Eat your heart out, Mark Twain!

Thank you for writing good reviews of my book!

When you publish with Kindle, they let you do these "promotional free days," meaning that you make your book free for five days. I chose to make Exhaust(ed) free for five consecutive days last week, thinking there might be a snowball effect after the first day or two.

I was out in California visiting family last week, and BAH noticed that my book was rated number 3 in US Travel "Regions" (free books). Wow! Number one was by Mark Twain.

I told my dad to put it on the big computer and take a picture of it and email it to me, because this would surely go away soon and never happen again. So, he did.



We had this conversation:

Dad: "Number 3 is the best. You don't want to be number two, because then you're always wondering, 'how could I be number one?' and you're never going to beat Mark Twain, so Number 3 is the best."

Me: "Yay! I'm number 3! Number 3 is me! I'm number 3!!!"

Dad: "You actually have better reviews than Mark Twain. Look! He has four stars and you have five."

Me: "Well, he does use some archaic language..."

Dad: "You're never going to beat Mark Twain."

Me: "You're right. I'm never going to beat Mark Twain."

I went out for a while, bragging shamelessly to everyone I met that my book was number 3 in US Travel on Amazon, and when I came back, I checked again, and:



To say that I was surprised at this development is a complete understatement. I was shocked. Flabbergasted. Astonished. Astounded! (You see what I did there? I used a thesaurus.) It was honestly just completely unexpected.

And then, and then, it just stayed there at number one for four more days! Unbelievable! Also, I didn't get a picture, but it was number 1 in the category of free quick reads, too.

So, that's why I have that little "number one bestseller" thing above the book, on the side bar there. My understanding is, if it is ever a bestseller, you can just say that. Am I right? I mean, it's no longer number one today, but it was. So now it is forever a #1 bestseller- right?

Astute mathematicians will note that, if you sell a million copies for free, you still make $0. So, yeah, financially, not as exciting. But my purpose was to become better known, and that seems to have happened.

That whole five days I was wondering Who the heck is downloading this book?

I have this vision of a thrifty Englishman who has decided on taking a trip to the States, so he downloads the number one free book in US Travel, and a few hours later, he's saying,

"Honey? I know we said we were doing the States this year, but how about a little change of plans? I hear Australia is quite pleasant."

I guess I should just rip up this job application I have for the US Travel Bureau.