Phoenix Sullivan's Blog

Whether you choose a suspenseful thriller or a romance with a bit of steam, you'll always find animals—wild and tame, acting like real animals—at the heart of Phoenix's books.



Settle in for action and thrills mixed with a little heartbreak, a lot of love and always the feels—with elephants to cheer for, lions to love, giraffes to cry over, or doggos both big and smol who worm their way onto the page and into your heart.











Check the sidebar for links to Books2Read, where you can quickly make your selection in the store and region of your choice.



Paperbacks also available at Amazon.

 Book 4 in the WILD HEARTS ROMANCE series is now available. TRUSTED HEARTS is a Cinderella/billionaire story...with GIRAFFES. It's not all fairy tale, though, as there are some tears, so be prepared. As always, however, there's an HEA waiting at the end.



And with Christmas just around the corner, what better way to relax from the holiday bustle than with a feel-good novella? The heat level is dialed down low in HOLIDAY HEARTS, making it an easy story to take on the road for a quick, romantic read. It takes place on Mount Kenya, but see if you can spot all the nods to a traditional holiday Easter egged inside.



Oh, and as for the novella being a surprise? I think I was more surprised about having it ready for the Christmas season than anyone! 



And finally, be looking soon for the novella to be bundled up with Books 1 and 2 in a discounted box set for the holidays. It'll be titled WILD HEARTS.









TRUSTED HEARTS



Kim
Nichols trusted the wrong man to give her heart to. Now she's in South
Africa on a 3-month sabbatical to forget the ex who cheated on her. But
deplorable conditions at a local zoo—and the plight of one giraffe in
particular—spur her to track down the owner and advocate for the
animals.

Billionaire Brent Sher has invested in several
animal-related businesses, including a zoo and a safari lodge, whose
day-to-day runnings are managed by Jabu Amahle, his trusted right-hand
man. Vexed by the accusations made by one very outraged teacher from the
States, Brent invites the strong-minded beauty to assist him in a
hands-on undercover investigation.

A growing trail of company
abuses points to widespread corruption by Jabu. As Kim and Brent gather
evidence and the net tightens, a desperate Jabu resorts to a chilling
act that puts Kim's giraffe, the zoo, and the couple themselves in
imminent danger.

To survive, Kim and Brent must not only work together but put aside past betrayals, open their hearts, and learn to trust again.









HOLIDAY HEARTS



Twelve
years ago, mountain climbers Sharon Conner and Maxime Rousseau had a
fling on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Since then, no other partners have
quite measured up.

Now, two climb teams, led by guides in a
friendly race to summit Mount Kenya by Christmas Day, stumble across a
bongo caught in a poacher’s trap. Only two climbers are willing to stop
and help the large, striped African antelope – Sharon and Max, meeting
again for the first time since Kilimanjaro.

As old feelings
rekindle, more than just their Christmas spirit is tested on the
mountain. With a violent storm rushing in on Christmas Eve and no help
to be had from officials or wildlife agencies short-staffed by the
season, Sharon and Max soon realize it’s up to them alone to save the
injured, tall-horned bull they name Noel.

But can they pull off one more Christmas miracle — and rescue each other too?

NOBLE HEARTS, Book 3, is all about nurturing and protecting. It's a story to appeal to the Mother in all of us. Plus a young okapi (see the trio of okapis on the cover if you don't know what one looks like), a baby rhino and a toddler mountain gorilla to tug your heartstrings.




Book 4, TRUSTED HEARTS, is now available for pre-order, with a release date scheduled for early October. Catch a preview of the cover and blurb below. Plus, giraffe! 









NOBLE HEARTS



Kayla
has always been a sucker for strays—baby gorillas, okapis, even
rhinos—so when an American doctor shows up wounded at her door, with a
story of being pressed into service as medic to a local militia unit,
Mark LeSabre is just another stray to be taken in and taken care of.



Then Ushindi's controversial election tips the tiny nation into civil
war, and Kayla's beloved ancestral coffee plantation becomes a casualty
of the escalating conflict. Forced to flee, Kayla's determined not to
leave any of her workers—or her strays—behind, including Mark, who's
found his way into her heart...and her bed.



