly up to the author what they want and what they don’t want. You get the idea. Now, for truly independent self-publishing. If you are willing to learn how to self-publish, you can do it for free. Seriously. Self-publishing does not have to cost thousands of dollars. Knowledge can be costly. You must either spend the time to learn, or pay someone to teach you. This is why so many pay others to do the work for them. They simply do not want to put in the time. I’m going to say something that may step on a few toes. But, that is okay. Truth is truth. For self-published authors, the responsibility for having a well edited book is the responsibility of the author. If you want your cover to be awesome, it is your responsibility. If you want your interior to look like it just came off the press of a traditional publisher’s press…then it is your responsibility. It really comes down to you. Do subsidy houses take advantage of authors? You bet they do! They prey on the emotions of authors who dream of publishing. They send a lovely contract that has a gold seal. They make you feel special. Like you survived the cut when so many others didn’t. In fact, most everyone survives the cut. They also provide a service that many authors are looking for. Someone to at least appear as if they believe in them. I received a letter from an author who was amazed that her manuscript was accepted by a Christian Subsidy Publisher. Now, everyone has the right to publish what he/she wants to publish. But if you say you only accept 5% of submitted manuscripts and you only publish clean Christian work, then why did this company accept a story line that not only has two lesbians raising a child together, but also endorses such activity? Did they really read the manuscript before accepting it? One must wonder. I cannot speak for editors everywhere. I do know that some editors are trained. Some are good at what they do. Some are terrible (although they are usually nice). I can say that one of the last traditionally published books I read had more errors then then last self-published book I read. It is becoming more and more common (no matter who the publisher is) to see errors in books. And of course, things change. For instance, do you place two spaces after each period or one? Do you use ellipsis, n dashes, m dashes, or nothing? I’m reading a Love Inspired book right now that actually put quotation marks inside the punctuation. That happens to be traditionally published. It just made me smile. My books are not perfect. I make no claims to such. I never will. No matter how many editors have gone through them because some hard and fast rules have changed and others are up for interpretation. Besides, I have found true typos in my books. Like I find in every other published book. I do love the fact that when I find an error I can have it fixed in a matter of hours on Amazon. Paying big money will not guarantee you a spotlessly clean book. That does not exist. As for returns…yes, the reader can return e-books to Amazon within a two week window. And they do return books. I rarely have a return. And all my books have excellent reviews. Between the full length novels and the novellas, the lowest ranked book has 4.5 out 5 stars and over 250 reviews. Not too shabby for a self-published author. It comes down to this. Do you believe in the message you have to share? Are you willing to wait and take the chance to see that message reach people who are desperately waiting for it (if waiting to be accepted by a traditional publisher)? Or do you believe the message/content is important enough to make a difference in lives around the world sooner rather than later? I honestly forget about the “errors” that have been found when I receive an email from a reader across the world telling me how my books helped her find hope in Jesus Christ. I’m more concerned with the reader who found my book and then found the strength to forgive a wandering husband. I know that family is now saved and living for Jesus. Stories like these make a couple of errors seem petty. I refuse to hide my talent in the sand. I want to use them and multiply them for the Lord. He does not expect us to be perfect. He does expect us to be obedient. What are you willing to do to see your dreams come true? Is there anything (while upholding biblical morals and values) that you won’t do?
Here at 40 Day Publishing we’ve heard it all. “I don’t have the money. I don’t have the time. I don’t have the knowledge. I’ve done all I can do. No one will help me. No one cares. God doesn’t care. My spouse doesn’t support me. I have so many other things to do. My kids are little. My job consumes me. I don’t have the patience. I don’t have the motivation. I’m too tired”. And the list goes on (and on and on and ….). I’m sure you can think of several excuses you’ve used that I’ve failed to mention. We are all Kings and Queens of excuses. We’re good at making them. We’re good at using them. We’ve all done it. But it’s time to STOP. When I first wrote Until Forever, we used a plethora of excuses for three years. THREE. YEARS. “We don’t have the money. The book’s not that good. We still don’t have the money. We don’t know the first thing about publishing. Or the second. And we still don’t have the money”. Been there? Yeah, I figured as much. Then we sat down and said, “What IS holding us back?” Fear of failure? Fear of the unknown? Lack of ambition? “What is the TRUE reason we’re not pushing through?” For us it was a combination of things. We also decided enough was enough. We were either going to publish this thing or we weren’t. And “weren’t” wasn’t an option. Losing a job wasn’t going to stop us. Seeing a reduction of 75% of our income wasn’t going to stop us. People not believing in us wasn’t going to stop us. We coughed up $4000 to pay a subsidy publisher (yeah, we really didn’t know what we were doing back then). Then we poured our time into learning everything we could about our business. We wanted success. And we wanted it bad enough that we were going to give it everything we had. After 15 months with a subsidy publisher, we ended our contract and published on our own. Our ninth book was uploaded today. We’ve come a long way in seven years. Not only do we publish our own works, but we help other authors publish their works. How COOL is that? We get to help other people realize their dreams. There are days I skip around on Amazon, from book to book, just smiling, knowing that we have helped some very talented authors publish their books. I’m so thankful we never gave up! So, what are YOU willing to do to see YOUR dreams come true??? Question #1
Would you like to wait nine months to one year before seeing your book for sale on sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBookstore? Or would you like to see your book for sale in eight weeks or less? Most traditionally or subsidy published authors wait almost a year before seeing their work reach their intended market. In fact, some authors won’t ever see their work published if they wait on a traditional publisher to deem their work worthy. Do you want to be lumped in with most authors? Or do you want to self-publish your work and reach those who need to hear what you have to say in a timelier manner? Just one thing to consider when making your publishing choices. Question #2 Do you want someone else deciding what your book should look like? Or would you like your book cover to represent your story the way you, the author, envision it? Traditionally published authors almost never have a say on what their book(s) look like. Even though subsidy publishers often say you have complete control over your cover design, they sometimes bully authors into thinking they know what is best in regards to your cover, even though they have not read the book. As a self-published author, you know your story best. Your book’s cover is totally dependent upon your vision. You truly make the final decision when it comes to your book cover. Question #3 Have you ever handed your manuscript over to someone only to have them practically rewrite you entire story? Do you really want your book rewritten? Or would you rather have someone fix the grammatical errors and point out inconsistencies so the heart of your work remains the same while the manuscript gets cleaned up? When you sign over intellectual rights, you lose the right to said work. You no longer get the final say on what your characters look like or whether or not the family in your book has a dog. Your work in essence is no longer your work. You may have created it. It may be your baby. But when you sign your baby over to the publisher, you have decided to put your baby up for adoption. When you self-publish, you decide which twists and turns are to be included and which ones are to be removed. You are the boss. You maintain creative control. Question #4 How often do you want to be paid? Once a quarter? Twice a year? Once a year? Or would you rather see money being deposited in your account monthly? Amazon, the world’s largest book seller, deposits royalty payments directly into your account monthly. That’s right. When you self-publish there is no waiting on a publisher to be paid months before you see a dime from your work. Self-published authors have no middle man who decides when the author gets their money. Question #5 Do you want someone else to take the bulk of your pay? Or would you rather earn up to 70% from your book sales? Traditional publishers would go out of business if they did not earn a portion of your royalty. That is just how it goes. Subsidy publishers want money up front and a good portion of your royalty earnings. And plenty of people hand their money over willingly in order to be published. When you self-publish, you are the direct link between the book seller and your bank account. When you price your book between 2.99 and 9.99 on Amazon, you will receive 70% of that sale on a monthly basis. Considering that Amazon sells the most books of any venue, your income can add up to quite a bit. Who is holding on to your money, you or a publisher? Question #6 Do you like playing the guessing game in regards to book sales? Or would you rather know how many books you are selling on a daily basis? When you are your own publisher, you do not have to wait for a quarterly or semi-annual report to let you know how many books you are selling. You can track those figures daily. Every day you can see how many books you are selling and how much you are earning. It really pays to be your own publisher. Question #7 Do you like your book price to be so high no one buys it? Or would you rather be able to lower and raise your book’s price to match the market? Let’s face it, when we first start out as authors, who is going to pay $12.99 for our ebook? We are virtually unknowns. We need to build a reader base. One of the best ways to do that is to price our books affordably. When a publisher is controlling your selling price, affordability is often not a possibility. But, when you determine the sale price, you can price your book exactly how you want to. You can run a sale, you can lower the price for marketing purposes. You can do what you want because you are in control of your own book! Question #8 Do you like to pay retail price when you order a copy of your own book? Or would you rather purchase copies of your book at that low publisher price? Let’s face it, one way publishers make money is by selling you your own book at an inflated price. Of course, if you order copies by the hundreds, you get a discount. How would you like to pay that same low price even if you order only one copy of your book? That is just one of the ways being your own publisher saves you money. Question #9 Do you like paying a subsidy publisher thousands of dollars to perform the technical work of