2011 ended on a high note for me. On December 30th, I discovered that my new release, WHERE SHE BELONGS, was finally shipping from Canadian Amazon, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. However, Canadian Amazon had an extra surprise in store. My book, which features the healing of a mother-daughter relationship as well as a romance between Jess, the heroine, and Adam, the hero, reached #6 on the Canadian Amazon Women’s Fiction Hot New Sellers list (it might have gone higher, I don’t know, but that’s where it was sitting when I learned the news, so that’s all I have to go on). This might not mean much to someone who isn’t Canadian, but I’m Canadian so it means a lot to me. Thank you to the readers who ordered the book and helped make my first day on Canadian Amazon memorable. Because not only did WHERE SHE BELONGS reach #6 on the Women’s Fiction list overall, alongside major American authors like Nora Roberts and Kristin Hannah, but my book reached #2 on Hot New Sellers, Women’s Fiction – Mothers and Children sub-category and #10 on Bestsellers for Women’s Fiction – Mothers and Children.
I’m pretty happy about all of that.
As a writer, I know that bestseller lists are subject to all sorts of nuances. Ten people buying your book in one hour can jump it up a bestseller list. And I’m the first to admit that the Canadian book-buying market isn’t in the same league as American book-buying markets, so appearing on a Canadian Amazon bestseller list isn’t in the same league as appearing on an Amazon bestseller list. But as a writer buddy said, stop making excuses for your work appearing on a bestseller list (how typically Canadian!) and take a screenshot. I did. I took three screenshots, one for each list.
However it happened, whatever computer algorithm was at work that made it happen on opening day, the year ended on a high note for me.
Technically, the “on sale” date for WHERE SHE BELONGS is January 6th, so I’d be curious to learn, when that time comes (or beforehand if you find out), if anyone finds the book in their library or at a bookstore. If you do, drop me a note. I’d love to learn how it’s making the rounds. Five Star/Cengage sells primarily to the library market, so especially if you spot the book in a store, I’d love to know. This goes for Americans and Canadians, although probably primarily American libraries and bookstores, if I’m being realistic.
Now that the book is readily available on-line, you can look forward to excerpts appearing on my blog this week that I’d had planned for the week of December 16th. In the meantime, an excerpt from the beginning of the book can be found on the Books page and an excerpt featuring a scene leading up to Jess and Adam’s first kiss can be found a few blog posts down, in the post titled Happy Book Release To Me!
Enjoy!