Miracles Have Not Ceased Launch Update

Miracles Have Not Ceased: Neither have angels ceased to minister unto men was published on June 1 and has had an incredible first month!

In the first month, we have sent almost 300 emails and 200 postcards to Leona's friends and family. Before she passed, Leona had compiled digital lists of the contact information of the friends and family members she wanted to send a publication announcement to when the book launched. Unfortunately, all of those files are locked in a computer we don't have access to... However, Leona always had a backup plan. She had also left behind file folders and notebooks filled with lists of names of people to contact. This means, I got to comb through hundreds and hundreds of mostly handwritten notes and extract the addresses and email addresses I could decipher. I hand wrote the addresses on each postcard and typed each individual email address. It was NOT an easy job, but we did it!

In the first month, we hit the #1 bestseller ranking on Amazon's "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" bestseller list!! This is a really big deal. There are two different versions of this bestseller list for each category, "New Releases" and "Bestseller." Each time we launch a new book, there is typically a lot of excitement from the author's friends and family during the first week or two. There is a big jump in sales during that time and they'll often hit the #1 New Release position for their given category for a time. This list is refreshed each hour, and the ranking changes depending on the number of sales during that time in comparison with other books on the list. Miracles Have Not Ceased reached not only #1 New Release in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints category, but ALSO the #1 overall Bestseller in that category!!

In the first month, thanks to Leona's planning, we were able to invest in several advertising opportunities - including through Deseret Digital Media, LDS Daily, and Amazon Ads. These efforts have helped people outside of Leona's and our immediate circle of contacts to find this book. Through these efforts, we have proven that there is truly an interest, a need and an active market for this book.

Best of all, in the first month, we have received feedback from multiple people that this book is increasing their understanding of miracles. We also heard one negative review, but such is life. We get bits of both good and bad and get to choose which to focus on. We're choosing the good.

This has been a highly successful first month. We look forward to seeing what next month brings!