FEARLESS FRIDAY - Meet Brenda Wood

Welcome, Brenda Wood, author & speaker

http://heartfeltdevotionals.com
www.facebook.com/brendawoodspeaker

 

Brenda J Wood

I call myself 'the ABC girl’ because I’ve survived the alphabet biggies of abuse, bulimia, and cancer.

Right now I am working my way through the D’s, recovering from the loss of my husband a few months ago.

I expect to conquer the entire alphabet in my life time with the help of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
I am a somewhat average gal, not too tall, not too round, not too old or too young. I am not too outgoing, yet I am definitely not an introvert.

I started to write seriously when I learned that journaling could help a person overcome sexual abuse. Eventually those journals became the book, Meeting Myself, Snippets from a Binging and Bulging Mind.  As you might expect from the title, it’s the painful, though often funny story of my recovery from abuse and bulimia. I’m honored that both Michael Bull Roberts and Nikki Rosen read and endorsed it.

My devotional is called Heartfelt Devotionals-366 devotions for common sense living. I write regularly for http://everydaychristian.com   and http://daily.presbycan.ca

I write about my life. Constant dieting produced the Bible Study, God, Gluttony & You, as well as several health related cookbooks. When Ron passed, I wrote a picture/story book for grieving children, called The Big Red Chair (2011).
You might have guessed by now that my next book will be about losing my Honey. I guess you could say that writing saved my life. Oh, I know that without Jesus and my husband Ron, (who was my ‘Jesus with skin’) I’d have sunk. But writing gives me a place to look at my life and recognize how far I’ve come.

Meeting Myself- Snippets from a Binging and Bulging Mind is a memoir of abuse, bulimia and recovery through Christ. It’s funny, sad, informative and effective. This book is highly recommended for those with self-esteem issues of any kind. $13.95

See book trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K04hqS2AkPs

optional purchase site- https://www.greatcanadianauthors.com/books/137

Also available as an E book at Amazon

This rhyming story with CD for grieving children focuses on The Big RedChair that no one really wanted. However when Afi (Icelandic for Grandfather) dies, The Big Red Chair helps comforts everyone. $15.95 paperback. $4.99 Ebook format. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/141541

 

 

Heartfelt 366 Devotions for Common sense Living is a contemporary devotional for today’s woman. Short, to the point devotionals for every day of the year. 19.95 in paperback.

Available as an E-Book on Smashwords and Kindle  

 

 

 

 

God, Gluttony & You

by Brenda J. Wood

This Bible Study challenges us to consider what the Bible says about overeating and then helps us apply the truth to our daily lives. Feed your spirit and your physical health at the same time.  12.99. Soon also available on Smashwords and Kindle

Your unique talent: I love fabric and should never go into a fabric store without locking my wallet in the car.

Share something not many people know about you- I like my own company.

Which best describes your personality:  stable

Are you a “pet person” or prefer no pets? While we used to always have a dog, I am currently fighting for petless but ‘those who claim to know what I need, and have never lost a spouse,’ keep trying to foist a cat onto me, even though I am allergic.

Would you rather travel or stay at home? I like to travel but it is too much trouble to get there!. Love where I live and what I do and so right now, prefer home.

Do you read more or write more? I am evenly divided; often read something that triggers a thought that sends me to the computer with article in mind.

Prefer cake or pie? Cake is only worth eating for the icing/frosting, so pie. I make excellent pie crust.

Would, or do, ride a motorcycle or prefer to ride/drive a car? I am all about safety so cars.

How about taking the bus or walking? I love to walk for the endorphins and the weight loss.

Are you part of a big church congregation or a small church? Our small church grew to be big and I love both.

Would you describe yourself as happy or joyful? Though I have much sadness in my life right now, my life over all is joyful, because of Christ.

Do you like to telephone people or prefer to use e-mail? Well that just depends on who I am talking to. Some people should be fed with a long-handled spoon.

Do you eat at home or eat out? I just like to eat.

Listen to music or prefer quiet? My husband Ron always had music on the go and I liked that. Now I find it makes me sad, so for the time being, no music.

Prefer sunrises or sunsets? Just thankful I can see either one!

