Dear Readers,
Well, it happened. The launch of Amanda Cadabra and The Fatal Flower occurred. As no other launch before it, with all the thrills, suspense, and emotional conclusion. Which will bring me to my thank you video for you. You can scroll down and go straight to it, or hear the story which will explain the meaning behind the enigmatic words you may have seen on the launch day letter to you and the videos.
Enigmatic Words?
Indeed. Launch Day, as you likely know, this week saw not only the emergence of the new book but a 72-hour special offer of Amanda Cadabra and The Hanging Tree free to download in celebration of the event.
On that day, and this you will have noticed in UK, the Launch Day Letter and posts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and so on went out strangely late. Yes, at around 10pm. And each video and the Letter gave a list of the online bookshops free. Normally Amazon is at the top of the list but on that day, it was at the bottom and next to it … ready for the enigmatic words? … ‘(any time now)’
Furthermore, the text of each post included the note that the book was launched ‘(not without its drama)’.
Crisis Behind the Scenes
First then a thank you to my beloved home readers here in the UK for your patience with being notified so late in the day and having less time to download the free book. But off stage, an 11th hour drama was taking place.
Amazon’s publishing wing, Kindle Direct Publishing, (KDP) was having immense difficulty reducing the price of Amanda Cadabra and The Hanging Tree to zero. In the end at least 7 splendid staff members were involved, techies working around the clock, trying to wrangle the system into allowing the price change.
In short, the success of the Mighty Launch Machine was in jeopardy. Most of my excellent readers are in the US and most of you use Amazon’s Kindlstore as you preferred place to bookshop.
Heroes
From this fraught emergency heroes emerged. The first was the man at KDP who got out his virtual spanner and attempted manually to change the price on each country throughout the world. His dedication moved me to promise to name a character after him in the next book!
On the very day of the launch, the price was changed at last with the Amazon marketplace in 10 countries including Australia. But not the US, UK, or Canada. And that is why I waited until 10pm to officially launch the new book.
Now, as you note, I have said ‘heroes’, plural.
Hundreds of Thousands
Yes, that is how many readers of cozy mystery who subscribe to Freebooksy, were scheduled to be emailed on Sunday 25th October Launch Day, and alerted that Amanda Cadabra and The Hanging Tree was free for download on Amazon, US.
As I watched hour after hour for the price drop, I knew it would come. The email telling me that my booking had failed. The price had not dropped, the order was considered fulfilled. In short, I had lost my chance and my financial investment.
But then … the next words had me riveted to the screen. Written Word Media who organise Freebooksy had had reports of authors who had encountered exactly the same difficulty with the price drop on Amazon as I had. Consequently, I had only to let them know once the price was at zero and they would reschedule.
I was moved to tears.
The launch went ahead.
The Knife Edge
Oh, but it was not over. The day after the launch with the free offer in full swing, Something Else was set to occur. I didn’t tell you about this one. I have told you about BookBub. They have the biggest number of subscribers for cozy mystery in the world. You cannot book an event with them, you can only apply. It is extremely hard to be accepted (and it costs hundreds of pounds/dollars). This time I had amazingly scored a slightly easier-to-get Free Reads. But I have applied over 50 times over the years for Featured Deals and only been accepted twice.
Yes, it’s that difficult. But … wonder of wonders I had been successful this time with Amanda Cadabra and The Hanging Tree. Word to those thousands of eager reader was due to be sent out on the Monday, 26th October. Those readers would be given the links of all the bookshops where the price of the book was free.
And here I must pay tribute to Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes & Noble (Nook) and Draft2Digital who make it as easy as pie to schedule a sale to free.
Links to all of those would go out that day to BookBub’s subscribers. But what of Amazon? The US readers’ favourite.
The KDP techies worked on. 26th October dawned. No price change. Morning, noon, lunchtime. I’d written to BookBub explaining the crisis. But no word had come from them. Well, I’d had very little sleep for 48 hours and I simply keeled over with exhaustion at that point.
‘Ladybugs’
I have a favourite film called Under the Tuscan Sun. You may know it. In fact, I love it so much I arranged for it to be included it in a book some time ago called 50 Feel-better Films.
There’s a line in that film spoken by a Lindsay Duncan’s character Katherine: ‘Listen, when I was a little girl I used to spend hours looking for ladybugs. Finally, I’d just give up and fall asleep in the grass. When I woke up, they were crawling all over me.’
And that is what I did. I went to sleep. When I woke up … ladybugs. We call them ladybirds here. But either way, there they were. The price had dropped on Amazon in the US, UK, and Canada, to zero. The heroic techies at KDP had triumphed.
I added the change to the blog post and sent out the original video posts on Facebook, Instagram and the rest with the original list of places to get the free book, with Amazon at the top.
At once I let BookBub know. But surely I was too late.
Surprise, Surprise
However, word would have gone out, and the downloads would have begun and I would be able to see how many in the author dashboard of KDP and I also have an app called BookReport. I checked.
5,000 downloads! But wait … 4,000 in the US. Was it possible? Was it possible that I’d been in time and BookBub had mercifully included Amazon in their email.
Heart racing, I checked the email they had sent to me as I am also on their mailing list.
There was The Hanging Tree sure enough. Beside it, two columns of red buttons of retailers: Kobo, Apple and more. But there, at the bottom, in the centre, on a line all by itself: Amazon.
The Greater Surprise: You
But it wasn’t that that had me reaching for the tissue box. It was what I saw had happened before any word had gone out from them or anyone else. It was your response. All along, when I thought I was riding my Launch Machine alone, you were with me. I saw the pre-orders and the purchases for the new book and more. Right there. And that was what made me cry.
So, it all happened and far more gloriously than I could have imagined. The downloads rose to over 13,000, but it was your response that will make this launch so memorable for me. Which brings me to my thank you video. Here it is.
Next?
The new page here for Amanda Cadabra and The Fatal Floweris now live, with inspiration insights, characters, plot, trailer video and chapter 1 video with text. The paperback will be following and we will have a little launch party for that. I have also 3 other Secret Plans for the coming weeks, 2 of which are already in progress.
I will return soon with news.
Meanwhile, thank you again, and …
Happy reading.
Holly
PS If you want to start the series now:
