Thursday, October 15, 2015

What makes an international bestselling historical romance?

As of this writing, Highlanders, Lords and Lovers, the new boxed set with my second medieval FOLLOW YOUR HEART, has these Amazon rankings:
In the UK, HLL is

And  I'm currently ranked #63 out of Amazon's Top 100 Historical Romance Authors, up from #68 this morning! (You have to grab screen shots, because rankings are updated every hour.)

I'm honored to have my second book be part of a set that includes books by the multi-published Cathy MacRae, currently #2 in Top 100 Historical Romance Authors, Elizabeth Rose, who's #6, and April Holthaus at #38. I'm sure their high ranks attract more readers to our set. We've all done some social media, held a fun Facebook party, and took out some ads to help get the word out.

It's not always clear why some new releases languish while others rise to the top. Readers' interest in the combination of the writing, setting, plot, the mix of authors and/or books in a boxed set, the title, cover, and/or alchemy of advertising, marketing and promotion for one book or set can't easily be duplicated in another. Some new releases catch the tide of Amazon's algorithms, which then propels them even higher. There's no way to predict how long success will last.

I hope readers are enjoying my first two books as I get ready to release #3.


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