But a rich American doctor is too valuable a prize to let escape.
Thwarted at every border access, with the militia hot on their tail,
Kayla and Mark's only option for freedom is to brave a treacherous
jungle route across the Mountains of the Moon. Alone, they might make it
to Uganda and safety, but their ragtag group of strays will surely
perish if they're abandoned.



How far will Mark and Kayla risk their lives—and their hearts—in the service of love?











TRUSTED HEARTS



Kim
Nichols trusted the wrong man to give her heart to. Now she's in South
Africa on a 3-month sabbatical to forget the ex who cheated on her. But
deplorable conditions at a local zoo—and the plight of one giraffe in
particular—spur her to track down the owner and advocate for the
animals.

Billionaire Brent Sher has invested in several
animal-related businesses, including a zoo and a safari lodge, whose
day-to-day runnings are managed by Jabu Amahle, his trusted right-hand
man. Vexed by the accusations made by one very outraged teacher from the
States, Brent invites the strong-minded beauty to assist him in a
hands-on undercover investigation.

A growing trail of company
abuses points to widespread corruption by Jabu. As Kim and Brent gather
evidence and the net tightens, a desperate Jabu resorts to a chilling
act that puts Kim's giraffe, the zoo, and the couple themselves in
imminent danger.

To survive, Kim and Brent must not only work together but put aside past betrayals, open their hearts, and learn to trust again.

Book 2 in the Wild Hearts Romance series, PROUD HEARTS , is out now! It's in Kindle Unlimited, so those of you with KU subscriptions can read it for free.




Book 1, BRAVE HEARTS , is also in Kindle Unlimited, but for a limited time, you can also pick it up, along with 6 other contemporary romances, for just 99¢ in the HEARTS ON FIRE box set. 


__________________________






LOSE YOUR HEART TO WILD ROMANCE!



The Wild Hearts novels are steamy-ish contemporaries, each a
stand-alone, that can be read in any order. African settings, suspense
and a strong focus on animals links them. Be ready for some heartaches
and tears, but I promise HEAs in the end!




PROUD HEARTS



With the grant money needed to continue her video journalism work with a pride of Zambian lions fast running out, Deidre (Dee) Young reluctantly signs a contract to help create a "Living With Lions" episode for the popular "Living With..." reality TV show.

Star and Hollywood idol Chris Corsair is just as arrogant and self-absorbed as Dee feared he would be. That is, until an accident forces Dee and Chris to rescue one of the pride's cubs, and Chris  proves to be more than just a pretty face with a rock-hard body play-acting the hero.

But even as Chris and Dee burn up the hot nights with their new-found passion, a hunter arrives on scene determined to stop at nothing—even murder in the isolated African bush—to take home the head of Brutus, the alpha lion of Dee's beloved pride.

To save Brutus and themselves, they'll have to trust to their lions, each other, and the strength of a love that threatens to tame them all.



Find PROUD HEARTS on Amazon. Also in Kindle Unlimited.



__________________________







HEARTS ON FIRE





Escape to exotic settings with these
sizzling heroes and strong, admirable women. From sweeping deserts to
secluded islands, from the African savanna to snow-covered peaks—the
passion burns hot in these seven full-length contemporary romance novels
from New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. An alpha rock
star with a dominant streak… a special-ops veteran turned wildlife
ranger… a cowboy with a tragic past… and a BBW who will make you stand
up and cheer.
 
    Rescued by the Sheikh – Jennifer Lewis

    Brave Hearts – Phoenix Sullivan

    Rock the Boat – Lib Starling

    All that Glitters – Lily Zante

    The Cowboy Way – Anna Alexander

    Fat – Sara Wylde

    Craving for Love – Violet Vaughn



Find HEARTS ON FIRE on Amazon. Also in Kindle Unlimited. 





__________________________



COMING SUMMER 2016



NOBLE HEARTS
(Book 3, Wild Hearts Romance Series)



Kayla has always been a sucker for strays—baby gorillas, okapis, even rhinos—so when an American doctor shows up wounded at her door, with a story of being pressed into service as medic to a local militia unit, Mark LeSabre is just another stray to be taken in and taken care of.

