I am thankful . . .

This has been such an incredible journey and it's not over yet!  I have no idea how long this journey will be, but I am enjoying every step of the way.  With Thanksgiving this week, I am thinking about the things that I am thankful for and I thought I'd share some of the things I'm thankful for that are part of being a writer.

I am very much thankful for each and every one of you who have purchased and read my books.  I am thankful for the encouraging comments that some of you have been so sweet to share with me.  I am thankful for the good reviews I've been blessed with on Amazon.  I'm thankful for those who take the time to read my blog.  I'm thankful for the support of my husband, family and friends.  I am thankful for my editors.  I am thankful that writing still allows me to be home with my children.  I'm thankful for self-publishing which allows people like me to write a story and actually see it published.  I am thankful for my beautiful covers that killercovers.com have created for me.  I am thankful for the new sale options that Kindle has given so I can play around with things a  little bit.  I am thankful that each sale feels like a gift from God to keep me humble.

I could probably list many more, but it's amazing to see how blessed I have been just in this one aspect of my life.  I am blessed beyond measure and I thank God every day for His abundant blessings.

Now, I'll give you a quick update.  I haven't progressed at all on conforming my first two books to Nook.  It's partly because of the busyness of the holiday season that is keeping from doing it, but honestly, I keep dragging my feet because I expect it to be tedious.  Sorry for all the Nook users out there. On the up side though, I did start writing my third book and I'm already surprised at how it's turning out!  I already have characters who I only expected to play a very small part taking a much bigger part in the story than I had anticipated.  I'm so excited to see where this goes.

As always, I'd love to hear from you if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for me!  Also, if you haven't picked up a copy of "Best Laid Plans" or "Smell the Roses" they can be found by clicking the link below.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Best Laid Plans by Courtney Lyman
Smell the Roses by Courtney Lyman

A New Development

Kindle began a new program this week and I'm very excited about it!  They are allowing authors to put their books on sale.  It will show the original price and have a countdown to when it will jump up.  In addition to that, they will have a page dedicated to books that are on sale so that people can go there and find books at a discount.

My part of it is that I have to be enrolled in KDP Select, and I have to select the higher 70% royalty option.  KDP Select allows my book to be borrowed for free by anyone with a Prime membership, and I get a portion of a fund based on how many authors are enrolled, how many books are borrowed, etc.  I had to increase my price to $2.99 in order to bring my royalty up to the needed level, which I expect to decrease my sales for a little while.  However, I'm hoping that, in the long run, this will help my sales out.  Another advantage to it is that even at the sale price I will still be earning 70%.

I had said that I was anxious to experiment with my pricing and this has given me more things to play with.  I'm really hoping that this can help get the word out about my books as well.  My books are available at the links below.

Best Laid Plans by Courtney Lyman
Smell the Roses by Courtney Lyman