Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Success with Amazon KDP Select

Hello Everyone,

Like a many other authors currently selling books through Kindle Direct Publishing(KDP), I was skeptical at first about enrolling in the new KDP Select program from Amazon.com. As an emerging author, I wondered if pulling my books from other online distributors was worth it. Well, it was! The number of books that I am now selling on Amazon has increased dramatically. If I could sum it up, my book sales have increased four times in one week compared to what they were in one month!

When you enroll your book titles in KDP Select, you are able to participate in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library monthly fund and become eligible to receive part of the $500,000 divided up each month. The best part is that you are allowed to use the the newly launched Promotions Manager tool, which will allow you to directly control the promotion of free books. I found that giving away free books increased actual sales. It sounds crazy right? But it's not. Below I have listed some of my results with giving away free books:

1/9/2012 - Gave away 299 free copies of Ready for the Rapture. Sold 2 copies in December and 28 copies during the first week of January.
1/10/2012 - Gave away 315 free copies of The Ten Greatest Prayers of the Bible. Sold 0 copies in December and 30 copies during the first week of January.

These numbers do not include the additonal 21 borrows that have taken place. What am I trying to say? If you are an author, then take advantage of KDP Select.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Get my book for free...NOW!

Hello Everyone. Change of plans. Because I'm so thankful that everyone has made The Ten Greatest Prayers of the Bible the number one prayer book on Amazon,(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057YJIHU) I'm giving away FREE copies of Seven Years Until Eternity: The Rise of the Antichrist! I'm giving it away tonight instead of tommorow and by the way, it's FREE! go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0045OULO2/ to get your FREE digital copy.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

My Story

I would like to give my personal testimonial about the power of prayer and how I began my writing career.

In September 2006, the Lord delivered me from a sickness through his grace and the prayers of many. I had been suffering from Ulcerative Colitis and bleeding for several months. After spending several weeks in the hospital, doctors cleared me to go home for rest and recuperation. I was not showing much improvement at home and continued to bleed every time I went to the bathroom. Early one morning, I awoke and went into the bathroom where I continued to bleed severely as I had done for days. I tried to walk back into the bedroom, but passed out and fell on the bathroom floor. I do not know how long I was unconscious but my wife found me lying on the bathroom floor and she began trying to wake me. On waking, I gasped for air but could not breathe. Later we found out that this was due to having suffered severe blood loss and dehydration. My mother and aunt came upstairs after hearing my wife screaming and crying and called 911, and helped my wife carry me back into the bedroom, where it only got worse.

It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I felt my life slowly slipping away. After a few minutes, the struggle just became too great and I could barely keep my eyes open. At that moment, I knew that I was going to die. A strange peace came over me as I lay on the floor. I felt that I was living in my final moments. I looked up at my wife and whispered, “I love you.” I then closed my eyes and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes, I saw nothing but extreme darkness. It appeared I was in a large open space, like a valley, with a black sky with no stars. The ground beneath was blackish gray with cracks in it like a dry desert. Everything appeared dark and desolate. I experienced intense feelings of fear and loneliness. It felt like several minutes passed as I looked around, wondering what was happening. As a pastor and a Christian, I expected to see something quite different in the afterlife. What I experienced made no sense to me at all.

Darkness and void cannot be all there is in the afterlife; there must be more I thought. I have served God for a long time…felt his love and Holy Spirit so many times. I know that he is real. Despite what I am seeing, I know there is a God and there must be a heaven I continued thinking. I began praying Psalm 23 and about halfway through, a bright flash appeared in the sky above me. When I looked up, I could see a large city with a bright gold aura, surrounded by angels in white robes. It was the city of New Jerusalem mentioned in Revelation 21 and 22. Instantly, the loneliness vanished away. I felt joy and relief from knowing that heaven was real and I would be going there.

A presence above me caught my attention. When I turned my head and looked, I saw more angels, who were closer and smiling. They stood around a figure wearing a white robe with a golden belt. His face gleamed with a white brightness so intense that I could not make out the features. I soon realized that this was Jesus Christ! I tried to look into his face to make out his features, but the more that I stared, the brighter the light around his face became, forcing me to look away. Suddenly, I felt great shame and sorrow. I later realized what Daniel 10:8 meant when he said, “my comeliness in me is turned into corruption.” I could feel the sin of my lowly human nature in comparison to God’s awesome righteousness. I knew that however righteous I may have thought that I was, it was nothing when compared to God’s true holiness. I felt so ashamed and embarrassed that I didn’t want to look up at Jesus. I stared at the ground and thought, I wish that I could go to that city. Immediately a thunderous voice resounded throughout my entire body and spirit saying to me; “You can come here if you want.”

Excited, I looked up, thinking about how much I wanted to go to the beautiful city above. A force immediately propelled me at an incredible speed up towards the city just as quickly as I imagined going there. As I got closer, I could see there were many angels surrounding the city and they were all smiling, with white robes and gold trumpets pressed to their lips. The entire city was gold, yet it had a white translucent glow that made it shine so brightly. There were large walls with three gates on each made of white pearl.

It was interesting to me that I saw large buildings, which resembled skyscrapers of different sizes behind the walls, which had what seemed like windows. As I moved closer and closer at a great speed, I felt there was something behind me. As I turned to look, a large screen suddenly appeared and I felt myself stop. Different groups of people began to appear before me on the screen. Some I recognized as pastors and their wives, while others I did not know. At that point, a heavy burden for them and sadness swept over me. I quickly realized that it was God’s burden for the ministry and humanity. I could not help but feel that the Lord showed me these people for a reason. At that moment, I understood a decision was necessary. I thought, Lord, they have no one to help them. Like a switch, everything went black and I was inside my body once again.

I had experienced sickness and pain for several weeks. As I returned to my body, I realized that I was no longer sick or experiencing pain while outside of it. I opened my eyes and saw my wife, mother, and aunt above me crying. I also noticed that I was having trouble breathing again. It felt strange because I did not feel the need to breathe before my soul returned. The pain and sickness suddenly resumed after a few moments. The paramedics arrived a little while later, put an oxygen mask on my face, and took me to the hospital emergency room. The medical staff gave me a blood transfusion and IV liquids through two PIC lines inserted directly into veins in my neck. The doctors told us that even in severe cases, only one PIC line is inserted into the vein blood for blood transfusions. However, because my condition was critical and I was in danger of imminently dying, the medical staff had no choice but to insert two lines. I had lost much blood and my body was severely dehydrated. Later, after I had recovered, my wife told me that I was lifeless and not breathing when I was in her arms for at least five minutes back at the house. She later told me she prayed, continuously rebuked the spirit of death, and asked God to put life back in my body when I suddenly returned to life.

This life changing experience led me to study more about the resurrection in detail and share what happened to me and what I learned with others. I began an intense study Bible scriptures associated with resurrection, which has resulted in me beginning to write six books. (with a seventh soon to be published) I encourage you to visit this blog often for more great testimonials and books.

Take Care and God Bless