New Year surprises
Welcome to the new year! We anticipate that 2017 has many surprises in store for you. For Debbie and me, an exciting opportunity has already sprouted. The world’s largest promoter and perhaps its most fastidious screener of e-books, Bookbub, has recently chosen Wheels of Wisdom for one of its “Featured Deals.”
On Tuesday, January 17, 2017, Bookbub will send an email to 1.2 million of its subscribers who enjoy Christian nonfiction e-books. While most of them are from the United States, roughly 200,000 live in the United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia.
Why Bookbub?
Why is it so exciting to pay a promoter to send only one email recommending our book? Bookbub looks for top-quality e-books with upcoming discount promotions. It accepts only 10-15% of all submissions, many of which originate from giant publishers. Its subscribers know that it will show them great reads at bargain prices. Therefore, its selection of Wheels of Wisdom is a strong endorsement of our book’s quality as well as its potential.
Receiving Bookbub’s vote of confidence is not the only reason why we chose to pay up for its services. This e-book advertising behemoth has helped unveil obscure yet promising authors. While each book must ultimately stand on its own, Bookbub’s track record of propelling sales suggests that we will sell more e-books in one day than we have sold since we began publishing in 2012.
Based on the company’s sales estimates, we can reasonably hope for sales this week of at least 1,000 e-books. Such a boost in sales would increase the book’s rankings in search engines and help more shoppers find us. Eventually, the spike in sales could also generate reader reviews that will help the book succeed. Our other books stand to benefit from the increased exposure as well.
Wheels of Wisdom promotion period
Beginning Monday, January 16, 2017, the Wheels of Wisdom Kindle e-book went on sale at Amazon for only 99 cents. You can pick up a copy for your Kindle on the Wheels of Wisdom sales page. Due to our marketing arrangement with Amazon, we do not yet offer a version for non-Kindle e-readers. However, apps are available for most devices (including Android phones) to enable you to read the Kindle version even if you do not own a Kindle reader.
The Wheels of Wisdom e-book contains more photographs than the print edition. Furthermore, if your reading device allows for it, you will enjoy these photos in full color. The e-book also offers a fully linked topical index as well as a handful of active links to the web.
Please tell your friends about this opportunity by sharing this post or the Amazon Wheels of Wisdom sales page with them. The price of Wheels of Wisdom will return to $7.99 after the promotion ends on Saturday at midnight.
For more information about Bookbub’s promotion of this limited-time offer, check out this news release.
Youth in crisis benefit from book launch
Debbie and I officially launched Wheels of Wisdom in October with a donation program to benefit TheHopeLine. For any of you who are not aware of our connection to this organization, we volunteer as Hope Coaches for it, and we advocated for it on our tour in 2014. Our latest book trumpets the cause in selected passages. During our October launch, we pledged the proceeds of all paperback book sales on our website to benefit TheHopeline.
In November, we presented Tim Altman (pictured on the far right) and Dawson McAllister with a check for $650, the entire proceeds from the 41 books that we sold. Tim Altman heads up the Dawson McAllister Association, which runs TheHopeLine. Dawson is a long-time youth communicator extraordinaire whose wise and practical advice for young people has become the backbone for TheHopeLine’s impressive work spanning the globe. As an example of the organization’s significant impact, in 2016 it intervened in the lives of 9,516 young people who were struggling with suicidal thoughts. In addition, it handled over 82,000 one-on-one interactions with youth seeking solutions to their problems.
To all of you who participated in our launch donation program, thank you so much! Rest assured that the money you spent on our book will help make a difference for young people who are facing a wide array of life issues.