Then Ushindi's controversial election tips the tiny nation into civil war, and Kayla's beloved ancestral coffee plantation becomes a casualty of the escalating conflict. Forced to flee, Kayla's determined not to leave any of her workers—or her strays—behind, including Mark, who's found his way into her heart...and her bed.

But a rich American doctor is too valuable a prize to let escape. Thwarted at every border access, with the militia hot on their tail, Kayla and Mark's only option for freedom is to brave a treacherous jungle route across the Mountains of the Moon. Alone, they might make it to Uganda and safety, but their ragtag group of strays will surely perish if they're abandoned.

How far will Mark and Kayla risk their lives—and their hearts—in the service of love?

Valentine's Day 2016 will be a time of NEWs. 



NEW PEN NAME



My historical PNR menage books will be relaunched under a new author name to make it more apparent what kind of content readers are getting. If you're looking for super-sexy MFM, MMF, MM and MF reads, you'll soon find these titles under my new REGINA WOLFE name. 



Titles published under the PHOENIX SULLIVAN name will be (steamy) contemporary romances, thrillers and other works (possibly even more Vet Tech Tales!), usually themed around animals.



NEW BRANDING



I'll be working on making the name split on Facebook, this website, and my newsletter over the next couple of weeks. Focus will be on the Phoenix name, while Regina will get a separate tab here on the website.



NEW SERIES



I'm excited to announce my brand-new WILD HEARTS romance series. Three standalone novels, all set in Africa, are currently planned, with Book 1, BRAVE HEARTS, set to release Feb 14. Elephants, tears and a HEA isn't giving too much away. Book 2, PROUD HEARTS, will go on preorder at the same time, with a planned release in late March. Plus, a special project around Brave Hearts will happen March 1. More about that later...



_________________________________________________




COVER REVEAL


Running from the memories of his devastated heart, ex-special ops veteran Peter Lawson hires on as a ranger at a Tanzanian animal sanctuary owned by Nicky Tarentino, a disillusioned Illinois veterinarian recently relocated to Africa. 





The physical attraction is instant, the sex easy, but it will take the grief of a 'problem' elephant -- who, shattered by the loss of her family, is as broken and wounded on the inside as Peter -- along with the heartbreak of an orphaned elephant calf before Nicky and Peter will be able face the sorrow of their pasts and, just maybe, learn to trust and love again.



AVAILABLE ON AMAZON FEB 14



READ FOR FREE VIA KINDLE UNLIMITED!

NEW! Christmas Novella




ANGEL HEART (An Arthurian Hearts Novella) 







Sexy paranormal romance set in the world of

King Arthur! 



Special standalone Holiday Novella





 Note:
The ARTHURIAN HEARTS books do have elements of ménage (MFM or MMF, as well as M/F and
M/M). If you're not comfortable with multiple-partner sex, then these books probably won't be ones
you'll enjoy.



_____________________




CHRISTMAS IS A TIME OF MIRACLES...




It's been six months since Sir Rousel was killed in battle, leaving
behind his betrothed, the heartsick Lady Branwyn, and his grieving
shieldmate, Sir Owain, who was also his secret bedmate. For Branwyn and
Owain, Christmas in Camelot means painful memories, shattered dreams,
and a fateful decision at Chancery Leap.




Damian is a stag shifter, a forest prince who's just discovered he's
the last of his kind. With a life of unimagined loneliness ahead of
him, one of the fae of Avalon grants him a precious gift: If he can find
a true mate before Twelfth Night, he can remain a man forever.
Otherwise, he'll live as a stag—blessed without memories or sorrow, but
also cursed without purpose or hope.




For the three of them to find salvation, it will take the ultimate
in courage, forgiveness and trust. And to find it together? That will
take a Christmas miracle.




_____________________



All 3 ARTHURIAN HEARTS books are now collected into a single, value-priced box set. 




SHIFTED HEARTS 







 











 

Sexy paranormal romance set in the world of

King Arthur!

 

Book 3 in the ARTHURIAN HEARTS series

(May be read before or after Books 1 & 2)

 

Release Date: Nov 10, 2015

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

 

Note: These books do have an element of light ménage (as well as M/F and M/M). Probably not enough to satisfy true fans of ménage but possibly more than some readers might be comfortable with. If this isn't an element you're comfortable with, then these books probably won't be ones you'll enjoy.

