buy an e-book ($2.99!) - help a herd of rescued painted horses

This morning I read a story that touched my heart. Our local equine rescue league plus a very dedicated animal control office have partnered and worked hard to not only rescue an emaciated herd of painted horses, but did the additional painstaking work to bring charges against the owner for cruelty to animals.

When an entire herd has to be taken in, the resources of a rescue group are pushed to the limits, particularly in this case: all but one horse was emaciated and suffering from long-term lack of nutrition. A mare is pregnant, so her in utero foal is suffering too. The stallion had to be gelded. Several young horses had never been handled. They have already had to humanely euthanize a handsome but extremely weak medicine hat paint because he went into liver failure.

As many of you who visit here know, we live with a wonderful, spirited, smart as can be painted pony named Apache Moon. He brings such joy to our lives, every single day. It broke my heart to see these painted horses in such need of what all of us would consider the very basics of horse life.

Starting today through the end of April, I will donate 100% of the royalties earned on my middle grade (but a wonderful read for adults as well) e-book.

Jane's Transformation (book one in the Magical Pony School series) is available on Amazon. You can click directly to the product page by looking over on the sidebar to your right and clicking on the cover.

If you have a Kindle you can buy it immediately. If you have a smart phone, a computer of any kind, an iPad or other tablet, you can quickly and easily download the FREE software on Amazon that will enable you to purchase and read this e-book (and any other e-book).

I have Jane priced at $2.99, which means my royalty per sale is about $2.  What happens, though, is when the book sells on Amazon, it rises in rank. As it rises in rank, especially if sales are concentrated, it goes onto various bestseller lists based on its genre and subjects. When this happens, more Amazon viewers see the book and more of them tend to buy it. By participating in this it is entirely conceivable that we could create what my writer friend Dawn calls "the perfect storm." I would LOVE to write a big fat check to the NC Triangle USERL to help with expenses for these horses.

Full disclosure: Of course you can donate directly to Triangle USERL and that is definitely a good thing to do, especially since their Paypal button will get the money to them immediately. My royalties for April will be paid to me in June, so that is when I will write the check to USERL.

My suggestion is this: donate some directly and buy the book so they get a second donation later. By buying the book AND spreading the word, you make it that much more likely that we can together create a perfect storm and give a larger donation in June.

I also stand to gain if the book kicks up high and then STAYS high after the end of this month. All I can say is, if that happens, I will work on a way to continue donating, whether it be a percentage per book sold, or more 100% chunks of time. My intention with this series is to get more of the books written and published so that I can donate all the proceeds from this first one on an ongoing basis. I love the idea that Jane and the Magical Pony School ponies could be an ongoing source of funding for some needy equines. 

READ THE STORY OF THE RESCUED HORSES HERE.

If you scroll down you'll see the Paypal button to donate.

GO TO JANE'S TRANSFORMATION ON AMAZON HERE.

The current ranking is #313,510. You can track how we're doing by looking at the ranking. As sales happen, the number will get smaller as the book rises. The lower the number, especially if we get into the top 100 of paid sales OVERALL, the better. If we get Jane into that top 100 of all paid sales list, you'll know we are getting the exposure needed to make a very generous donation indeed.

I will post a screen shot of my sales page along with the check I write to the NC Triangle USERL group in June. Please help make it a big one.

Remember - on Amazon you can buy the e-book as a gift and send it to anyone you know. But the biggest part of making this go viral is spreading the word.

I realize this is one small herd among many who need help. But this is the herd that grabbed my attention today. A backyard breeder thought he/she could make money by breeding painted horses. Now there are a number of young horses who have not been handled, a pregnant mare, and a recently gelded stallion to show for it. All were starving. One has been put down. Maybe this case can be a lesson to anyone even thinking of breeding. There aren't homes for all these horses! There is no reason to think you can make money doing this. And even if you could, is it really an honorable profession?

Addendum as of Thursday at 8:08 p.m. - Jane is cantering up the charts!

• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,713 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #48 in Kindle Store  Kindle eBooks Children's eBooks  Animals Horses                                                            
  • And at 9:08 p.m.!
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  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,647 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
    • #28 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Animals > Horses