On Kindle Unlimited by Barbara Edwards

I’m so excited!

My publisher Books by Wings Epress has put my two historical romances on Kindle Unlimited.

If you already have this service from Amazon, here is your chance to enjoy both novels. I’m plotting sequels to both and would love to know which one you’d like first.

Another Love 

by Barbara Edwards 

http://www.books-by-wings-epress.com/another-love

Some promises are made to be broken.

Caught in a web of political intrigue, graft and threats to a beloved child, Meg Warren and Drew Larkin hunt the men threatening the downfall of President Cleveland and the economic fabric of America. From a poor farm to the ostentatious world of New York’s elite, they sift lies, discover trust and an attraction they cannot resist. The last thing they expect to find is a love worth more than gold.

Susan E. Falk "apckrfan" reviewed Another Love

 1890s Romantic Suspense December 13

Set in the US East Coast in 1893, ANOTHER LOVE is a historical romance with a suspenseful plot. We are introduced to a loving, independent Meg who takes unwanted orphans into her home.

To clear her name of Drew's accusations as to her involvement in his nephew's kidnapping Meg reluctantly agrees to help the boy's uncle, Drew, reveal the people responsible for the kidnapping of his nephew.

"A real page-turner with wonderful characters and a unique plot. You can't miss with this one."-­Award-winning author Patricia Potter

Review from Romantic Times Magazine **** 1/2 (four and one-half stars)

Another Love 

by Barbara Edwards 

Buy Link: http://a.co/9jlgTjt

Annie’s Heart

http://www.books-by-wings-epress.com/annies-heart

Annie’s Heart was the result of a dream I had about living on the Kansas plains after the Civil War ended. I researched the area and found the hardships settlers faced to be overwhelming. I was surprised so many not only survived, but thrived. Annie is a strong woman with too many problems, but she is a survivor.

I hope you take this opportunity to read about her.

Blurb:

Only two coins and a gold pendant heart separate widowed ANNIE MOSS from disaster. The fields need to be plowed, the barn repaired and food stored for the winter, but she is alone and afraid. Her dream of a home for her children hangs from the promise of a wandering man to keep moving on, a man she has no reason to trust.

TRACE RANDOLPH has lost everything except his honor, so when a desperate ANNIE saves his life he knows he must pay his debt, even if it means marrying her. The only promise he makes is to leave before the winter snows. A promise he finds impossible to keep.

Excerpt:

Trace wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and hefted another bundle of shingles onto his shoulder. The sweat dripped off him and he knew he smelled like an old goat. He wondered if Annie had noticed, or if he were the only one suffering from this itch. His mouth was parched and he made a note to purchase more mints when he visited town. A blister burned on his heel. And work shoes. His high-heeled boots weren’t designed for doing farm chores.

He planned on taking a quick dip in the creek later to wash away his ripe odor. The scent of lavender, light and delicate as the woman herself, filled his head. Annie stood behind him. He turned. She smiled and held out a dripping glass of water. Nodding his thanks, he swallowed the drink with pleasure. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and her blue eyes flicked from his fingers to his mouth.

"When do you expect to be done?"

A longing to touch her seared him like a hot poker. Trace jerked his gaze from her mouth to eye the rising sun and gathering clouds. He gauged the daylight hours left.

"Maybe by tonight. It looks like rain, and I hope to have it completed so you won’t be inconvenienced again."

Her fingers trembled slightly when she held out her hand for the empty glass. His gaze darted to her face. She blushed at his bold stare and stepped back.

"I’m sure I never implied--"

"No, you didn’t, but I have eyes in my head. You need your privacy. I intend to get Digger’s bunk ready as well as my own."

She blushed a color reminiscent of the climbing roses in his mother’s garden. He realized she was embarrassed by his reference to sleeping arrangements. He was enchanted by her sweet reaction. A woman so innocent shouldn’t be the mother of two children.

Her gaze dropped to the ground as she hugged the glass to her breasts. The dripping condensation soaked into the fabric. She didn’t notice the wet material clinging to her soft outline, but he did. Heat pulsed low in his groin. He longed to trace the outline of dampness with his mouth.

