What do you think of my new Genesis House covers?  Should I go with the new look? Should the couple go on the top or bottom?  How do you like the girls on The Amen Sisters?  What about the colors?  Are they bold enough?

The free offer has ended and I’m blessed to announce that there were over 50,000 free downloads of Awakening Mercy.  That’s a lot of books and means a lot to me for several reasons.  Following David Letterman’s model, I’ve listed the Top 10 Reasons I’m Blessed by 50,000 Free Downloads of Awakening Mercy.

10.  No trees had to die.

9. I didn’t have to store the books in my house.

8.  No postage was required.

7. 50,000 people can no longer say that I’ve never given them anything.

6. Awakening Mercy has over 90 reviews on Barnes and Noble, the most reviews any of my books have garnered.

5. Awakening Mercy and Abiding Hope now sit prominently on the Multicultural and Christian Romance Bestsellers Lists on Barnes and Noble.  Both books also go on and off the Multicultural Romance Bestseller List on Amazon regularly.

4. Sales for both books have increased.

3. People who have never read an Angela Benson book had a no-cost chance to sample one.

2. I was able to show appreciation to my longtime friends and readers by giving them a free book to read or to share with a friend or loved one.

1.  People have been blessed by reading the books.  Many people have told me via twitter, Facebook, e-mail and reviews how Awakening Mercy and Abiding Hope have blessed them and made a difference in their lives.  There’s no higher compliment I could get on my work. This is the best blessing from those free downloads and why it’s #1 on my list.

I’d like to share a few of the blessings I’ve gotten:

E-mail:  I truly just want to say thank you 10 times over for such great,wonderful and inspirational works. It was such a blessing for me to stumble across these books at a time in my life where life and its circumstances can make you question what and who God is.

E-mail: I just wanted to email you and let you know how amazing and life changing your books are. I have read two of them at this point and plan on reading everything you write. The first book I read was awakening mercy, it touched so many places close to my heart. I am a single mother who has been searching for love in all the wrong places. This book gave me hope that there [are] still guys out there that follow in gods direction.

E-mail: I think God guided me into reading your book, so that I too can let go of past hurt and pain. It is not easy forgiving the person you love who have wrongfully hurt you. My prayer is that God gives me the strength to move forward in this new year with the forgiveness in my heart for the person who have hurt, humiliated and used me.

BN Review: Its more than just a book…I am a 15 year old girl dealing with somewhat stereotypical issues in a not so stereotypical way. My boyfriend and i recently had a rough spell and in the past 3 or 4 years ive grown away from essentially all of my good friends, and in the process, my faith. But after reading this book i have been able to change my outlook on life. This book changed me for the better, i believe it could do so to anyone who read it. It simply an amazing book.

BN Review: This story seemed to come at just the right time for me in my life. There were so many things that the main character CeCe was going through that I was also so our thoughts were the same. This book opened my heart and mind more to God and gives me the faith that I need to continue to work through my problems.

BN Review: This book gives insight on the importance of being led by God’s spirit and truly forgiving people when they hurt you. Often times the enemy has us trapped in our own circumstances we are blinded in the fact the others around us are hurting as well, possibly concerning the same situation just a different point of view. This was truly a grreat read!

These readers tell me they were blessed, but I was blessed most of all.  Thanks to each and everyone who downloaded a free copy of Awakening Mercy.  May reading it encourage your heart and empower you to continue your faith journey just as your kind words have done for me.

To sell eBooks at $2.99 or to sell them for much more:  That is the question.

I recently put eBook versions of my first two inspirational titles, Awakening Mercy and Abiding Hope, on sale at Amazon.com and BN.com for $2.99 each.  I admit that my original sale price was $4.99, which I think is the right price point for the books.  I plan to move them to that price point in January, after the holidays.

So why did I change the price from $4.99 to $2.99 in less than a day?  One reason is that it’s pretty easy to change prices on both sites so it wasn’t a lot of work.  That is a minor reason though.  The major reasons were: 1) I wanted to give a gift to readers who had purchased print versions of the titles; and 2) I want people to buy the books who might not purchase them at a higher price point.

