Don Juan in Hankey, PA
by Gale Martin
Recent graduate Gale Martin has been enjoying incredible success for not one, but two recent book releases. Her debut with Don Juan in Hankey, PA (Booktrope 2011) keeps luring in readers, but it’s her latest book Grace Unexpected that has drawn even more attention, recently rising to #1 on Amazon’s list of Movers and Shakers.
“Movers & Shakers allows readers to keep track of what books are popular on Amazon,” Martin explains. “It measures books that obtain the biggest gains in Amazon sales ranks over the past 24 hours.”
Grace Unexpected
by Gale Martin
As part of a marketing strategy, Grace Unexpected was offered for free Kindle download for a limited three day period. Martin’s publisher aimed for the freebie to attract readers and everything fell into place as planned. “It received loads more visibility,” Martin says. In fact, during those three days not only was Grace Unexpected downloaded more than 38,000 times, the book sold more than 400 copies in the following 36 hours when the book returned to its retail price. In turn, buyers have been adding Don Juan in Hankey, PA to their online shopping cart as well.
Martin credits the Wilkes writing program for steering her in the right direction. The author states that Wilkes helps “prepare authors to present their writing,” both through public reading experience and preparing for the publication market. This hands-on ‘training’ has helped Martin across the board. She says, “I would say my Wilkes preparation was invaluable to my feeling confident and projecting a professional writer’s image.”
Riding high on her past two releases, Martin is already at work on her next book.
Tags: Gale Martin
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