After indie publisher BelleBooks offered a free copy of “Murder Takes The Cake” as a temporary promotion in the Kindle Store, author Gayle Trent‘s book jumped to third place on the Kindle “bestseller” list. Yesterday, she signed with agent Robert Gottlieb from Trident Media Group–a Kindle Cinderella story.

GalleyCat asked Trent about her experience: “When I first got the e-mail, I thought, ‘Robert Gottlieb? THE Robert Gottlieb? No way.’ I was afraid it was some Nigerian scam or something. I expected to open the e-mail to find, ‘Prince Robert Gottlieb of Nigeria will represent your work if you send him your bank account number so he’ll know where to deposit checks,’” she explained.

“I was pleasantly surprised–okay, thrilled–when I called the number at the bottom of the e-mail and learned it was legitimate and that Mr. Gottlieb was indeed interested in talking with me.”

She concluded: “Mr. Gottlieb has a great network of connections; and he believes my work has potential, so he contacted me … My readership has increased, of course, and readers’ comments and reviews have been so encouraging and uplifting.”