Free eBook Today Through Friday!

If Amazon is on the ball, the free promotion for The Complete Bubby Anthology should be going live right about... NOW.

As I have done more research on the KDP Select Program in which I'm enrolled, I've learned a disturbing new truth - free "sales" no longer count equal to paid sales in Amazon's best-seller rankings. This has been the case for nearly two months now, as Edward W. Robertson pointed out. His estimation is that all of the free downloads will count for about 1/10 of a paid sale.

So, Bubby Nation, take heart! Spread the word and let's get The Complete Bubby Anthology selling like hotcakes today, tomorrow and Friday (delicious, hilarious hotcakes)! Instead of 100,000 copies, we'll just "sell" 1,000,000. That's totally do-able... right?

I'll plan to keep updating this post throughout the remainder of this promotion to let you know how we're doing.

Update - Wednesday 6:00 a.m.:

So far we have 4 downloads. Though, to be fair, it is early and none of the sites dedicated to promoting eBooks has gotten around to posting their listings for today. Hopefully things will leap forward to 1,000,000 by noon (or at least by Friday).

I suppose it may be a blessing in disguise, as The Complete Bubby Anthology is still listed as non-fiction (I should really get around to reminding Amazon's KDP Support to update that).

Update - Wednesday 7:00 a.m.:

No real changes to report. I've also been looking over the free stuff sites and it seems to be a bit early for them to have posted anything yet. On the plus side, I learned that today (7/11), you can get a free 7.11oz Slurpee at 7-11. Also, you can get a FREE National Feral Cat Day® Magnet. Enjoy!

Update - Wednesday 10:00 a.m.:

We are now ranked #6,683 Free in the Kindle Store after having 20 downloads. Still no posts on the major eBook promotion sites. On the plus side, it is ahead of where Bubby I - Wanted: A Hero like None Other was at, and that promotion started on a Friday. Since more sale occur on Fridays than Wednesdays, The Complete Bubby Anthology is in pretty good shape. Once word spreads, we'll probably explode (not literally though - that would probably hurt!)

Update - Wednesday 11:00 a.m.:

Finally got a listing on one of the major sites: Free eBooks Daily. Thank you, Sharrel.

Update - Wednesday 12:00 p.m.:

The Complete Bubby Anthology is also now listed on Indie Books List.

Thanks to this initial publicity, we have had 34 downloads and are ranked at #4,433 Free in the Kindle Store.

Update - Wednesday 2:00 p.m.:

In 12 hours we have stormed past the number of downloads that Bubby I - Wanted: A Hero like None Other took 48 hours to get! The Complete Bubby Anthology is ranked #2,866 Free in the Kindle Store and has been downloaded 52 times.

Also, I finally heard back from KDP about my category change request. It has been completed, so hopefully within a few hours the updates will appear in the system and we should show up on some Top 100 lists.

Update - Wednesday 5:00 p.m.:

We're doing well thus far today. As the work day comes to a close, we're sitting at #1,928 Free in the Kindle Store after receiving 72 downloads. Hopefully everyone getting off work will take the time to download a copy to read when they get home.

Update - Wednesday 7:00 p.m.:

I received an e-mail from a friend today noting that Mr. Sulu has no love for Twilight. Essentially, George Takei argues that "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" fans should band together, because both series deal with heroism, camaraderie and epic battles. In comparison, he notes that "In 'Twilight,' the only message that rings through loud and clear is: 'Does my boyfriend like me?'" In other words, do we really want epic tales being over-run by such sissy tales?

So join me in supporting heroism and epic battles by purchasing your copy of The Complete Bubby Anthology for FREE right now.

Currently, we are up to #1,733 Free in the Kindle Store with 81 total downloads. It is a far cry from the goal of 1,000,000 downloads we were shooting for, but I suppose there is always tomorrow (though if we could reach that number tonight, that would be fantastic).

Update - Wednesday 8:00 p.m.:

The promotion continues. With a quick Google search, I found that The Complete Bubby Anthology has been promoted on Slick Deals, CheapCheapCheap.com, and eBooks Free Free Free. Thank you to everyone getting the word out.

Update - Wednesday 10:00 p.m.:

Good news! The Complete Bubby Anthology has reached exactly 100 downloads! It is also ranked #1,587 Free in the Kindle Store.

Now, even though Amazon has finally recognized the book's true categories when you search for the book, Amazon's Top 100 has yet to kick in for either category. To refresh your memory, the book was recently moved to the following categories:

Humor > Comedy
Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror > Superheroes

How do I know that the book should be in the Top 100 in each category? Because there are only two other books listed as free in both categories. So that question is, where does The Complete Bubby Anthology fit?

Comedy:
1. The Shrew Untamed by James Carter, Bonnie Van De Ven (Ranked #752 Free)
2. Total Moisture (The Toby Series) by Robert MacLean (Ranked #810 Free)
Thus, The Complete Bubby Anthology would come it at #3.
Also, in the "Humor" category, it should be #41.