"I need to go into town. Would you like to come?" Trace didn’t know where the suggestion sprang from, but Annie’s eyes sparkled with anticipation, then dimmed.

"But we have chores to…"

"Let Digger do them," he interrupted.

She hesitated. Cackling laughter followed by a whoop of excitement broke the silence stretching between them. Annie gave him a shaky nod before heading back toward the house.

Trace cursed under his breath as he watched the sweet sway of her hips when she climbed the shallow steps to the porch. Annie was soft and curvy in all the right places. She cast him a quick glance before darting inside.

Review:

”... Barbara Edwards creates a romance that proves life is about surviving disaster. Growing back stronger, and most of all, the courage to love." **** (four stars), Gerry Benninger, Romantic Times Magazine

Annie's Heart 

by Barbara Edwards 

Buy Link: http://a.co/hPkbKry

Bio:

 I’m Barbara Edwards and a native New Englander. I’m a graduate of the University of Hartford with a Master’s degree in Public Administration. I write poetry for myself and novels when I need to tell a longer tale. I’m fascinated by the past so naturally turned to writing historical romance. The dark paranormal stories evolve from nightmares. The romance comes from my belief in people’s basic goodness and longing for love. 

I lived in Florida for several years and am past president of the Central Florida Romance Writers and a member of Romance Writers of America.

When I returned to Connecticut, I founded the Charter Oak Romance Writers, a Chapter of Romance Writers of America, along with several close friends
 My husband is a retired Police Sergeant. We share an interest Civil War re-enacting and travel the Eastern states to participate in events. I love visiting museums, galleries and battle sites, gathering information for my stories.

I taught Romance Writing at Manchester Community college for three years.

I’m fond of gardening and growing antique roses with limited success. 

Most of my exercise is when my Belgian Shepherd, Keeno, demands a walk.

Please follow, friend or like me. I love to hear from my readers.

 blog: http://barbaraedwardscomments.wordpress.com/

Website http://barbaraedwards.net

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraEdwards.Author

Twitter  https://www.twitter.com/Barb_ed

Amazon Author’s Page http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003F6ZK1A

GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/496095.Barbara_Edwards

My Amazon Ad Experiment, Part Deux by Alison Henderson

If you read my post last month, you'll recall I shared the results of an experiment in which I ran a Facebook ad and an Amazon sponsored product ad during the last week of February and compared the results. As far as I could tell, all my sales came from the FB ad. Although it cost me very little, my Amazon numbers were dismal: 2,772 impressions, 10 clicks, and 0 sales. I decided I must be doing something wrong, so I decided to try again during the last week of March.

The important difference was adding more keywords. The first time, I used every category and combination of words I thought anyone might use to find books like Unwritten Rules and Boiling Point, my female bodyguard books. I also threw in the names of a couple of very well-known writers whose books are somewhat similar. I only ended up with about twenty keywords, even though every article I'd read said to aim for two hundred, and Amazon allows up to one thousand! I simply couldn't think of any more.

In the interim, I'd read another article with sound advice on how to find appropriate keywords. The author recommended checking your own books' pages, as well as those of similar books, and diving deep into the "Customers who bought this product also bought" listings. When I did this, I found a significant number of authors I'd never heard of who write some combination of romance, mystery, and suspense that includes humor. l added their names to my keyword list. I then dug even deeper, checking the "Customers who bought" lists for those authors, looking for more authors and books that might attract similar readers. You can do this almost indefinitely, but I stopped after I had doubled the number of my keywords.

Here are the results for the first week, so you can compare the numbers with my original experiment:

Boiling Point:
109,975 impressions;  54 clicks @ $.16 = $8.49 cost; 4 sales @ $2.74 profit = $10.96 
Plus 2,371 KENP pages read @ $.005 per page = $11.86
Net Profit = $14.33

Unwritten Rules:
125,161 impressions;  57 clicks @ $.17 = $9.69 cost; 5 sales @ $2.74 profit = $13.60
Plus 1 sale of Small Town Christmas Tales, which I have to attribute to increased visibility @ $2.06 profit
Plus 4,254 KENP pages read = $21.27
Net Profit = $40.80

Total Profit for the week: $52.66

I was pretty darned thrilled with that, so I decided to keep the ads going. However, the impressions and clicks slowed considerably and sales dropped from 4 a day to 0 on March 31st, as if I'd discontinued the ads. I waited a full week with very little activity, except for a large number of KENP pages read (presumably by KU subscribers who had picked the books up the previous week.) 