 

_____________________









CAPTIVE HEART: ARTHURIAN HEARTS - BOOK 3

$2.99

(Will be available to read free in Kindle Unlimited)

 

When Lady Lynette's half-sister is kidnapped by the Knight of the Red Lands—the powerful son of a despot slain by their father—Lyn knows more than her beautiful sister's innocence is at risk. The scheming fae Nimue has aligned herself with the vengeful knight, and to rescue her sister, Lyn must find a champion who can best all the traps the treacherous Nimue has set.

 

At King Arthur's court, Lyn, half-fae herself, finds an unlikely champion in a kitchen scullion mockingly called Beaumains. The seer Merlin, however, vouches for the quiet Beau, just as he does for the damaged Sir Marrok, recently fallen under a werewolf's curse and struggling to control the beast vying for dominance within.

 

With the two outcasts by her side, Lyn takes on the desperate quest to free her sister. As the challenges mount, the three of them turn to one another for strength, finding comfort in their sensuous embraces. Together, if they can discover the terrible secret that gives the Knight of the Red Lands his power, they might have a chance to defeat him and, in the process, rescue not only Lyn's sister but each other.

Sexy paranormal romance set in the world of King Arthur!


Books 1 and 2 in the new ARTHURIAN HEARTS series are out now (well, Book 2 is on preorder... it releases April 7).



Best of all, they're just 99 cents each for a limited time!



Both books may be read independently, but Book 2, QUEEN'S HEART, does continue the story of one of the fae introduced in Book 1, HEARTSONG.



Note: These books do have an element of M/F/M ménage in them. Probably not enough to satisfy true fans of ménage but possibly more than some readers might be comfortable with. If this isn't an element you're comfortable with, then these books probably won't be ones you'll enjoy.



They're only available on Amazon for now, although Book 1, HEARTSONG, is also in the SHIFTERS AFTER DARK box set, which is widely available.




_____________________



HEARTSONG : ARTHURIAN HEARTS - BOOK 1

 



In the time of King Arthur, the greed of men as they spread across the British Isles is driving out the magic of the fae. Brinn is one of the fair folk, betrothed to the son of Herne, Leader of The Wild Hunt. By night, in her Gabriel Hound form, Brinn runs with her pack, wreaking justice on those who desecrate the land.

 

Alain and Pellinore, under orders from their father, King Pellam, attempt to negotiate a peace among the march lords stalking the borderlands of Listeneise. When they unwittingly thrall an injured Brinn, she knows only one thing can free her: the blood of her captors.

 

But freedom may not be so easily won as the three of them form a grudging bond that soon turns intimate. Love should be easy, but The Wild Hunt wants Brinn back, the Questing Beast wants Pel, and Alain wants the impossible—to keep them both at his side.



_____________________

 

QUEEN'S HEART: ARTHURIAN HEARTS - BOOK 2

 

As if Yseult's life weren't complicated enough...

 

The mysterious harper with the sculpted body of a god that she heals of a poisoned wound is actually a nephew of King Mark of Cornwall. He's the renowned knight, Tristan, and he harbors a dark and deadly secret.

When Yseult's father gives her to the aging King Mark in a marriage of convenience, a love spell meant to ease her heart goes awry, bonding her and Tristan instead.

Meanwhile, one of the fae -- a shifter who runs with The Wild Hunt -- has been cursed to live as a man until he can capture the heart of a human queen. Falling helplessly in love with Yseult, he becomes Tristan's greatest friend -- and greatest rival.

Caught between the despair of the king she's married to, the knight who's sworn to her, and the fae who will have her at any cost, is Yseult destined to lose no matter which man wins?





 

 

It occurred
to me I really should do a wrap-up post for the blog since it doesn’t look like
I’ll be posting here much anymore. I think I simply hit that wall that many
bloggers who’ve blogged for a few years hit. Been there, done that, time to
move on to something new. Not without regret, of course. It’s been a great
place to work out and share the first steps of my self-publishing journey, as
well as a great place to share data and put forward marketing theories. Had I
known earlier self-publishing could involve so many lovely spreadsheets and
data analyses, I would have jumped in far sooner!







