Three of my books will be free August 9 – 11, 2014

The Prophet of Cradle County is now available on Kindle (Free August 8-10)

The Prophet of Cradle County is now available on Kindle (Free August 9-11)

UPDATE: Note the date change.

It’s Kindle book bonanza weekend for this author.  I’m making three of my titles free for Kindle users this Saturday – Monday.  The books are as follows:

The Takers

The Man Who Saved Two Notch

The Prophet of Cradle County

Hold on a second, you’re saying.  The Prophet of Cradle County is written by Jackson Goddard.  That’s not your name.  You are very astute.  That is not my name.  Jackson Goddard is one of my pen names.  The Prophet of Cradle County is a Southern tale that is similar in theme to The Shack.  I actually wrote it before The Shack came out, but I had no intention of ever publishing it because I just didn’t feel like it was ready for prime time.  I don’t have time to explain, but I eventually published it as a favor to somebody.  It’s a C. Hoyt Caldwell story without the sex and it has a stronger focus on religion.  The basic theme is that we are all God, and we should treat each other as such.

For those of you who’ve asked why I never do a similar promotion on Nook, it’s because Nook doesn’t offer free promotional periods.  Basically, they suck at creating interest in their ebook program.

Details on The Takers free promotional period

9200 copies downloaded

The Takers’ free promotional period is over.  In three days, with your help spreading the word, The Takers was downloaded 9200 times.  I’m very pleased and excited by that number.  For an indie guy like me, you get excited when a couple of hundred people download your book.  This whole process brought up some interesting questions, and I’d like to take this opportunity to answer those (this is the part where I mix real questions with made up questions people have asked me).

Q: Why are you excited about giving a book away for free?  Aren’t you losing money?

A: In the short run, yes I am losing money, but not that much. The cost of The Takers is currently $0.99.  I make 35% off each sale.  So according to my math (which is incorrect 98% of the time) I lost out  on about $3100.  But I’ve never come close to selling 9200 books in three days or three months, for that matter.  Giving the book away for free exposes The Oz Chronicles to a much larger audience, which will hopefully lead to increased sales on my other books.  A lot of people who downloaded the book won’t get around to reading it.  Some will start it and never finish it.  Others will finish it and forget all about it.  And a few will dislike it.  Some will hate it and let me know via email.  There will be a group that likes it, but for whatever reason won’t rush out to read the other books in the series, and then there will be my favorite of the free downloaders.  The ones who read it, love it, tell their friends about it, write a review, and send me emails telling me how much they love it.  They’re the reason I do the free promotional periods. I need those readers more than sales at this point in my journey.

Q: Why do you think this free promotional period was more succesful than the others you’ve done?

A: The simple answer is because I did those other free promotional periods.  Every time I do a giveaway, I pick up a handful of readers that become invaluable advocates for The Oz Chronicles. They help me spread the word about all things Oz.  I’ve been fortunate enough to build a lasting readership.  Some of the people have been Oz “fans” (The quotes indicate I’m so not comfortable with that word because I view them as more than fans.  They feel more like friends of Oz.) for years, and I’ve been fortunate enough to come to know them through this blog, social media, and email exchanges.

Q: Why are you still promoting The Takers?  You published that book in 2005.

A: Because it’s the first book in a series.  The lore of Oz builds from book to book, and each book ends on a cliffhanger.  When it’s all said and done, and I’ve published the seventh and final book in the series, the result will essentially be one long very long book: approximately 1600 pages containing about 450,000 words.  Granted, Stephen King and the late Robert Jordan could crank out a book that long in one sleepless weekend, but that’s what makes/made them King and Jordan.  I’m doing my epic apocalyptic novel in seven parts.  Each is dependent on the other, and they should be read from first to last.    When I promote The Takers, I’m promoting the entire series.

Comment: (This one is an actual comment I got from a reader recently).  I just wanted to write you to let you know I got a free copy of The Takers on my Kindle and read it in a day.  I’ve already purchased Book two and can’t wait to start it.  I posted a review on Amazon.  I really hope it helps!

A: Reviews on Amazon do help tremendously with sales and giveaways.  If a book doesn’t have a lot of reviews, people won’t bother to download it.  I’m not one to ask for reviews because it just feels weird, so I’ll cop-out here and just encourage you to write reviews for any book or author you like.  While you’re at it, tell five friends about the book.  Write the president of movies and demand they make a movie out of the book.  Rush to the offices of any of the big six publishers, find any acquisitions editor, grab him or her by the collar and just say “Really?”  They’ll know what you’re talking about.

On a final note, I’d like to thank the friends of Oz for helping me spread the word about this giveaway, and anything having to do with the series.  If I didn’t have your help in all this, I wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.   Writing is fun, but writing for an audience is a friggin’ blast!

The Takers is #68 and rising

Free for a limited time

UPDATE: At 10:00 10:50 AM 6:35 PM, the ranking is now #45 43 42.

As of this writing, The Takers is number 68 in the Free Kindle store!  Awesome.  It’s been as high as 50 before but that took three days for it to climb that high.  It reached 68 in a little over 24 hours.  Thanks to everyone who helped promote the giveaway.  The free downloads go a long way in raising awareness for the entire Oz Chronicles series.  Two more days to go.

Thanks for making The Takers #2

Number 2 with a bullet

The Takers soared up the charts Sunday and Monday on Amazon.  It made it as high as number 2 in the Spine-Chilling category on Kindle.  Nice!  It had close to 2,000 downloads.  Thanks to everyone for spreading the word.

While we’re on the subject of my books, I’ll be making Lost Days available for free for the Kindle tomorrow and Thursday (1/18 & 1/19).  Spread the word!  Send your friends the Amazon link: Lost Days
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