Superheroes:
1. Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach comic 1 by Jeff Thomason (Ranked #2,544 Free)
2. Invisible Justice (Justice Series) by Kim Jewell (Ranked #4,136 Free)
In other words, The Complete Bubby Anthology is the #1 Bestselling Superhero book on Amazon!
Also, in the "Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror" category, it should be #55.

But, back to the big news: We're #1!

Now I just need the Amazon computers to figure that out so I can take a picture of this fact. (If anyone knows how to get Amazon to recognize this fact - other than suggestions to be patient - please let me know!)

Update - Thursday 7:00 a.m.:

Good morning everyone! Thanks to night owls, we are now sitting at 131 downloads and a ranking of #1,334 Free in the Kindle Store.

Hopefully we can crack the #1,000 ranking barrier today (although the top 10 barrier would be cool too).

Update - Thursday 12:00 p.m.:

Sad news to report. From 6:00 a.m. to noon yesterday, we had 30 downloads. Today, during that same time, we have only had 10. That's right, the total download count currently stands at 141. As a result, the ranking has dropped 50 spots to #1,384 Free in the Kindle Store.

I feel like an NPR station manager when I say this, but The Complete Bubby Anthology really needs your support if it is going to maintain the pace needed to get in to the top 1000 Free books in the Kindle Store. Please help!

Update - Thursday 3:00 p.m.:

Time for your friendly NPR update: There have been 9 copies sold in the last three hours, for a grand total of 150. That places us at #1,618 Free in the Kindle Store. In other words, we are headed in the wrong direction.

We cannot move forward while averaging only 3 downloads every hour. Using the benchmark of 131 downloads in the first day, we will need to average 7 downloads every hour through 7:00 a.m. tomorrow to match yesterday's pace. So step it up Bubby Nation! I know you can do it!

If you need extra inspiration, how does this look?

That's right! The Complete Bubby Anthology is officially the #1 Superhero book and the #3 Comedy book on Amazon! Spread the joyous news by telling all of your friends, acquaintances, and random strangers!

For those of you who wonder such things, The Complete Bubby Anthology also comes in #53 in Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror and #40 in Humor.

Update - Thursday 5:00 p.m.:

9 more copies sold in the last two hours bring our total to 159, with a ranking of #1,719 Free in the Kindle Store. While we've picked up the average, we are not quite on the pace we need to be to reach our total yesterday. Hopefully the new crown of being the #1 Superhero book and the #3 Comedy book will bring more customers around to Bubby Nation.

Update - Thursday 7:00 p.m.:

170 total downloads, with a ranking of #1,751 Free in the Kindle Store.

I should also thank Danielle Kazemi for promoting the book on Twitter yesterday.

She refers to the book as "Worth a read." Frankly, that is probably the best review of the book ever written. I don't know who she is, but you should all start following her to show your appreciation.

Update - Thursday 9:00 p.m.:

180 total downloads, with a ranking of #1,737 Free in the Kindle Store.

On an interesting side note, Bubby I - Wanted: A Hero like None Other is ranked #85 Paid in Superheroes. Buy yourself a copy for just 99 cents (or download The Complete Bubby Anthology right now for free and get Bubby I plus the four episodes that follow.

Update - Friday 7:00 a.m.:

200 total downloads, with a ranking of #1,505 Free in the Kindle Store (so at least we're headed back in the right direction today).

Update - Friday 10:00 a.m.:

202 total downloads, with a ranking of #1,459 Free in the Kindle Store.

I'm not really sure how having only two downloads over the course of three hours helped the book move up the rankings, but I guess I'll take it.

Update - Friday 1:00 p.m.:

208 total downloads, with a ranking of #1,741 Free in the Kindle Store.

The slowdown in downloads seems to finally be taking a toll.

Update - Friday 4:00 p.m.:

215 total downloads, with a ranking of #1,884 Free in the Kindle Store.

It appears that the dream of cracking the top 1,000 in the Kindle Store will not come to fruition - barring a miracle, like Ereader News Today accepting the book for their evening listing now that there are two 5-star reviews for the book. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Update - Friday 7:00 p.m.:

218 total downloads, with a ranking that seems to have mysteriously disappeared...

I do not know why, but the book seems to have reverted to the paid rankings, even though it is still free. I have written to Amazon Support, but I am not anticipating a prompt response, as it is the weekend, meaning sales will likely be hurt for the remainder of the 7 hours of the promotion.

Update - Friday 10:00 p.m.:

221 total downloads, with a ranking of #2,016 Free in the Kindle Store.

The Amazon support people are going to respond to my e-mail and call me crazy... oh well, I suppose they wouldn't be the first.

Update - Saturday 6:00 a.m.:

Well, we ended up with a total of 227 total downloads. How that will bode for sales of The Complete Bubby Anthology will remain to be seen. Hopefully those who got the book will spread the word of its excellence.

However, if there is anything to be learned from all this, a book's success appears to depend almost entirely on luck. I say that now, and I'll continue to say that if any of my future books actually ever become a #1 Best Seller.

In the mean time, we are back into the paid side of Amazon's rankings, with a ranking of #834,416 Paid in Kindle Store.

Thanks for all your support these past few days. I'll try to post again within a week to discuss the aftermath.