publishing only to turn around and pay most of your royalty amount to them as well? Or would you rather publish yourself completely for free? If you are willing to invest the time it takes to learn the trade, you can publish yourself for free. Yes, you read that right. You can publish your book for free. I admit, learning to format is tough. Creating covers that will compete in today’s market is tough. But, it can be done. The question becomes, what are you willing to do? To Learn? And if there are some parts to the publishing process that is just not your cup of tea, you can hire out those specific skills to get the job done right. Question #10 Do you want to only publish one book per year? Or would you rather release your stories faster, creating a reader base that much quicker? It takes anywhere from nine months to a year and a half for a publisher to publish a book. That is a long time. If you know what you are doing, you can publish your book in a week or two. Let’s face it, time is money. As our books are waiting in a publisher’s computer queue for its turn to be noticed, as self-published authors we could have two or more books published on our own. That means, more readers are seeing our work. Our readers are not growing impatient. And more money is being deposited in our bank accounts. Question #11 Do you like errors in your reading material? Or would you rather read something that has as few mistakes as possible? One thing I hear the most complaints about is the unwillingness of publishers to fix errors after a book has been published. Subsidy publishers want to charge you upwards of $100 to fix errors on one page of your manuscript. When you self-publish, you can make changes to your manuscript at any time and have those changes go into effect within 24 hours, usually less. Question #12 Do you like to blame people for your lack of success? Or do you realize that your success is wholly dependent upon you? If you are willing to work hard, learn from your mistakes, keep pushing on no matter what gets in your way, then self-publishing is for you. Self-publishing is not the easy way out. It is not the last resort. It is for authors who do not want to place their success in the hands of someone else. Self-publishing can be the best thing you ever do after writing your book. ![]() We met our very first client at a craft fair at a local church. This distinguished 87 year old gentleman kept coming back to our booth. Over and over again. I don’t even remember his lovely wife visiting our booth. Apparently she did, but not with the frequency her husband did. His dream centered on the publishing of his written work. He had tried to self-publish on his own and to his dismay, he did not find success. It would seem that 40 Day Publishing would be his last hope at seeing the fulfillment of those dreams. Peter has taught us that you never give up and it’s never too late to pursue those God given dreams planted deep within you. A few weeks ago, his fourth book, Free to Learn, Free to Teach, was released. His best work to date. It has been our honor to help this couple taste the first fruits of their labor. Here is what Dr. Peter Pierro has to say about 40 Day Publishing: “We are Senior Citizens who have retired from the world of education and would like to publish books that would be beneficial for parents and teachers. In the past, we have had some rather unsuccessful experiences publishing our books - we have the boxes in our garage to prove it. Publishing our own books was very expensive. The printing costs were very high and in order to get a decent price per book, we had to buy a lot of copies. Then along came the marketing headaches. We met Darlene Shortridge and Daniel Mawhinney at their 40 Day Publishing booth at a local church exhibition. They were giving a showing of Darlene’s books and we began to share our experiences in publishing. Very briefly and professionally, they shared their program that creates digitalized versions as well as paperback and hardbacks. We saw our publishing opportunities in a new and manageable light. We had already completed one manuscript and had two others in the planning stages. We decided to associate with 40 Day Publishing in completing the production. So far, in working with Daniel and Darlene, we have successfully completed the publishing of four books. They have also established a web site for us at peterpierro.com and have made arrangements for us with Amazon. We found them to be totally professional and competent and as a result, we are now fulfilling our dreams of having our books printed and out in the public marketing world. Above all we appreciate the personal interaction and relationship we have with Darlene and Daniel." Dr. Peter & Bobbie Pierro ![]() In December of 2013, 40 Day Publishing began a publishing relationship with an excellent writer, Cheryl Zelenka. Cheryl came to us with a book of devotions published by a subsidy publisher and a Bible study ready to be published. We helped Cheryl self-publish her Bible study, Divine Interruptions: A Bible Study Through the Book of Job. She was so happy with the results, she decided to end her contract with her publisher and self-publish her devotional. Cheryl's devotional, Facing Trials: Thoughts for Meditation, is available on Amazon for your Kindle. The many trials she endured gave her many opportunities to trust in her Lord. They will encourage you as well. Cheryl’s life has taken many twists and turns. Her faith, while sorely tested, has held firm. She gives God all the glory for bringing her through a debilitating brain tumor and seeing her through to the purpose and plans he has for her life. We are excited to be a part of this woman’s growing ministry. For more information on Cheryl’s ministry, or to have her speak for your event, please visit her website, Facing Trials. This is what Cheryl has to say about 40 Day Publishing: “Thank goodness