As you may have guessed from this blog post, release week made me a little manic. There has just been so much to do, so many people to talk to, so many comments to be made and answered. I actually felt my heart palpitating at work one day when the stress of the day job met the stress of the release. So I decided it was time to stop, sit down, and reflect on things a little bit.
Carina Press acquired my manuscript in September 2010. The manuscript was released on September 5, 2011. That’s a pretty long time in ebook land. In a lot of ways, it was good to have the interval between acceptance and publication. It gave me time to get set up and established on various social media sites. It gave me time to set up my blog and start blogging regularly. It gave me time to finally get high speed internet. Most importantly, it gave me time to get to know many wonderful authors, as well as the terrific people at Carina Press and Harlequin. I’m so glad I had the year to get set up and running.
The problem with having so much time, however, is that it gave me time to think. I’m soooo dangerous when I have time to think.
I watched what the other authors were doing, and decided that I would try to do that too. I looked at what authors I have followed did, and decided I would do that too. I thought about what people did that made me want to buy their books, and decided I would do that too.
Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?
I think I did some things pretty well, and I think I did some things not so well. I found out that running a contest is harder than you think – especially when you don’t have a lot of traffic on your blog and your first book isn’t out. I found out that a month-long countdown is wonderful, but a lot of work. I found out that there are wonderful people on Twitter and Facebook and eHarlequin and elsewhere in the blogosphere who support you and are rooting for you.
At the beginning of August, I decided that I was just going to have fun with it all, I was going to enjoy the roller coaster ride of the last weeks leading up to release. And I was able to keep it fun. For the most part anyway.
But towards the end of August, and especially the week the book released, I became truly insane. There are so many fleeting opportunities for a new, and newly released author. I’ve been feeling that if I miss a chance it will never come my way again. Plus now there are rankings and reviews and positioning and promotions to think about. That’s a lot of pressure.
After I had my heart palpitations, it occurred to me that this was not a good way to be. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do the best I can. I’m going to have fun. And I’m not going to look at my Amazon rankings. I’m going to try not to read all of the reviews. I have to believe that if I do the best I can and have fun, some people will buy my book. Then I hope most of them enjoy it.
Besides, I should probably spend the time writing something else 😀