Meet the Newest John 3:16 Member, Our First Baby Born Into the Network

The first John 3:16 baby was born last Tuesday at 2:52am. His name is Micah John Carroll and he weighed exactly 9 lbs. Here he is pictured with Grant and Nikki's oldest son, Cadyn. 

 

Grant and Nikki Carroll have been working as a creative couple for most of their ten-year marriage. They met in college, where they both studied theater arts and later worked as professional actors in New York City. 

In 2004, the Lord led the couple  to start an Internet business from scratch, focusing on search engine optimization, web design, and internet marketing. 

Grant and Nikki  have a deep burden for children and youth, working as volunteers with children at risk. God also led them to start a non-profit organization, Child Refuge. 

Grant’s book, The Glimpse, is another example of  God-given teamwork. Nikki had a chilling dream in 2007 that concerned the American Church and Christian youth. Afterwards, events in the news began reflecting events in the dream that was "uncanny." 

Nikki encouraged Grant to turn the dream into a novel that would grab people’s attention and open  the eyes of a nation adrift. 

Besides being the proud parents of now four beautiful children, Grant and Nikki's greatest  desire is to use their gifts to glorify God in whatever way He calls them. 

How to NOT Look Self-Published, Guest Post by Kimberly Rae

Guest post by Kimberly Rae 

Okay, I'm sharing my secret with you all--for those of you who never noticed (which I hope you didn't!), Stolen Woman was self-published.  I say that with a cringe, knowing the stigma that goes with self-publishing, i.e. the assumption that, well, nobody "real" wanted to publish it so you had to do it yourself.

I know that with the economy tightening budgets in everything including the publishing industry, things have changed, and print-on-demand publishing is becoming a big new option that actually boasts several benefits over traditional publishing (see my post titled "Ever Wanted Your Book in Print?" for more on that).  Nonetheless it still feels just plain weird to tell people I self-published a book.  I always want to add, "But I've been published over 100 times in other places, so I really am a real writer!"

Fortunately, I think, when people see it and hear Stolen Woman was done through print-on-demand, the comment I hear most often is, "Wow, this looks really good.  It doesn't look self-published."  And I inwardly think, "Hooray!"  I worked very hard to make sure it didn't have that homemade look that is a dead giveaway for self-publishing.

And now, since so many people have asked how I made it look so not self-published, I figure I might as well stick it all on here so it's all in one place.

So here goes:
HOW TO NOT LOOK SELF-PUBLISHED

1.  No flat colors on your cover.  Even if you want a main background color, find some kind of texture, however faint, to give it some depth.  I can't think of any mainstream published book that has a flat color on the cover.  

Stolen Woman's black cover is a photo of a shawl I bought in Indonesia, taken by my husband and tweeked on Photoshop to be lighter on the back cover and darker on the front.  On the front cover, it's barely even noticeable, which was the idea.  Most people would think it was just black, but it did not stand out as just a flat black, and that's the idea--to not have sections that stand out as "homemade."

2.  Use quality digital photos.  Nuf said.

3.  Put a lot of time into making your back cover "hook" good (that's the 1-2 paragraphs on the back that summarize the story with just enough of the plot to tease a reader into wanting to buy/read your book--it's important!).  Sometimes writing that one paragraph to hook potential readers is harder than writing the whole book!  Ask for help, write several options and have people who know nothing about your book help choose between them.

4.  Add details on the back cover.  Pull down 3-4 of your favorite books from your bookshelf and look them over for small details that you never really notice normally.  It's interesting that those details that we don't notice if they're there, we notice if they are absent.  Those are the details you want, such as:
   *author photo placement and bio
   *credit to cover design person
   *credit to cover photographer
   *price listed in US and Canadian (easy to check with an online converter)
   *usually the publisher is listed with a logo, put something in that spot, like your website, blog, anything
   *endorsements if you have any

5.  Play with color effects on your words.  With Createspace, the print-on-demand option I used, they had a downloadable template for the cover design.  My husband put it into photoshop and used it as a base, then added everything we wanted, playing especially with the effects on color for the words.  Small touches, but they made a big difference (see www.stolenwoman.org for a close-up look at the cover).  Oh, and please don't use bubble-shaped words or rainbow-curved words or any other style that is a little too creative to be professional.  If you go to the library, you'll notice that nearly every book's font is pretty close to the same, with color and texture changes to make them unique.