In that
spirit, I thought it appropriate for this post to cover three topics:



Amazon Select Then And Now – One Book’s Journey
Steel Magnolia Press – One Year Later
The Latest On The Pop List Watch – Math-Free
Version!









AMAZON
SELECT THEN AND NOW – ONE BOOK’S JOURNEY




I first
enrolled SECTOR C in Select on January 6, 2012. Since then, it’s gone free 10
times. It’s always lucked out and had fairly good runs, and was one of the
books that saw immediate success in the Golden Age of Amazon Algos, when free
book downloads were counted as real sales. It hit #1 on the SF poplists a few
times and made a couple of appearances (with its old cover) on the Amazon splashpage for ebooks.




When authors
ask whether or not frequent free eventually reaches saturation, I point to
SECTOR C. In a string of 8 months where SC went free each month, it still had a
decent showing of 11,000+ downloads in the 8th month. And, after
being downloaded about 63,000 times in the 9 free runs prior, it still managed its
best run yet on its 10th time out.









Granted, it
had a little help via a BookBub ad on Day 1 followed by a late rally on Day 4
from a FKBT mention, which resulted in over 44,000 downloads. It hit #1 Free in the
store late in the day on its first day free and then again on the afternoon of
its second free day.




But what of
the post-free sales bounce? In January 2012, SC had 16,000 free downloads, then
went on to sell 1930 copies, netting over $4300. Bless those old algorithms!   




After its
late February 2013 run with 44,300 downloads, it’s had over 750 sales+borrows,
with an anticipated 30-day total of 850 sales, with a net of about $2000.
Almost 3 times the number given away this year resulted in less than half the
number of sales and royalties from January last year. Still, it sextupled what
had been its monthly sales average for the 5 months prior, so I still count
what was probably its last free run for a while a grand slam.




In all,
SECTOR C (pubbed Sept 1, 2011) has earned about $17,000 over its lifetime. Not a groundbreaking figure,
but one I’m still pretty pleased with.




Does Select
Free still “work”? (Weren't we asking that same question back in August?) For many of the titles in the Steel Magnolia Press
inventory, the answer is YES, with caveats. Those caveats are common sense. Freebook
site mentions, of course, play a huge part. But we have titles that can still hit
high in the Top 100 without a major site mention, even competing against titles
with BookBub, POI and ENT backing. That’s due in large part to one or more of
the following:  



being
penned by a name author
being a boxed
set with a higher perceived value to begin with
being in
a highly popular genre








Shorter
works, titles without a high review rating, and/or titles that don’t get an
advertising push don’t do well. No surprises there. For those books, we have to
figure other strategies to get them noticed.  






STEEL
MAGNOLIA PRESS – ONE YEAR LATER




On January 1,
2012, Steel Magnolia Press had my 2 novels and short essay collection and 3 of Jennifer
Blake’s novellas in its inventory, and had been in business for about 6 weeks.




Today, Steel
Magnolia has 50 titles by 4 authors published, with 49 of those titles in
Amazon Select. SMP also has an honorary bestselling Magnolia with 2 titles in
(though her sales are not included in our overall totals). We’ll be publishing
another backlist novel from Jennifer Blake, Sweet
Piracy, at the end of March, then a brand new book in Jennifer’s Italian
Billionaires Collection will release in early May. In June, we’ll put out 2
more box sets, then follow those this summer with 12 backlist novels as we give
the box sets a rest. On top of that, we have a handful of Blake’s backlist
novellas waiting to be formatted, and new titles to come soon(ish) from Tamelia
Tumlin and me. By the end of 2013, we’ll have close to 80 titles available once
we bundle some more of them up in time for Christmas giving.




But having a
large inventory and selling them are two different things. Now, we could go
with the KKR-DWS approach of pricing high, publishing to all platforms and then
ignoring the books as we move on to publishing the next. Instead, we
concentrate our marketing on Amazon, use the tools available there, advertise
strategically, and price competitively and aggressively to gain the visibility
that leads to more sales. Using this approach on mainly backlist titles has
worked well for us as we’ve grown Steel Magnolia to its current 50 titles, the
majority of which are novels and box sets.




