I've been published for 11 days (but who's counting, right?)
On Monday, August 11, 2014, my long-held dream came true. I became a published author. Today, it’s August 22, so I’ve been published for 11 days. What’s it been like?
Amazing. Surreal. Nerve-wracking. Fantastic.
Yep, that about sums it up.
I barely got any sleep Sunday night. I’m pretty sure I woke up every 30 minutes. And then it was Monday morning, and my book was live!
I announced it on Twitter, and the response was more than I could have ever dreamed. Friends were congratulating me and retweeting my announcements and liking and sharing my Facebook posts. To that I say THANK YOU x million times! I started to list names, then I stopped because I know I will miss somebody. Please know that I saw all the support and I was and still am humbled and grateful.
I built up the courage to announce my accomplishment to friends and family who had no clue what I’d been up to for the past five years. That was a big moment for me. I don’t like talking about myself, and I was never sure how to insert the “Hey, I wrote a book and it’s going to be published” thing into conversation. I’ve had the “Why didn’t you tell me?” conversation more than once. I’ve had to assure people it wasn’t personal at all. It was all me and my natural shyness and awkwardness. It’s much easier for me to talk about writing with other writers who are going through the same things I’m going through.
And despite my reticence to talk about myself, the support from family and friends has been amazing. Lots of questions on how you get a book published have been asked and congratulations have been offered. Some even bought the book. Yay!
I didn’t tell any of my coworkers, but I knew as soon as I announced it, they would have something to say. And I was right! I took Monday and Tuesday off from work so I could concentrate on the book launch and when I walked into work Wednesday, this was waiting for me. Isn’t that so cool? And there were donuts because I LOVE donuts.
I started using Amazon in the late 90s when I was a college student. In the fifteen years since, I’ve NEVER been on Amazon as much combined as I have been in the past 11 days. Refresh, refresh, refresh! Refresh one more time to see what my ranking is. I wake up in the middle of the night to check. It’s a sickness. I’ve gotten a little better, but not much. I’ve been very fortunate. My ranking for TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD surpassed my modest goal on release day, so everything after that has been gravy (except I don’t like gravy, but you know what I mean).
Promo. Aww, promo. It’s hard to know if you’re doing too much or too little. I ran some ads. I participated in two Facebook parties. Never done that before, but they were both a lot of fun, and I look forward to doing more in the future. I hope I didn’t annoy my Twitter peeps with my announcements. I tried not to, but ya know, it is what it is. I want to say a public thank you to Roni Loren, Kat Latham, Terri Osburn, Christina Jones, Lorenda Christensen, my fellow Firebirds, the Just Contemporary blog, and the Ramblings from This Chick blog for hosting me on their sites.
And also many, many thanks to my release day partner Marissa Clarke and my editor Gwen Hayes for holding my hand and giving pep talks as needed. No matter what’s going on or how good you’re doing, it’s hard not to compare yourself to others, and I have to constantly remind myself that I’ve been in the game for less than two weeks. It is a marathon, not a sprint.
To everyone behind the scenes at my publisher, Entangled – none of this would have been possible without you and your support.
To everyone who has left a review – thank you!
To anyone who took a chance on a new author and bought my book – thank you from the bottom of my heart! I adore Tate and Noelle, and I hope you feel the same. If you haven't bought it yet, but want to remedy that situation, the book is only $2.99. Click here for all your book-buying options. #shameless1
And because it is a marathon, I’m hard at work at meeting the next mile-marker. As soon as I have news to share, I’ll let you know. I can’t wait to start the craziness all over again. If you want to know when my next book comes out, scroll up and look to your left and sign up for my new release alert! #shameless2
Xoxo,
Jamie
P.S. Oh, oh! I almost forgot. My Kindle giveaway is still going on. Here are all the places you can enter if you haven’t already.
- Firebirds Blog
- Author Christina Jones' Blog