On April 7th, I decided to try adding a few more keywords. The impressions, clicks, and sales picked up again. 

Here are the totals for the first three weeks:
Boiling Point:
129,558 impressions; 72 clicks @ $.16 = $11.26 cost; 6 sales @ $2.74 profit = $16.44
Plus 5,309 KENP pages read = $26.55
Net Profit = $31.73

Unwritten Rules:
129,683 impressions; 86 clicks @ $.19 = $16.34 cost; 10 sales @ $2.74 profit = $27.40
Plus 1 sale of Small Town Christmas Tales @ $2.06 profit
Plus 7,803 KENP pages read = $39.02
Net Profit = $52.30

From all this, I have drawn the following conclusions:
1. Keywords make all the difference.
2. Amazon metrics show me which keywords are producing the most clicks and the most sales so I can adjust accordingly. 
3. I will probably have to make constant additions and adjustments to keep sales coming.
4. Amazon ads are much more effective for an unknown author like me if the books are part of the Kindle Unlimited program. Readers are more likely to take a chance if they don't feel like they're paying for the book--even if they are.
5. Unwritten Rules sells better than Boiling Point. This may be because it's the first book in the series, or it may be due to a more attractive cover or blurb. I'll have to give this some thought. One of the benefits of being an indie is being able to tinker with any aspect of the book whenever I decide to.

So. there you have it. Whew!
Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com

What I Like About Kindle Unlimited by Alison Henderson

If you self-publish, or even if you don't, you've probably heard the moaning and wailing that Amazon's subscription service Kindle Unlimited is killing book sales. Readers pay $9.99 a month and can "borrow" up to 10 books at a time. Books are only eligible for KU if they are Amazon-exclusive through the KDP program--indie published or through one of Amazon's own imprints. At the moment, that constitutes around one million titles. 

Obviously, this program is directed at regular readers. It wouldn't make much sense to pay the fee unless you read at least two books every month. The more you read, the better the deal. And you have to be prepared for the fact that none of the traditionally published bestsellers will be available.

I have one book in the program, my romantic suspense Unwritten Rules. Because this book has been out for two years, it would be unfair--and undoubtedly inaccurate--to attribute slow sales to the introduction of Kindle Unlimited. The program has, however, injected a new element of fun into the experience of being an indie author. I can now connect with my readers in a direct, real-time way.

I've never been much of a techie, but with Kindle Unlimited I've gleefully surrendered to the seduction of real-time data. In July, Amazon started calculating KU borrows in a different way. They assign a number of pages to each book based on adjusted length--the Kindle Edition Normalized Pages. Unwritten Rules has 501 KENP. The sales dashboard shows the number of KENP read each day, so I can see if someone is actually reading my book, right then and there, and it adjusts periodically during the day. I feel like I'm reading along with them!

For example, today, someone(s) has read 145 pages. That may change by tonight. Yesterday, the total was 351 pages. I can see when a reader begins the book, when they really get caught up in the story or have more time to read, and when they finish. If I had bigger numbers, this wouldn't be possible, but for now, it's a lot of fun. Last month, I had a 448-page day, then a couple of quiet days, then a 498-page day. This likely represented two readers who finished the book around the same time. I checked my book page on Amazon a couple of days later and found a new five star review. Now that's instant feedback!

For Labor Day weekend and in honor of Unwritten Rules' second book birthday, I'm running my first sale. The book will be priced at $.99 from now through Monday night. If you haven't read it, here's your chance to pick it up at a bargain price! And I'd be thrilled if you'd help me spread the word. I don't expect this sale to have any effect on my KU numbers, but I'm looking forward to watching them on Small Town Christmas Tales when it releases October first.

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com