Last weekend’s free KDP days for both Cats in the Mirror books was a HUGE success. Over the five days amazon allows for this cycle, there were 14,002 copies of “Why Kimba Saved The World” downloaded and 1,642 copies of “Vacation Hiro” downloaded. Just amazing! The big difference in numbers between the two books is based on the Bookbub promotion ad that ran only for “Kimba.” I didn’t really care for the blurb that the ran with the ad (something about Kimba wanting to live free in the wilderness??), but I still give the ad credit for a huge chunk of those downloads. I also tweeted about the freebie days until my fingers were about to pop off–and apologized to Kimba and my followers several times along the way. Both of our sets of twitter friends were very generous in their sharing and re-tweeting, and we really appreciate it! In the afterglow of the freebie days, “Kimba” is sitting in the top 50 cat books for kids on amazon.com. Those Warrior books take up nearly all of the positions above her (there are so many of them!!), but it’s good company to keep.
Only time will tell what the long term results are from offering the books for free. Will some of those 14,000 people go and buy a copy of “Vacation Hiro” now? Will any of them ever actually read the books or post nice reviews? I’m already seeing one of the downsides to freebies. Someone posted a one-star review at Goodreads for “Hiro.” She didn’t leave any comments, didn’t review “Kimba,” and has never posted a rating for any other book (yes, you can see lots about readers on their profile pages). Very odd. Comes with the territory. We will see if she responds to my message politely wondering why she disliked it so. A huge part of me wonders if she even read it. That’s life for any author, and you just have to roll with it.
On the brighter side, both books were just featured at Because Reading is Better Than Life’s web site, along with an author spotlight for me. Sandra Bornstein also did a nice review of both books at her web site. I’m not seeking out a lot of reviews right now, but it’s nice when a blogger and I run into each other in cyber-world and he/she is willing to tell readers about my series.
In that same spirit, I want to share a book series that I just ran across and have fallen in love with: Binky the Space Cat. Ashley Spires does a delightful job of both the art and story in the graphic novels, and I was genuinely laughing out loud several times with each book. It cracks me up that Binky “poots” all the time. Kimba would rather fall off the back of the sofa than be caught tooting, vain girl that she is. The idea of cats in space drew me to check out Ashley’s books, but they are totally different from my take on alien cats. Binky books are great for middle grade kids, but I loved them as well. Highly recommend. You can find out more about Ashley and Binky at her website.
Adorable book series Meg recommends.
Weather permitting, I will be at the Holiday Island Jeep Festival this Saturday (26th) with books and toys to sell. We now have official stuffed Kimba and Hiro mascots and will be looking for photo ops to share with you later. I imagine a jeep or two will be involved. Have a great weekend!