Yesterday morning my new book, Crazy Days in Big Lake, went live on the Amazon Kindle bookstore, and on Smashwords for folks who use Nooks and other e-book readers. Actually, I got an e-mail from Amazon saying it was live about 10 PM the evening before. But the link wouldn’t work and it didn’t actually become available for sale until sometime in the wee hours of the morning. By the time I got up yesterday, it had already sold two copies.
I made an announcement on my Facebook author’s page and on Twitter, and by the end of the day it had sold 73 copies between the Kindle bookstore and Smashwords, and already had two five star reviews.
Here is what my friend and longtime Gypsy Journal reader JerrieLea Hopf said about the new book: “Laughing so hard I can’t breathe! Your book is wonderful. I’m only to the fight in the breakfast diner but had to let you know I love it. You are a funny, funny man. It is not often I laugh out loud (all by myself) when reading a book.” Thanks, everybody, for helping it get off to such a great start!
Mine wasn’t the only new book out yesterday. Our friends John and Kathy Huggins, who produced the Living The RV Dream podcasts, brought out a new e-book yesterday on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords titled So You Want To Be An RVer? The book has a lot of valuable info for new RVers, on things like towing a car, getting internet and TV on the road, budgeting, mail forwarding, what to pack and what to leave at home, finding campgrounds, boondocking, and a lot more. It’s great primer on the RV lifestyle.
It rained quite a bit yesterday morning, but eased up sometime in the early afternoon. Terry and I drove to South Bend to pick up the addressed envelopes from our commercial mail service, then stopped at Office Max in Mishawaka for mailing labels and some other supplies we needed, and for a new pad to go on the floor under my office chair. The old one was worn out and cracked in several places. We had been looking around for one the same size but had found them hard to come by.
We got back to Elkhart Campground just in time to make a quick potty stop and drop off the things we had purchased, then we drove to Da Vinci’s Italian restaurant for dinner with Charles and Chris Yust, and Ron and Brenda Speidel. We have driven by this place many times over the years but never stopped to check it out before. Several blog readers had suggested it, and I’m glad we finally gave it a try. The pizzas were excellent, and none of us could finish everything. The only downside was that while the waitress brought our drinks very quickly when we arrived, it seemed to take forever to get our food. And when Charles and Chris, and Terry and I finally got ours, Ron and Brenda still had to wait even longer. They were busy, but by no means swamped. So they get an A+ for food, and a D for timely service.
Later in the evening we walked over to see Charles and Chris’s beautiful new Thor Tuscany motorhome. What a beautiful rig! It even has two bathrooms and a fireplace! Talk about a palace on wheels. We are thrilled for our friends. Charles and Chris are wonderful people who work very hard providing RV insurance and extended warranty plans to RVers at rallies all over the country, and they deserve it.
Thought For The Day – Life is a never-ending series of survivals.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick, Just read Cool Judy’s comments from yesterday. We have not had the pleasure of getting to a Gypsy Journal Rally but know folks who have. Also we have followed your blog on and off for years. Judy’s comments are not new, I have read similar comments in past years. Just because you two put out the Gypsy Journal on your own doesn’t mean you two have to do 100% of the work on the Rally by yourselves. Your repeat comments over the last several weeks deal with cost & time (physical effort) as risks to future Rallys. Excuse the bluntness, but don’t be stupid. It is not a weakness to accept help from friends that are more than willing to help. It seems that future Rallys are dependent on “Nick” accepting that he (& Miss Terry) are human an have human limitations. My late brother once told me that “if the only one you are talking to is yourself, you are getting advise from and idiot.” This won’t help with the money side of the problem equation but it should elminate the physical side of the problem. Nick, I dare you to put some of Judy’s idea’s from yesterday and mine from above into a blog and really see how many friends you two have out there. Trsut me your friends would rather see “Nick” change than to say goodbye to the Gypsy Journal Rally.
As soon as I saw your announcement on Facebook I went right to Amazon and bought your new book and then I spent the entire day reading it. Oh Nick you have absolutely outdone yourself with this one! Big Lake was very good, Big Lake Lynching was excellent, but with this latest installment you have far surpassed your previous books in the series. As a voracious reader who goes through anywhere from two to three books on a good week I can honestly say that Crazy Days In Big Lake is the very best book I have read in years. I laughed, I cried, I couldn’t put it down! I didn’t want it to end the way it did and yet how else could it have ended? Thank you for a wonderful reading experience.
Congrats on the new book! I just finished a book last night and was looking for something to start this weekend. Good luck with sales – I can’t wait to get back to Big Lake 🙂
Congrats on your new book, Nick. I downloaded it last night and can’t wait to get started reading it.
We hope to attend one of your rallys one day and hope to see you again. It has been a long time since we visited with you and Miss Terry back in Hannibal, MO, at the Mark Twain Cave Campground.
Have a great day and keep up the good work.
You made my day! So happy that the new book is out. Mike downloaded it to my Kindle Fire, now that the chores are done I plan to just sit back and enjoy another one of your books. Congratulations on it.
I got mine! Can hardly wait to start reading. Thank you for the wonderful Big lake books.
Bought it yesterday, just finished it. Great book, Nick! You just get better and better with each one.
I bought your new book for my Kindle late last night and just now got started reading it. Have been laughing a lot while reading the first few pages and know there will be more laughter as well as more serious issues, one of which has already surfaced.
I will post a review within the next couple of days as reading the book and posting a good review are now the top of my priority list.
Sorry to hear the service at DaVinci’s wasn’t so good. They must have been having a bad day, as the service when we were there last June was excellent. Glad you nuenjoyed the food. We’ll be going back there next time we’re in Elkhart.
Love Crazy Days so far. Why do they have to end so soon?!?!
Just downloaded Crazy Days…..
$2.99 is a real steal these days.