Jacking Up Book Sales

 An audio version of this post can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5LqD8DjYN4&feature=youtu.be

 Clara set down her coffee cup. "So, when can I see it?"
   "See what?" I asked.
   "William's inheritance ... the car you boys drove half-way across the country."
   I smiled. "Oh yeah ... that. It's in my garage ... you can come over anytime."
   "You seem amused."
   "Uncle Billy wasn't happy about the condition of the car his friend willed to him."
   "Oh, so it wasn't the prize William dreamed about?"
   "No ... but it's still pretty cool ... we're going to restore it."
   "You and William?"
   "Sure ... it'll be fun."
   "You really think so?"
   "Well, Uncle Billy is a little reluctant ... but I think once we get going on it, he'll come around."
   "William is not known for his ... how should I put it? ... follow through on projects."
   "I know ... the men in our family have short attention spans ... but he's always dreamed of owning a Jaguar XK120 ... and this one is not a total basket case ... I really think we can do this."
   "Well, I'm anxious to see it ... maybe I can stop over this afternoon after my speaking engagement at the YA for Adults Reader's Club."
   I leaned back and sighed. "How do you keep getting these gigs?"
   "I don't know ... it just seems that the higher I go up in the Kindle KDP author rankings, the more offers I get."
   "How high are you these days?"
   Clara flushed slightly. "Well, I've gotten into triple digits ... but it fluctuates a lot."
   "I know ...  in December I made it all the way one-hundred and thirteen ... thousand that is ... but I'm back to three-hundred and thirty thousand this month."
   "Well, see," said Clara, "you jumped two-hundred thousand spots in one month."
   "Yeah, but going downhill is easy."
   "Well if you can do one month, you can do again."
   I scratched my head. "If I only knew what I did ... it all seems so random."
   "You just have to focus your book marketing campaign a little more."
   "You're right ... unfortunately, that requires a lot of 'follow through'."
   Clara grew serious. "Chris, if you can restore a car, you can market your books."
   "Well, I haven't restored a car ... yet."