6.  The boring info page.  This is probably the biggest way that even the average reader will notice you're self-published.  You know that page, about the 2nd page in, that has all that boring copyright info and Library of Congress stuff?  I doubt anybody actually reads any of it, but if your book just says your name and a copyright right date, it screams "self-published."  Again, pull down some of your favorite books and see if you can borrow any of their boring info.  I put in stuff about the version of the Bible I used, a long useless paragraph about not copying anything without permission, etc.  You can also get a library of congress number for free (google how to) and put that on there, too.

7.  Chapter image.  I think it's nice to have some little graphic at the beginning of each chapter--something that represents or accents your style of book, even just a swirly-whatever to add to your interior.  It should be the same throughout, changing it for each chapter would look odd.  Again, check the books you like.  What did they do?

8.  Fonts.  Using a special or italicized font for your Chapter headers or the first letter of the chapter is another thing I noted from my favorite books and utilized in mine.  Again, it just sets you apart in little ways.

9.  The extra stuff.  Author page, thank-you-to-everybody-and-their-grandmother page, etc.  There's a fair bit of freedom on where to put those, but you'll want to check other books to see where they put things and how they expressed themselves.  I find acknowledgment pages extremely boring (unless you're one of the people thanked of course), so I put mine in the back and made it short.

10.  Lastly, don't go cheesy.  I really wanted to put some photos in from Bangladesh to show some of the scenes in my book.  It might have been a nice idea, except that NOBODY in traditional publishing would do that, so it would plop me down in the self-publishing camp for good.  Your book is a piece of professional work, so like a resume, you don't need to add in photos of your grandchildren or long lists of how you came to write the book, etc.  Readers do like personal info, but those are the kinds of things you can put in your website or your blog for the ones who want to get to know you instead of just read your writing.

Make sense?  So hopefully the above will help you put out something that people will say, "Wow, it doesn't look self-published," and you, too, can inwardly say, "Hooray!"

If you thought of some questions, please post them--

you may be asking something somebody else wants to know the answer to!

Please check out Kimberly Rae's blog at http://stolenwoman.blogspot.com/

FEARLESS FRIDAY - Meet Jay Miller

Welcome to Meet and Greet Friday, Jay.

Tell us about yourself.

 

I am a retired engineer. I am a young man of 107 years. My excellent health comes from clean air living in the High Desert of Southern California.

I have been married to my beautiful wife, Margie, for thirty four years. Together we have seven wonderful children, and thirteen super wonderful grandchildren.

God gives me the opportunity now to bring him into the lives of young children so they will love, and learn about him. My books teach them to have fun reading, while learning to love and respect everyone, and especially all the Critters that God has placed upon this earth.

I am a proud member of John 3:16 Marketing Network, Published Authors, Book Marketing Network, and many other writing and social networks.

I have three self published children’s books on the market. All info, ISBN’s, Book Trailers, Blurbs, Covers, Bio, Reviews, including easily purchase buttons can be found here on my website at http://www.mybingobooks.com

My 2^nd book (Sal and Sally) is also available as an app with a storyteller and interactive paint here: http://t.co/ZClVd1a #iTunes

Actually this picture (above) was taken a little earlier, but I’m still pretty good looking for an old man! (Not too many people know about that!)

Now on to the survey questions part!

1)      Friendly

2) Dog

3) Home

4) Write

5) Cake

6) Car

7) Walk

8) Big

9) Happy (Some, but not too much Joy left at my age!)

10) Email

11) Both (I like chewing steak, but peanut butter sticks to my teeth!)

12) Music

13) At my age, waking up to a new sunrise is quite nice. (Especially if you don’t see flowers stacked all around you!)

Have a nice day! Remember to give thanks to the Lord!
Jay

FEARLESS FRIDAY meet Sammie Chandler

Author Sammie Chandler leads off the parade of the John 316 Marketing Network Author introductions.
We hope you will enjoy getting to know our special members, make new friends and find new authors to love. While each spot will have a similiar framework, each author makes his or her spot unique.
One of our goals is NetWorking, so plug in and enjoy!