When reading our sales figures, keep in mind
that we did not start publishing out Jennifer’s backlist novels until last July, and
then it was only 4-6 books per month from July-October. October also saw the
release of a brand new book by Jennifer, The Tuscan’s Revenge Wedding, which
hit #1 Free in the Amazon store with 37,000 downloads, jumped to #91 Paid overall, then went on to sell
25,000+ copies.  In November, we bundled
the existing books into virtual boxed sets and released 8 of those. We published nothing
new in December, and then published two more box sets in January, with no new
titles being published in February and March.




One of the
box sets, the Louisiana Plantation Collection hit #14 Paid in Amazon in
December, stayed in the Top 100 through January, hopscotched in and out of the
Top 100 through February and finally fell out in March after selling well over
65,000 copies. As I write this, it’s at #198.




In all, over
the past year, Steel Magnolia has had 10 separate titles in the overall Top 100
Paid bestseller list in the Amazon.com store, and several more ranked under
#1000.




Sales
Figures For Steel Magnolia Press, January 2012 – Feb/March, 2013




195,347 - Total
# of Books Sold (through March 22, 2013)

724,456 - Total
# of Books Given Away (through March 22, 2013)

$163,660 - Total
Royalties (through Feb 28, 2013)




96,581 of those sales have happened since January
1, 2013. I think, maybe, we’re finally getting the hang of this indie publishing thing ;o).




POP LIST
WATCH




Having been
among the first (maybe The First) to point out how Amazon uses the popularity
lists as tools in its internal marketing and recommendation engines -- and
changes those algos to better reflect the browsing and buying choices of its
readers and to better influence whatever buying choices it wants its customers
to be making -- I figured I should end by throwing out a couple of things for the
new Data Avengers among you to mull over.




First, the
UK is still using algorithms that are quite favorable to indies who run free,
whether via Select or price matching. Spoil of War was recently price-matched
to free in the UK for a couple of weeks, during which time it had 2077
downloads. When it came off free (by my choice, I no longer wanted it
price-matched so was actively trying to get Amazon to re-price the book to
paid), it was quite nicely ranked in the poplists:




#1 Arthurian
Fantasy

#1
Historical Fantasy

#5
Historical Fiction

#5 Fantasy




Those
rankings were true to the algorithms of the Golden Age of early 2012 that we
all knew and loved on the .com store. Sales
at the UK-equivalent of $3.78 began promisingly enough: 28 the first day after
it came off free, followed by 25 sales the next day. Followed by 4 sales the
next. Sigh. Amazon, in its infinite wisdom, had seen fit to re-price the book
to free again. Since it’s full price elsewhere, it could only be price-matching
some cached version of iTunes, or price-matching the US store.




Still,
enough of a glimpse to know the UK remains firmly entrenched in the Golden Age
algos. For now.




But here’s
the kicker on the .com site and the tease for all you data watchers. The higher
(better) SECTOR C climbed the poplists and the KOLL lists, the worse its sales
seemed to get, on average. Yes, even before that 30-Day Cliff that still looms ahead for SECTOR C. Yesterday was its best placement on those lists since being
free – but yesterday was its worst sales day yet.




Your
mission, should you decide to accept it, is to figure out why.




Peace out.

Yes! No! It depends!



If all you're using Select Free days for is to bump more sales, then your answer will be shouted from whichever side of the sales curve your book happens to be on after a free run.



And, because things with Amazon are always changing, it appears a waking dragon is starting to make some interesting noise.



Let's look at the trends over the last two months. Oh, wait, there are no trends. Results are all over the map, and each book I'm privy to sales figures for seems to have its own idea of how to perform duing and after its free run. Maybe YOU can spot a trend.



I'm going to arbitrarily break the books down into New Releases, Series, and Standalones because maybe it makes a difference where a book is in its lifecycle. Or maybe not. I'll include genre, free history and site mentions. Note that none of the books I've seen sales figures for has had a paid ad for its free run. For the books I have permission to name, I am. Others I don't, so I won't.



