With the highest of highs often comes the lowest of lows

The last few weeks have been about the highs and lows of life for me. I had a successful week of sales during Read an E-book Week. My youngest got over the stomach flu. My oldest was getting ready for spring break. I'm not one to wait for the other shoe to drop - I believe that to be a bad habit that should be avoided, but I am willing to concede that with the highs of life often comes the lows.

It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride the last few days. I had the joy of participating in a fundraiser for my friend's mother, who is raising funds for a kidney transplant. She is an amazing woman, and I am glad that the funds are coming in for her. When I was growing up, she was like a mom to all of us troubled kids. I spent so much time at their house that people thought I lived there. I consider the whole family to be my own family, so it really was a joyous occasion to be a part of.

I also got to hang out with another dear friend for her son's birthday. She's actually my sister's friend, but she has been through so much crazy stuff with us that she is pretty much family. It was a pure joy to celebrate with her and her family. It also gave my kids a chance to play with other kids, which is always fun for them. For the most part, things have been nothing but up for us.

And then came the flip side of the coin. My wife's nana fell ill. As of this writing she is still with us, but she is being made comfortable for the next part of life's journey. It all happened so fast, it is still difficult to process. She is another amazing woman, so her loss is a tremendous blow to my wife and her family, and to me as well. I have nothing but fond memories of her. It is important to celebrate her life, but taking the time to mourn is also of great importance.

Life is crazy sometimes. You just never know what you are going to get. We take the highs with the lows, and that's okay to me. I think it is important for us to enjoy every good moment. Never take life for granted. None of us know how things will turn out. None of know when we will see the end. Really enjoy life. Savor every moment. Take the time to tell those important to you that you love them while you can. Anyway, these are my thoughts this week. Above all, I want you all to live, I mean really live! Have a wonderful week everyone!

If I can do it, so can you

First off, let me say: My third book is almost ready for release! It's hard to believe that my third book is almost here. To be quite honest, I wasn't sure if I could finish writing one book. When I finished the first book, I wasn't sure I could write one more. Now, here we are, and the trilogy is nearly complete.

I know a lot of writers use their blogs to offer writing tips and advice, but I really don't have any. The only thing I can say with certainty is: The only true failure is not trying. If you want to succeed at anything, you need to try. A lot of people tell me how they aren't sure they could ever write a book. I don't think anyone is really sure at the beginning, but I can guarantee you'll never find out, if you never try.

If I can write, so can you. I had no idea what I was doing when I started this journey. A few years later, I have made the Amazon bestseller list. My second book made it into the top 3. I have a pretty good fan base. Most importantly, I'm still enjoying writing. The fact is: I would not have accomplished anything if I did not bother to try.

Life is too short to not chase your dreams. Why not chase a few? I say chase as many as you can, and hopefully, you catch more than a few. You want to be a writer, well then write. You have another dream, go after it. No one is going to chase your dreams for you. You have to put in the effort. Don't walk through life wondering about the would've, could've, should've moments you let pass you by.

For me, writing a book was just one of my dreams. I'm constantly in the process of chasing dreams, whether it be writing, skimboarding, or whatever other crazy activity I'm doing. I hope that as I catch a few of those dreams it will inspire others to chase theirs. So, get out there and chase your dreams. If you have the time, tell me about a few. I love to hear from people who are living the dream. Have a wonderful week everybody!

Results from Read an E-book Week 2014

This past week I participated in Read an E-book Week 2014. My book, Beyond Heights and Depths, was free on Smashwords. As I have written before, I have had trouble getting any promotions going on Smashwords. The results of previous promotions were terrible. However, I had no problem getting behind this one because I already participate in multiple efforts to promote reading in general.

I love to promote reading because I believe reading is incredibly important. When Smashwords emailed me about participating in Read an E-book Week, it was a no-brainer for me to participate. I really wasn't sure what to expect. I don't know what it is about Smashwords, but giving away books with them is one of the most difficult tasks imaginable. I have never reached anywhere near the kind of success on Smashwords as I have through other channels.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to see a small increase in this promotion. I gave away somewhere around 20% more during Read an E-book Week than I did during the previous promotion only a few weeks earlier. In my opinion, the major difference was Smashword's involvement with the promotion. Normally, there is no involvement on their end. In fact, I am pretty sure I have never seen another promotional event on Smashwords besides this one. Overall, I am pleased with the results, but please keep in mind that I had very low expectations for this promotion to begin with.