$2.99 as a gift to readers who purchased the print versions of Awakening Mercy and Abiding Mercy.

I think many readers are transitioning their print libraries to e-libraries and the lower price point makes the decision to re-purchase a lot easier.  I’m doing this myself.  For example, I recently re-purchased Robin Hardy’s Streiker Saga and her Sammy Series, a total of 14 ebooks, for less than $42.  I’m pretty sure had those books been priced at $4.99 I would not have purchased them all, not at one time.  I’m not sure I would have purchased any because I really wanted them all.  So the $2.99 price point is for readers who want to re-purchase my books the way I re-purchased Robin Hardy’s.

$2.99 to attract readers who may not purchase at a higher price point.

After getting a contract to write my first inspirational fiction titles back in 2000, I began to think differently about my books.  I wanted people to read them because I thought they would be encouraged by them, that God would use the books to meet some need in their lives.  At one point, I began to wonder why in the Christian publishing world we used what seemed to be the same rubric for pricing titles as they did in the secular publishing world. Nobody was asking the question (at least they weren’t asking me), what is the lowest price we can put on this book to make it accessible to people who might be blessed by it?  When I say nobody, I have to include myself.  I wasn’t telling the publisher to give me less of an advance so we could price the book lower.  When given the chance to price the books myself, I owed it to myself and to potential readers in need of a blessing to go lower.

So why even think about raising the price to $4.99?

Because there is another group of people that I want to reach: those people who think higher-priced means better.  Just as the lower price point will entice some readers to buy my book, it will turn others away.  Some readers think that a lower price on a book means the book is of lower quality so I’ll need to separate my books from the lower priced books to reach those readers.  $4.99 is as high as I plan to go with fiction at this point. It’s a good middle ground.

That’s my story on pricing and I’m sticking to it.  What are you thoughts?  I’d love to hear from both readers and writers.

Celebrate my upcoming eBook releases by winning free e-books or an Amazon gift certificate. The Genesis House package includes Awakening Mercy and Abiding Hope. The Telling Your Tale package includes Telling Your Tale: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Fiction for Print and eBook and the associated Telling Your Tale workbook.

The contest will continue through the end of October.

IMPORTANT: You may complete one or more tasks. To complete a task, select the “Do it” link. After completing a task, select the “I did this” button to submit your entry.

Drum roll, please.  Here are the two new covers.  Thanks, Cheri!  We went in a different direction. What do you think?

Thorndike Press has purchased the large print rights to Awakening Mercy. Look for it in libraries and bookstores in February 2006.

(Select cover to read excerpt)

Tyndale House Publishers, August 2000, $9.99   BET Books, June 2003, $6.99  Award Nominations for Awakening Mercy! 2001 Christy Award Finalist for Excellence in Christian Fiction by Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) 2001 RITA Award Finalist by Romance Writers of America 2001 Gold Pen Finalist by the Black Writers Alliance 2001 Readers Choice Finalist by Affaire de Coeur Magazine Reviewers on Awakening Mercy! “Ms. Benson paints a fine picture of the trials of a couple who must rely on their faith to make a go of a relationship in this 4-1/2 star read. She is just as compelling a writer in Christian romance as she is in contemporary.” -Affaire de Coeur “A breakthrough Christian romance featuring African American characters and universal themes by [a] talented author. . .this is for all collections.” -The Library Journal “Ms. Benson, with AWAKENING MERCY, reinforces her place as one of the most talented writers of romance fiction in whichever genre she writes.  This book, her first inspirational, confirms that she writes with emotion, only now her message is strengthened by her strong faith in God.” -Romance in Color “. . .this tender love story [is]. . .a multicultural romance to enthrall any reader.” – Romantic Times “Angela Benson is a good storyteller. . .The author has not created plaster saints, but real men and women who grapple with real-life issues.” -The Romance Reader “This novel by Benson, a first-time Christian-market author, pricks the conscience and stirs the soul while entertaining.  Recommend to romantic fiction readers and to high school students, as it illustrates that actions have consequences.-CBA Marketplace