At the end, I'll compare how my strategy today for a free run is different from what I posted way back last February.



And what about that waking dragon, you ask? For US-based authors, it's beginning to look like the UK has raised its sleepy head and is starting to roar. But like the rest of the Select Free equation, if you're on the wrong side of the sales curve, you might not be able to hear it yet. More about that in the individual results below.



NEW RELEASES





NIKO'S STOLEN BRIDE by Lindy Corbin - Contemporary Romance - Standalone



Notes: Definitely an out-of-the-ballpark hit that defies all lessons learned about free runs. New author, no reviews, no major site mentions. Only the smaller sites that auto-list all the free books picked it up.



Free Stats

Free for 5 days, July 12-16 (set free within a few days of publishing)

#5 overall in both the US and the UK

US: 30,000 downloads

UK: 5000 downloads



Sales Stats July 17-31

US: 1800 sales (1460 sales in Week 1 at 99c, 340 sales in Week 2 at $2.99) and 104 borrows

UK: 250 sales (220 sales in Week 1 at 99c, 30 sales in Week 2 at $2.99)

___________________



PARANORMAL ROMANCE by a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author - Series



Notes: This book is the beginning of a new series set in the same world as one of the author's traditionally published bestselling series. Unlike Niko above, this book had a "name" author, 6 reviews before it went free, and was picked up by every single major site.



Free Stats

Free for 3 days, Aug 9-11 (set free 2 weeks after release)

#14 overall in the US

~#200 overall in the UK

US: 15,500 downloads

UK: 290 downloads



Sales Stats Aug 12-18

US: 280 sales at $2.99 and 39 borrows (compare to 250 sales at $2.99 during its first 2 weeks in release before going free)

UK: 8 sales

___________________






ARROW TO THE HEART by Jennifer Blake - Historical Romance - Standalone



Notes: This is a backlist re-release of an older national bestseller, with high-profile reviews for other editions. It got no major site mentions.



Free Stats

Free for 5 days, July 11-15 (set free within a few days of publishing)

#17 overall in the US

#89 overall in the UK

US: 22,000 downloads

UK: 1000 downloads



Sales Stats July 16-31

US: 340 sales at $2.99 and 58 borrows

UK: 28 sales

___________________






SPANISH SERENADE by Jennifer Blake - Historical Romance - Standalone



Notes: This is a backlist re-release of an older national bestseller. It got a Free Kindle Books and Tips mention only from the majors. Mixed reviews since, but we simply didn't see a bump even before the reviews started coming in. Sales are even just a little below pace of the 3 other historical romances released at the same time that did not go free.



Free Stats

Free for 3 days, Aug 9-11 (set free within a few days of publishing)

#33 overall in the US

#179 overall in the UK

US: 10,700 downloads

UK: 430 downloads



Sales Stats July 16-31 

US: 42 sales at $2.99, 8 borrows

UK: 14 sales

___________________






DEADLY IMAGE by Tamelia Tumlin - Inspirational Romantic Suspense - Standalone



Notes: With no reviews upon release, we didn't expect this book to get picked up by the majors in July, and it didn't. We did hope for a pickup in August after it got a handful of nice 5-star reviews, but again, no major mentions.



Free Stats

Free for 1 day on July 12, and 3 days Aug 10-12

July: 1250 downloads

Aug: 1050 downloads



Sales Stats

July: 71 sales (60 at 99c, 11 at $2.99)

Aug: 14 sales (10 at $1.99, 4 at $2.99)



SERIES BOOKS



Anecdotal only, but based on the collateral sales for other books in a series when one title is free, it does appear that series sales remain strong when free books hit in the Top 100. Several successful books that are not Steel Magnolia titles, but whose authors have kindly shared data, have had collateral sales in the couple of hundred copies during the course of the free run and in the immediate aftermath. Having other books in the series discounted during the free promotion also appears to be quite attractive to readers.



STANDALONES



In July and August both, we had books free that had all at one time or another been in the Top 100, many several times and many in the Top 50 once or twice.