for 40 Day Publishing! As a new author, I understood very little of the book publishing process and went with a well-known self-publishing company. Unhappy with book sales, I decided to look for another way to get my second book in print. I believe it was a Divine appointment when 40 Day Publishing came my way. Darlene Shortridge and Daniel Mawhinney have a passion to help other authors. Their wealth of knowledge (gained by personal book publishing experience) has been of great help to me. They have many great ideas on how to promote and advertise books in order to increase sales. Danny and Darlene are excellent consultants and the one-on-one assistance they offer is priceless. If you want an honest, fair, hard-working team of experts to advise and publish your book, I highly recommend 40 Day Publishing. They will walk you through the process of publication every step of the way. Coach, mentor, consultant, friend are all a part of their approach to making your book a top seller.” With A Thankful Heart, Cheryl Zelenka http://facingtrials.com https://www.facebook.com/cherylzelenkaauthor Thank you, Cheryl, we appreciate you and your success is very important to us. We pray for you and count you as a friend. Blessings, Dan and Darlene ![]() One of the beautiful benefits of being your own publisher is You, the author, have control of everything to do with your book. You set the price. You decide upon the cover. You can make changes or corrections when you decide to do so. You also decide when you want to run a promotion. Promoting a book can be tedious, tiring, and totally terrifying. (Writing tip: Alliteration is so not cool, so you know.) Of course, promoting can also be fun, exciting, and profitable! (Notice I ditched the alliteration.) Especially when it works! You can lower the price of your book, you can give it away, you can advertise, you can run a contest and the list goes on and on and on. The thing is, if you want to see sales, you must constantly be thinking about marketing and promoting your work. Recently I’ve been so busy with 40 Day Publishing and our clients, I let my promotional efforts for my own books slide. Not good. And my sales reflected my lack of effort. I was approached by a friend who asked me what I have done lately to promote my work. I really needed that kick in the pants. I realized that I had done absolutely nothing. I quickly corrected that. I put out a call on Facebook asking thirty people to step up to exchange a free copy of my newest release for a review on Amazon. I had thirty three people volunteer. Twenty six actually downloaded the book and of those twenty six, twenty read it and left a review. I was very specific in my request. I wanted the review done by the end of March. In the meantime, I had applied for a promotional spot on Bookbub (who promptly turned me down). I decided to go ahead and lower Forever Loved from my normal price of 4.99 to .99. After applying and setting up a few other promotional spots for the following week, I decided to look at what was happening on Amazon. Here is what I saw. Just from lowering my price and not doing any advertising whatsoever of my own, Forever Loved’s rankings jumped on Amazon to the following: #5,396 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #62 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Romance #68 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Christian > Romance #70 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational > Romance I do not condone leaving a full length novel priced at .99 unless you have several other books in the same series at full price. I do believe in the occasional “sale” to draw attention to our work. If readers are not reading our work, then what is the point in writing it? Here is a list of promoters who promote free or bargain books: Christian eBooks Today: http://www.christianebookstoday.com Frugal Tips & Freebies: http://www.frugal-freebies.com Author Marketing Club: http://authormarketingclub.com Pixel of Ink: http://www.pixelofink.com Bargain Ebook Hunter: http://bargainebookhunter.com Indie Book of the Day: http://indiebookoftheday.com/authors/free-on-kindle-listing/ Awesome Gang: http://awesomegang.com The eReader Cafe: http://www.theereadercafe.com Ereader News Today: http://ereadernewstoday.com Free Book Dude: http://www.freebookdude.com Book Goodies: http://bookgoodies.com Kindle Book Promos: http://kindlebookpromos.luckycinda.com Digital Book Today: http://digitalbooktoday.com Orangeberry Book Tours: http://blog.orangeberrypromo.com Free Booksy: http://www.freebooksy.com Free Kindle Fiction: http://freekindlefiction.blogspot.com The Kindle Book Review https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/ eBooks Habit: http://ebookshabit.com More promo sites listed here: http://www.rachelleayala.com/p/promo-sites.html If you are planning to promote your book, this list is a great place to start ![]() You’ve been invited to speak for one hundred people then sell your books afterward. Maybe you’re giddy with anticipation. Perhaps you’re freaked out because speaking in front of groups scares you to death. Either way, you must be prepared. One hour before show time your table is all set up. You have stacks of books. Your pen is ready for all those personalized notes you must write. You have ones and fives to make change. You are set. But wait! In today’s market you must accommodate the card wielding customer. Whether it’s VISA MasterCard, American Express or a Debit Card, you must be prepared. We know from experience that your sales will increase exponentially if you accept credit cards. Gone are the days when you have to pay exorbitant fees for credit card processing machines. If you have a smart phone, you can accept credit cards. And no, you don’t have to have an iPhone. Any Android operating system will do. Although an iPhone is pretty cool. (We just got our first ones and we