HOW I BECAME A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

Hi Readers!

Good to have you back!

If you read my first blog about my road to success you will know it was not an easy one. Took me twenty years to get some recognition, readers, and respect, but I still wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. By 2013-2014, I had perhaps 15 books or more up on Kindle, and had sold my returning war hero series to Amazon Montlake! All my publishing dreams had finally come true–and I was doing quite well.

It was the year(s) of the multi-author mega box sets, and I contacted a friend and fellow writer, Mona Risk, who I knew from our local chapter FRW, and asked if she would be interested in putting a couple of our romances together, perhaps getting another author to join us, and do a box set. Mona was a little busy right then, but she got back to me about six months later, with a much bigger, better idea.

She wanted to make the lists, and hoped we could get 10 like-minded authors for a romance box set. Our theme would be Brides. I had been thinking small, but Mona thought big! Our first box set did not earn us a place on the best seller list, but we learned an enormous amount about the joy, work, and hardship in putting together and promoting a multi-author bundle. Everyone was assigned a job – mine was to open the Publishing accounts and become the financial person for this diverse group of women.

Heck, I can’t even balance my own account, but this was a very important job, and I made sure I did it right! We did promo tours, sent out advanced reader copies for reviews, twitter and facebook parties, and trust me it’s hard work! With our next box set we learned from our mistakes, and fine-tuned the entire process. Most of the original ten remained together for four box sets, but a few came and went, busy with other various groups of their own.
The second bundle we did, our lovely Christmas book, TEN CHRISTMAS BRIDES hit the USA Today best seller list, and we were thrilled to death. It has remained a wonderful best seller throughout the past year.

Our Valentine’s book, HEARTS & KISSES, also made the USA Today list.

Then in March I was recruited to do another box set with 20 authors– most of whom I didn’t know–but a few were my friends from the Brides, so I allowed myself to be persuaded! SUMMER FIRE came out on May 26th, and we all became NEW YORK TIMES best selling authors.
It has been a wild and rocky road to stardom, but even with the coveted titles, money dried up last year when Kindle Unlimited decided to sell subscriptions — for $9.99 you could read unlimited books per month. Sales plummeted, and I was earning less than I had in years.
That was then — and this is now. The year 2015 is full of surprises, and promises to be the most productive, exciting and successful year of all. My Pisces horoscope states that I have entered my career zone for the first time in 29 years, and that doors will magically open for me – the year is golden, I’m assured.

And whenever was a horoscope wrong?

Already I made the NY Times best seller list, wrote thee new books and money is coming my way again! I also have high hopes for selling my new Paradise Cove series. It’s going to be a great year!

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Cheers!