Saturday, February 2, 2013

A Surprising Development & A Show Of Gratitude!

So far, 2013 is shaping up to be an interesting year. It'd probably take ten more blog posts to describe it all in detail, but I'll try my best to sum it up into this one pretty little package. Let's go back to the end of 2012 for starters where in December, I'd decided to trek through the treacherous territory of self-publishing. This wasn't a decision I'd chosen easily. After all, I'd spent years working my butt off to land a traditional publishing deal and had my heart broken more times than I can count. I won't dwell on that. In life, you can't always get what you want, but you can always make the best of what you're given.

It's been a long, hard journey  but oddly enough I've enjoyed almost all of it (even during those days when I'd felt like curling up into a ball and sobbing.) Fast forward to the present, January 2013 to be exact. At the start of this year I'd been determined to get my work out there and determined to get at least one person to read it. Even if they hated the crap out of it, I figured I'd still be grateful for just one measly reader.This kind of desperate thinking has led me to a slew of great and surprising developments that I'm absolutely ecstatic about.

My debut YA sci-fi romance novel, "Naked As We Came," was initially set to be published and released on April 20, 2013. I'd marked that date on my calender and prepared for it. I'd eagerly awaited it and also spent many nights losing sleep over it due to the anticipation of it all. I seriously felt like a kid on Christmas Eve sitting beneath the tree waiting with cookies for Santa.

In preparation for the upcoming release date, I decided that wanted to have my ebook on amazon and smashwords ahead of time to give myself a chance to build up some hype for the book because at the time I figured no one is going to buy a book they that don't even know exists. I'd braced myself for promotion, wrote out my plans for marketing and advertising  I got my goodreads page together and straightened out my facebook, twitter and website pages. I was ready for it all and not once did I expect anyone to buy the book ahead of time because I still hadn't done any promotion for it.

And boy was I surprised by the outcome! My book had been on smashwords and amazon for a total of two days and had already sold ten copies. I was both shocked and terrified but also so happy that I could hardly breathe. I know that ten copies don't exactly qualify me for the New York Times Bestsellers list, but for someone like me who has spent years just dreaming of being a published author, it was something. Not much, but still...something. As pathetic or silly as this may sound, I am very proud of my sales so far and also eager to thank every single one of those readers who gave me a chance to tell my story. Seriously guys, it means the world. I'm almost in tears over it now as I write this post.

For a small town girl with big time dreams, I am so grateful for all of you and forever hoping that you'll keep reading and supporting me during this slow, but exciting trip. Thank you!

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