Black Friday through Cyber Monday Special

Published by Daleen Berry on November 21, 2012

I want to let you know I’ve heard you, loud and clear. Today I responded to your comments about Sister of Silence, by way of uploading the revised version of my e-book. Which you can get free, in just one more day.

Tomorrow night, at 12 a.m. Friday, Nov. 23—just a few hours after your Thanksgiving dinner dishes are cleared away—Sister of Silence will be free for 5 days. (Which means it might just surpass the #2 spot it held in May, right next to Fifty Shades Darker.) That’s because I’ve simply not had the time to use the free days KDP Select gives me, in return for giving it exclusive rights to sell my e-book for each 90-day period. If I don’t use them now, I lose them next week.

Your comments about a few errors in my book were duly noted, and those errors are now gone. So is any confusion over what happens at the end of the book, and for my very sensitive readers, I’ve added some comments in my ‘Dear Reader’ letter that should help you understand why I wrote SOS the way I did. I hope I’ve also cleared up any questions about the journals that went up in smoke, and whether Eddie and I actually divorced. (We did.)

Beyond that, I’ve added an epilogue, so you will know how things turned out for my four children and myself. As much as I could, without giving away the details of the sequel.

Yes, there is going to be a sequel. I have been fighting with myself for at least two years, about where it should begin in the story of my life and what details (more specifically, who) it should include. Last week I dusted off the sequel I began writing several years ago, which I’d almost decided not to use, and found I had 20,000 words. Not too shabby—if it was nonfiction, I’d be almost halfway to my NaNoWriMo goal this month. (Which I’m clearly not going to meet this year. Again.)

That’s when I realized something. Given the dark days that filled my life, which you followed me on in SOS, it would be natural to wonder how I turned out to be as healthy as I am today. Especially when so many survivors of abuse do not. So the sequel is more of a love story, if you will. That’s all I can say for now, but please do download SOS while it’s free and read the excerpt there yourself.

To get the free version, all you need to do is go to Amazon and click the “Buy Now” button. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a Kindle e-reader, because Amazon has a free app you can download. It lets you read Sister of Silence on your smartphone, your tablet or your computer, for free.

I’m proud that this book, my book, is not just being used in colleges and universities, but that it’s being read, again and again, in some cases, by women just like me. (And many men, too, as it turns out.) I’m happy it’s helping other women find their voices, and that it resonates with them. It brings me joy to know I’m helping other people. It also makes me feel good to know that my written words have given hours of pleasure to so many readers.

Recently, I met some wonderful writers who stressed the importance of keeping your readers happy. I don’t know that I’ve done that because—let’s face it—I’ve been promising to get Lethal Silence finished in 2012 and the year is almost gone, with no sign of that book being finished anytime soon. I think that’s because the rest of my story needs to be told first. At least that’s what I think my readers want. And deserve. So Lethal Silence will remain on the back burner for now, so I can finish the SOS sequel. I don’t want to tell you my deadline—but I do have one. That will help me finish it as soon as possible, for you to read.

I just hope it gives as much to so many of you, as Sister of Silencehas. Now I must get back to my writing. The minutes are ticking away.

Daleen can be reached at daleen.berry@gmail.com.

Editor’s note: Berry is the first recipient of the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change, for her second book, Lethal Silence, to be published sometime in 2012. Berry speaks about overcoming abuse through awareness, empowerment and goal attainment at conferences around the country.

Her memoir (paperback and as an e-book) can be found at bookstores everywhere, or ordered online. To read the first chapter free, please go to Goodreads. Check out the five-star review from ForeWord Reviews. Or find out why Kirkus Reviews called Berry “an engaging writer, her style fluid and easy to read, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.” To read her award-winning memoir, Sister of Silence, in e-book format (or any other e-book), download a free app from Amazon for your phone, tablet or computer.