 

MEET AND GREET Samantha Ryan Chandler

 

The tale of Samantha Ryan Chandler's life is evocatively portrayed in her book: A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me. It tells of a life that is as disturbing and unsettling as it is uplifting and, in the end, gratifying. How "A girl from Nowhere, Louisiana" finds her way from such humble beginnings to live and walk amongst presidents and the supremely rich, only to find her trust and faith betrayed by those that she loved and trusted the most. She would be tested to the point where she began to doubt her own sanity and, at the moment of her greatest desperation and doubt, she was found by God and brought back from the brink of hopeless despair. Blessed with an almost unquenchable optimism and a unique sense of humor, she relates the story of a life that will speak to those who have encountered abuse, unfairness and anguish. Her love for her children and her faith in God carried her through a crucible of fire and in the end, made her a better, stronger person, ready to carry on with a life that is again filled with love, joy and laughter. A Love Story, How God Pursued Me and Found Me will both inspire you and touch your heart.

 

·         ISBN-10: 1615077588

·         ISBN-13: 978-1615077588

·         Kindle edition

·         Amazon Best Seller, 2012 National Indie Excellence Book Awards – finalist

·        Amazon.co (USA), Amazon.co.uk (UK), Barnes & Noble, Christian Books, and autographed copy from website. Book cover in attachment

 

Your unique talent

I have an optimism about life that defies logic for the circumstances I encounter. I also have an uncanny memory...almost photographic

 

Share something not many people know about you

Readers would not know this as I have an extremely silly side and find humor in strange places. I love to laugh and laugh hardily out loud somewhat like Julia Roberts, quite robust.

 

Describe your personality:

I am very much an extrovert. When I was a little girl growing up in Louisiana, my mom would worry all the time as I would go up to strangers at gas stations and chat them up. I have never met a stranger nor have difficulty speaking at length with people I don’t know. This is why I am invited to many parties to keep conversation going!

Are you a “pet person” or prefer no pets?

I have horses that are my passion to ride. I ride Arabians which are known in the horse world as unstable and very skittish. That possibly is the attraction. If something is easy to do, then I am not interested. I ride endurance which means many miles at a time, 20-30 miles. In the past, I kept a journal of each ride and amount of miles but stopped at 10,000 miles. At this date, I would venture to guess I have clocked 15,000 miles in the saddle.

 

Would you rather travel or stay at home?

I am a true “gypsy” having clocked over a million air miles with one airline. While on a trip, I am thinking ahead to the next one.

 

Do you read more or write more?

Since my book has been published, I have little time to read; but find myself writing a great deal. There is so much work after a book hits the market than simply writing it. I have written several articles for Southern Writers Magazine. I started my next book last fall and wrote about a months worth but have not looked at it since. Before I was an author, I read a great deal of the time.

 

Prefer cake or pie?

I prefer both!! My sweet tooth is the size of Alabama.

Would, or do, ride a motorcycle or prefer to ride/drive a car?

Neither, I prefer to ride my horse fast through the woods. I find motorcycles scary.

 

How about taking the bus or walking?

I love to walk. I started exercising everyday when I was 16 and it is a lifestyle choice. I have been known to climb stairs in buildings that have elevators. I did this once in heels going down 22 flights of stairs. My three girls were taught at an early age that “walking makes great legs”.

 

Are you part of a big church congregation or a small church?

I am a member of First Baptist in Atlanta with Dr. Charles Stanley as pastor. It is one of my greatest joys to have this as my church. I have learned not be quantified knowledge of scripture from Dr. Stanley. The church feels small but my guess is 10,000 members.

 

Would you describe yourself as happy or joyful?

I am very happy and also eternally optimistic.

 

Do you like to telephone people or prefer to use e-mail?

I prefer email. I feel at the end of the day that I have talked for hours on end.

 

Do you eat at home or eat out?

I love to cook and experiment. My favorite to make is bread and of course desserts. Growing up in Louisiana, eating is a sport.

 

Listen to music or prefer quiet?

I love to play the piano but do not listen to music very much. I just never seem to have enough quiet time.

 

Prefer sunrises or sunsets?

