Yesterday, I offered readers the opportunity to download Safe Harbor from Amazon onto their Kindles, tablets, iPhones, PCs and laptops — free of charge. It was my chance to introduce readers to a new novel by an unknown author and get them building the buzz.
I pulled out all the stops on social media. It was a wild and wonderful ride. I haven’t had so much fun since I ran a poll on this blog in November in which you selected Safe Harbor’s book cover.
The giveaway started at midnight. When I first checked Amazon’s Best Sellers’ Ranking in the middle of the morning, I was #3,707 in popularity in the entire Free Kindle Store, and #77 on the Free Suspense Best Seller list. Throughout the day, my ranking steadly went up. And when I called it a day after 11 p.m. EDT, Safe Harbor was #243 in the store, and #10 in Free Suspense. I was ahead of Tess Gerritsen’s Freaks at #25 and putting the bite on Stoker’s Dracula at #5. I was also #12 in the Thriller category.
And I had 781 downloads. That means 781 people had Safe Harbor in their hands last night.
Today is the last day of the free promo. At just before 10 a.m. EDT, Safe Harbor is now #217 in the Kindle Free Store, and holding at #10 in Free Suspense and #12 in Free Thriller. I’m aiming for the top place in Suspense and Thriller by the end of the day. And for the top 100 in the Free Kindle Store.
Now to knuckle down and make that happen.