Books that received one major site mention landed in the Top 200, but none cracked the Top 100. Each run in July and August, about half the books that were not new releases fell into this group. A far different scenario from having 7 out of 10 free books in the Top 100 in May. I did, however, have 3 books I was managing in the Top 35 in August. So, for a while, we owned 10% of the top third of the Top 100 Free list :o).



Downloads averaged 1000-1500 with a major mention, and 200-1000 without a major mention.



Post-free sales ranged from 30-100 in July and August during the first week post-free for books with 1500 downloads and 10-20 sales for books with fewer than 1000 downloads.



SECTOR C





Then there's my thriller, SECTOR C. This book has had a free run each month since January. Data for Standalones above would indicate diminishing returns for books that keep pulsing free. Yet, somehow, SECTOR C keeps plugging along (helped, of course, by the kindness of at least one major freesite mention each run - in July, it got a mention from Ereader News Today and in August from Pixel of Ink and Kindle Fire Department).



A brief history of its free run download numbers:

Jan - 17,000

Feb - 2300

Mar - 2400

Apr - 1900

May - 11,500

Jun - 3850

Jul - 3450

Aug - 9400 US, 1770 UK



Concerned that 1) SECTOR C may have played itself out on the free circuit and 2) total sales each month have been on the downslide, I decided I needed to do something to help inject new life into this little book. Fond as I continue to be about the saber-tooth image the cover originally sported, one thing I'm certain helped this time is the cover change I made. It's much more obvious this is a medical thriller now. And by putting a woman on the cover, I hope to appeal more to women readers.



POI readers seemed to respond well to the new cover; the last time it was featured on POI (in June), it got fewer than 4000 downloads.



Also, it's never gotten more than 200 downloads in the UK before. I think it received so many this time for two reasons:




The new cover has a broader appeal
Freebies in the Mystery/Thriller genre seem to be more popular across the board now than in the past. Another thriller free the same time SC was followed SC up the charts, then went on to dominate overall with an additional 2 free days. And a mystery went gangbusters there, as well. Both authors tell me this is the best their books have done in the UK.



Of interest, I had only 3 days for my free run. UK downloads kicked in hard near the end of Day 2 and the rank was still improving in the UK when I canceled the free run at #17 overall. By then, its US rank had gone from #34 to #55. Another day or two free in the UK would have made a huge difference, I think. I'm not sure it could have rivaled the 5000 Niko's Stolen Bride got in July, but it might have come close.



But a great free run without a sales bump would be disappointing, no? As a pleasant surprise, the UK delivered. Why? Because the UK is still running the old algorithm for its pop lists where freebies are weighted close to the same as a real sale. Great visibility in the UK is the reward for a successful free run.



Sales comparison for the first 7 days post-free for the last 4 runs:

May - 173 sales at $4.29 and 38 borrows

Jun - 142 sales (43 at $4.39, 83 at 99c, 17 at $3.89) and 35 borrows

Jul - 75 sales (45 at $4.39 and 30 at $2.99) and 23 borrows

Aug - 146 sales at $4.39 and 69 borrows in the US, 175 sales at $2.99 in the UK



Current Thoughts on Freebook Strategy



These are editorial in nature only. Typical caveat of "your mileage may vary" applies.




New releases (along with virgin titles that have never been free) can still do very well.
A free run continues to be part of Steel Magnolia Press' release strategy.
We have modified that release strategy to have only 1 title free in each Collection of 2-5 backlist titles of Jennifer Blake's that we're releasing each month. Each of the other books in the month's Collection is getting paid advertising.
The new release itself does not need to go free if another in the series can be made free instead.
Successful series sell well during a successful free run of one of the titles.
Go big. Earlier, it seemed to matter where a book was ranked when it came off free. Now, it's all about the raw number of downloads a book can manage.
If the first day's number of downloads is less than 1800, cancel.
The algorithms have a built-in 30-day cliff. Each free run is evaluated case-by-case as to the benefit of having a reserve of free days left to always keep that cliff 2 weeks out.
We'll likely hold all current books in Select until March, then re-evaluate the benefits then, unless...
If things change drastically, we're prepared to make what changes are needed to best optimize our promotional opportunities. 



There's nothing stagnant about this business. We all have to keep trying new things, watching the results, and tweaking our plans on the fly.