I could say both but let me break this down for the reader. If it is a sunrise, then an early command performance is at hand to be there in time awaking early. Having raised three girls, I have seen many a carpool sunrise. My answer now is sunsets.

 

Samantha Ryan Chandler
Amazon Best Selling Author
2012 National Indie Excellence Book Awards - Finalist

A Love Story...How God Pursued Me and Found Me..an Impossibly True Story



New Five Star Review of Best-Selling Adoption Book Children of Dreams

Title: Children of Dreams
By: Lorilyn Roberts
ISBN: 978-1602643864
Review Date: August 29, 2012
Reviewed by: CBM Christian Book Marketing
10.0 stars on a scale of 10.0 stars

Lorilyn Roberts writes, Children of Dreams, sharing the redemptive power of God that can restore that which was lost. This inspiring true-story takes the reader through an intriguing, triumphant journey displaying Christ’s miracle working power through the adoption of her own “Children of Dreams.” The author openly reveals her heart, God’s heart and God’s love and faithfulness as she parallels the Spirit of adoption offered from our Heavenly Father with the adoption of her two daughters from third-world countries. Coming from a place of adoption herself, the author has written a touching story that gives life-changing hope, unveiling that through perseverance and absolute trust and dependence upon God, dreams and life-changing hope can be your story as well.

As the author illustrates through her testimony, God can change your tragedy into triumph. Coming from a place of broken dreams, including rejection and abandonment from her spouse, meant that her dreams of having a “forever family” may never happen. As God changed her heart, he also gave her a dream…her children were brought forth from the ends of the Earth, saved from a life of absolute poverty and certain death; the author shares her trials as she endured much opposition in the form of, “… lies, betrayal, sickness, delay, deceit, deception, greed, corruption, suffering, fear, abandonment and sacrifice.”

Children of Dreams is a powerful, uplifting and inspiring word encouragement to the Body of Christ. The author offers hope to the reader by intertwining the truth of scripture throughout her book revealing that God can work all things out for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28). If you love true stories and good endings, this book is for you. Let the truth of this story instill love and hope, let the truth of scripture fill your soul with inspiration, as you give yourself over to the lover of your soul, Jesus Christ. This book will forever leave an imprint of your Heavenly Father’s love for you upon your heart. A true delight and testimony to love prevailing over all evil! A highly recommended read.

Children of Dreams by Lorilyn Roberts, is available atAmazon

10.0 stars on a scale of 10.0 stars
Using Christian Book Marketing to share Christian books with the world.

You can visit Lorilyn Roberts' personal website at http://Lorilynroberts.com and her blog at http://Lorilynroberts.blogspot.com

Jamaican Author Yvonne Pat Wright Writes Gold Medal Winning Book Spice to Eternity – Help Her Bolt It to the Best-Seller List on August 21 on Amazon!

From “Spice to Eternity” is one of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. The subtitle, Discovering the Main Ingredient to a Life of Fulfillment and Purpose, is aptly titled. One of the senses less often thought about in our relationship with Jesus and the heavenly Father is taste. In Spice to Eternity—part memoir, part inspirational, part cooking, and part educational—Yvonne Pat Wright captures this ingredient in an enjoyable journey through her life of cooking and spiritual enlightenment.

How much do you know about spices? You won’t look at cinnamon and cumin and dozens more spices the same way again!

Here is a “taste” of From Spice to Eternity about Vanilla from chapter one “Incomparable Love”:

“Vanilla: What a flavor! It is probably the most exotic of all the spices, and this is no wonder, as the vanilla beans are the pods of the tropical orchid plant Vanilla Planifolia. Vanilla is called ‘The spice of love.’…like the long process of curing vanilla, love affairs –especially those that endure—develop over a long time, the longer the process, the more precious the love that ensues.”

Chapter titles include “Joy Fulfilled,” “Fiery Trials” (guess what spice is highlighted in this chapter), “Made Brand New,” and “He Gave His Life.”

Have you ever wondered what spice would symbolize honor? It’s in one of the chapters I listed above.