love them!) If you have a smart phone or a tablet, you can accept credit card payments through services like Square, PayPal, and Intuit (which boasts the lowest fees). Upon applying online, you will receive your free swipe device which sticks right in the little headphone jack on your phone or tablet in the mail. A word of advice: Make sure you connect to the Wi-Fi of the building you are in. You may have to obtain the password, but it will make connecting and using your square super-fast and easy. We use the Square and we love that our deposits are made directly to our bank account. If you use PayPal’s service, your money will be available through your PayPal account. It really is easy. And convenient. So, what are you waiting for? Here are some links to get you going. Square: https://squareup.com/ PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/credit-card-reader Intuit: https://payments.intuit.com/mobile-credit-card-processing/ Start making more sales at your very next event! Order the “swipe” of your choosing today! ![]() Seven years ago when I finished writing my first novel, my husband and I had no idea where to turn for publishing. We were at a loss. Fast forward to today. We now have our own publishing company (with eight of our own titles and counting). People have asked us repeatedly, what happened that made the difference? What in the world did you do during those seven years to get where you are today? Can you teach us to do the same thing? In answer to those questions we wrote a small, but impactful book, called 40 Day Publishing, an Author’s Workbook and Step by Step Guide to Self-Publishing in Eight Weeks or Less. Little did we know at the time we were starting a revolution that would turn the publishing world on its ear. No longer would authors feel the need to grovel at the doorstep of publishing houses hoping for a meager advance or a pittance for a royalty. No longer would authors have to shell out thousands of hard earned dollars to be “partners” with so called “reputable” subsidy publishers. Finally, authors are being empowered with the knowledge and tools to publish themselves under their own publishing companies. We want you, the author, to tell your story, share your message, and change the world, one book at a time. You CAN publish yourself for free. We are giving away a limited number of paperback copies of 40 Day Publishing. This book will teach you how to go from finished manuscript to published author in 40 days or less AND be in business for yourself with your very own publishing company! This book normally retails for $14.97 plus shipping, handling and tax when purchased through Amazon. All we ask is you cover shipping and handling costs of only $6.95. This offer is only available through our website link for 40 Day Publishing, An Author’s Workbook and Step by Step Guide to Self-Publishing in Eight Weeks or Less! Why are we doing this? We really need your help. We want this book to be in the hands of authors everywhere. To do that, we need you to review this book, good or bad, and leave a review on Amazon. Together we can empower every author. We’ve also found from experience that some of you are hands on learners. You are the ones who would benefit from an intensive four day weekend filled with workshops to teach you the skills necessary to publish your work on your own. We call this 4 Day Publishing (nicknamed: 40 Day Publishing on Steroids!). Not only will you learn the skill set to publish yourself, but your edited finished manuscript will be published by the end of the four day intensive. Just think, you will have your very own publishing company with your very first book published in just four days. Congratulations! If this idea intrigues you, visit our website to learn more about 40 Day Publishing 4 Day Intensive Writer’s Weekend. Seven years? Eight weeks? Four days? It’s up to you. Just make a decision and follow through. We’ll help you. Godspeed, Dan and Darlene ![]() 80% of Americans feel they have a book somewhere buried deep within them. Are you one of those 80%? Every day, whether through Facebook, an email, our website, or in person at an event or book signing, my husband and I are asked about the publishing and/or writing process. The questions range from, “how do I start writing?” to “my book isn’t selling, what can I do?” and everything in-between. I have had hour long conversations at events, just helping people come to the conclusion that they too can check writing that book off their bucket list. In fact, anyone can do this. The question becomes, do you want to do this? Because the cry for help is growing louder by the day, we have put together a very concise, step by step instruction book called 40 Day Publishing, an Author’s Workbook and Step by Step Guide to Self-Publishing in Eight Weeks or Less. This book tells you, the writer, exactly what has to be done to be published. If you want our help, we ask you start with this book. When you have finished we are more than happy to answer your publishing questions. We will be posting informative posts on our website blog to help you write better, market better, and publish better. Our goal is to help the Indie writer be successful in their writing endeavors. Best wishes and happy writing! Dan & Darlene For more information on 40 Day Publishing please browse our website and to purchase a copy of 40 Day Publishing, an Author’s Workbook and Step by Step Guide to Self-Publishing in Eight Weeks or Less, visit Amazon. ![]() The book, 40 Day Publishing is now available through our website as well as on Amazon.com. We are excited to be working with our consulting clients who have already taken the 40 Day Process to heart and are getting ready to publish their own works under their own publishing companies! Look for more updates, useful blog articles and instructional webinars coming up in the next few weeks and months. See you soon. D & D |