How about you? Did anyone else participate in Read an E-book Week? What kind of results did you achieve? I would love to hear about your successes or frustrations with running promotions on Smashwords. So far, I have not found anyone who has had great success with Smashwords. Tell me about your experiences. Thank you everyone and have a great week!

My first experience using KDP Select Free Promotional Days (Updated)

On Black Friday, I ran my first KDP Select Promotion Day. I know many of you are wondering how that is possible. I chose not to enroll my first book in KDP Select. I decided to sell my first book on iTunes, Nook, and Kobo. In all honesty, I didn't know what I was doing. I was learning as I was going along and trying everything out.

With book two, I decided to go with Amazon because I have had the most success through the Kindle Store. Over the last few months, I have heard many good and bad things about enrolling in KDP Select, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I decided to go with just one day to start off. I submitted my information to promote my free day on five sites I learned about from others on Twitter. I also submitted info on one site that only takes submissions on the day of the promotion. The only thing I did in addition was make sure to tell others about my free day on Facebook and Twitter.

Seeing as how I did not put in too much effort, I am pleased with the results. Beyond Demons and Protectors made it into the Top 10 free books for that day. I gave away 200 books. I'm slowly getting some reviews and people contacting me about the book. My first book also received a boost in sales. Overall, I would say my experience with KDP Select Free Promotion was positive. This last month of book promotion has definitely been much better than my experiences with the first book, which was so stressful I wasn't sure I wanted to write a second book. The only major problem I encountered this time was when the book initially showed up for free on the Amazon site. It took almost two hours before the book showed up as free, but after that, no major problems.

I'll get a chance today to see if the positive results continue. I am running another free promotion on KDP Select for Cyber Monday. I'll be sure to let everyone know how this one goes. Hopefully, the results will be good. If not, I will be sure to write about those experiences as well. Have a wonderful week, everybody!

Update - December 8, 2013:

I ran another free promotion on Cyber Monday. My results were not as good as they were on Black Friday. I still managed to give away another 100 books. My book made it to #8, which I was really happy to see. I observed a small bump in sales in both my first and latest book sales, afterward; however, the bump did not last long, and I have not received any new reviews this past week.

I can't be sure if the decrease in free sales was a result of the day or timing of my promotions with any accuracy. Overall, I am pleased with the results. It took a little work, but nothing outrageous. I have a few more free promotion days left to use. I need to look at what worked and what didn't, and then choose the next days for promotion.

One thing I can say is giving my book away for free did help me a lot in spreading the word about my book. A lot of people have been asking questions, telling me what they liked, and are recommending their book to their friends. I still feel the best promotion is word of mouth, of course. Only time will tell just how much more word of mouth I actually gained as a result of free promotions. I think things are going fairly well, especially considering my second book has not been out for very long.

I will be sure to keep you all posted about how my future promotions turn out. Thank you to everyone who helped me over the cyber weekend. I could not have accomplished anything without you. Number 8 is pretty darn good, even if my time in the top 10 was fairly short. Have a wonderful week, everybody!

A case of the "what if's?"

Over the weekend, I released my second book. I knew I was going to have problems with this release date because I did not have time to do the promos that I wanted. We are still awaiting results on the exact nature of my son's blood disorder. His medical needs are the priority, not my book. Nevertheless, I felt I could still release my book because I at least had some experience in this area with my first book.

Oh boy was I ever wrong. I'm not sure if it is just me, but I felt just as anxious about the release of this book as I did the first one. In fact, I am still freaking out a little--Lol. It really is an amazing process to take something you worked hard on and let it out for the world to see. I don't think it is a feeling I will ever completely get used to, and I still have one more to go in this series.

I'm pretty sure most of my anxiety is because of fears of the "what if's?" What if I do this? What if I do that? What if I fail? We all know what it is like to get a case of the "what if's?" However, it is very important to not let a case of the "what if's?" get in the way of you reaching your goals. There's nothing wrong with making sure everything is in order, but it does become a major problem if you are unable to accomplish anything because you are too worried about failing.

It really is better to try and fail than to never try at all. I'm nowhere near as successful as I would like to be one day, but I do pretty well. I've made the bestseller list a few times. I have some fans. Unfortunately, a person who never tries gains absolutely nothing. Whatever it is you hope to achieve in life, go after it with everything you've got. Do not let a simple case of the "what if's?" prevent you from reaching your goals. Keep trying your best, and whatever you do, do not give up before you have a chance to succeed. Have a great week, friends!

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."  -Thomas Edison