I can’t say enough good things about this book.  On Tuesday, August 21, Yvonne Pat Wright will be launching Spice to Eternity on Amazon. If you purchase her book on that day, you will receive many free eBooks/gifts. The books are a secret, but I will share one now— the John 3:16’s highly touted Taste and See book featuring over 60 authors (533 pages). Check back here on Tuesday for the link.

About Yvonne Pat Wright

Yvonne Pat Wright, in happy retirement, enjoys reading, in several genres, but finds it hard to accept obscenity and accept it as standard author’s license.  A devout Christian she teaches in church and is a trained lay preacher. Born in Kingston, Jamaica she has spent equal number of years living alternatively in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. She’s won the hearts of daughters, grandsons and nieces and several ‘adopteds’ with her hearty home cooked meals, delicately spiced and served up with healthy doses of the value of Christian living. She is particularly pleased to have been ‘mother’ to a very famous singing family, the Jackson Five.

Taste and See First Chapters - Easiest Way To Sample Christian Books Ever!

Taste and See on Kindle, click here

HOW TO PUBLISH MY OWN PROFESSIOINAL-LOOKING BOOK FOR FREE

HOW TO PUBLISH MY OWN PROFESSIOINAL-LOOKING BOOK FOR FREE

Publishing Made EZ by Jon Roetman

Review by Lorilyn Roberts

Publishing Made EZ is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to publish his book without spending hundreds or even thousands. All that is required is a "wee" bit of patience and a "wee" bit of Microsoft Word knowledge. If you have written a book, you have far more than a "wee" bit of what you need to use this book and do it yourself. Publishing Made EZ makes the whole process seamless and even fun.

I was very impressed with the step-by-step instructions and photographs that were easy to follow. The writing style was straightforward without the usual technical jargon. I was so pleasantly surprised, in fact, after reading Publishing Made EZ that I am going to use Create Space for my new YA fantasy book. I had planned on using the POD publisher that had published my two previous books, but with this great resource, I can publish Seventh Dimension – The Door far more quickly and save thousands. The only real cost is for an ISBN number, which is minimal.

The number one reason why authors pay someone else to do publishing and marketing for them is because they don’t know how or don't have time. With Publishing Made EZ, YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF. I lead a large network of authors and am glad to know about this book.

No matter which publishing company you use, just the information to put your book in ready-to-publish format is awesome. As usual, anything is easy once someone shows you. I am not technically inclined and tend to become easily frustrated. This book made EVERYTHING SURPRISINGLY SEAMLESS! I highly recommend Publishing Made EZ.

Amazon Creates Another Way for Authors To Make Money Selling eBooks - What’s the Hype About Kindle Direct Publishing

By Lorilyn Roberts

The first time I read about Kindle Direct Publishing, also known as KDP, I couldn’t see the value of it. Why would I want to give away a Kindle book for up to five days every three months and be forced to yank it off all other distribution sites, including Smashwords? 

I had three ebooks at that time being sold through Smashwords, and with their premium distribution, my books were available to Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and other websites I learned about later. I didn’t understand the fine print about the KDP Loan Option, which sounded like a lot of hype about nothing, and I didn’t know anyone who was enrolled. I wrote off  KDP thinking it was too much trouble to implement and I would be wasting my time.

For those who don’t know me, I lead the John 3:16 Marketing Network, a network of over two hundred Christian authors. Our chief focus is to help Christian authors launch their books when published on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. One of the most valuable aspects of belonging to the network is the sharing of information. In January  2012, we had a new member, Bob Saffrin, who emailed me about his success with a Kindle book, Moses –Steps to a Life of Faith, in the KDP Select Program. After offering it for one day free, he had almost four thousand ebooks “sold” and topped the charts in all the nonfiction subcategories.

In over of year of launching books, we had never had anywhere close to that number of books sold in one day—and we are a network that launches books. Of course, Mr. Saffrin’s ebook was free, so my next question was, besides the great exposure he had received—four thousand books loaded on Kindles in the United States and Canada and even other countries sounded awesome—would those downloads translate into royalties? Or was if a fluke? Many people had bought Kindles for Christmas and were looking for cheap ebooks to load on their new “toy.”

I started paying attention to KDP Select through other authors in the John 3:16 Marketing Network. Some were willing to share their numbers. Martin Roth, an Australian author of international thrillers, emailed me about his success with Kindle Direct Publishing. He, too, had “sold” thousands of ebooks with KDP. Now I had validation that it wasn’t just nonfiction books that were doing well with KDP but fiction books also; and it couldn’t have been just  an after-Christmas rush to upload new ebooks on new Kindles. This was for real.

I decided to give KDP a try—which required a lot of effort on my part. Mr. Roth warned me that it was important to make sure you removed your ebook from all distribution sites except Amazon. Your book had to be exclusive to Amazon. My first thought was, how would they know anyway?

Don’t be fooled—Amazon will find your ebook on other websites and contact you to remove it. They are serious about this. When Amazon says exclusivity, they mean it. I waited a couple of months before enrolling my book in the program to ensure it was removed from all the websites I knew about, and Amazon found more later and alerted me.

My book Children of Dreams is an adoption memoir, and that was the first book I put into the Kindle Direct Publishing Program. In the meantime, some of our John 3:16 Authors had compiled a list of FREE websites where you could promote or advertise your ebook the days it was free on Amazon. I went through that list to maximize my book’s exposure.

For two days, over Mother’s Day weekend, I offered Children of Dreams for free on Kindle. By the end of the weekend, I had almost 17,000 ebooks downloaded and it hit number eleven out of all free books on Amazon.

I was ecstatic to have that many books downloaded on Kindles all over the world. In comparison to the number of ebooks I had sold previously, it was astounding. The question then became, how can I make money with this?

Since that weekend, I have offered my other ebooks for free through Kindle Direct Publishing. For the month of July, I received a royalty payment from Amazon for $350. Another author in the John 3:16 Marketing Network made $4,000 last month through Kindle Direct Publishing. The numbers vary widely, but you can make money using KDP. I am delighted that even I can make a few dollars to pay a bill, and the most important thing is, I didn’t spend a dime hiring a publicist or a marketing firm—and, to be honest, they will soon exhaust anyone’s financial resources and may not sell you a single book. I am speaking from personal experience.

Is KDP Select for you? To learn more about the specific details, go to http://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect. There are also step-by-step instructions on how to enroll your book in the program.

What about the exclusivity requirement? That means my book can’t be sold anywhere else.

Here are my thoughts: If it bothers you, then don’t do it. Amazon has come up with a marketing method that works. It’s a win-win for Amazon and the author. You have a choice, and as long as authors have that choice, I see nothing wrong with it. Amazon is in business and they are good at it. Looking at their growth and market share, they are probably the best. The challenge is for another company to come up with a better “KDP Select Program” than Amazon’s.

Here are some suggestions for anyone who is listening:  Implement a similar program that doesn’t require exclusivity. Challenge Amazon. Become a bigger player by offering authors more. What about an 80 percent royalty instead of 75 on books priced at $2.99 or more? What about a 50 percent royalty on books that are only 99 cents? What about allowing us to make our books free whenever we want—ten days a month instead of five?

Just like a lover woos his mistress, you’ve got to convince me to give up KDP Select in its current form and prove that you can offer me something better.

The royalty payments I have received from Smashwords pale in comparison to what I have earned with Amazon, even with Smashwords’ premium distribution. In fact, the $65 in my Smashwords account isn’t enough to deposit into my bank account based on their minimum requirement for direct deposit.

Until another company convinces me otherwise, I will stick with Kindle Direct Publishing, despite its exclusivity. Amazon needs more competition from other companies to entice them to adjust their paradigm. As long as KDP continues to put more money in authors’ pockets, including Smashwords, Amazon won't have any inclination to “rock the boat” and change it.

In a couple of months, I will be releasing my new YA novel, Seventh Dimension – The Door, and I plan on enrolling it into the KDP Select Program. One thing I want to stress, however, is you still need to promote your book. Laziness in promotion won’t sell books. KDP Select will require effort in terms of letting websites and others know when your Kindle book is free. Then you have the opportunity to make some money after the free promotion is over. It’s the uptake in sales following the free promotions that rings up that royalty check. Amazon also pays every month through direct deposit into authors’ bank accounts if it’s set up that way. My question is, why would anyone not want to do it?

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