Sunday Update - Week 18

Good morning, Everyone!

Yesterday, I was feeling pretty good - despite having a scratchy throat the day before (ugh, allergies) - so I went out into the world.  The first place I typically stop is the gas station for a beverage.  So, I snag a Dew and head for the cash register, contemplating whether to buy lottery tickets.  The gal at the register, who sees me about once a week, took one look at me and said something about how angry I looked.  "What's wrong?  You usually look happy when you come in here."  I laughed.  Then I told her I have what is known as 'resting bitch face'.  We laughed together and I bought two lottery tickets to go with my Dew.  (Didn't win, btw.)

A little while later after my needs were met at Wally-world, I took the leap and stopped by the local indie bookstore.  I've been wanting to stop and meaning to stop and absolutely terrified to stop for a while now.  Cuz walking into a bookstore to chat about my book scares the crap out of me.  And I told the bookstore gal that after we'd gotten to talking.  She's a really cool person.  We chatted books and authors and my work and her work.  I gave her a copy of Dying Embers and some swag to go with it.  She gave me the names of some local writerly people who might help with getting my work out there.  Then I bought some books I've been wanting - chiefly, the first three books in the Dragonlance series :happy sigh:, as well as a couple books by Sarah A. Hoyt, and the next book in the Kris Longknife series by Mike Shepherd.  Sadly, she was out of Silence of the Lambs. 

In other news, this past week saw the maiden voyage of both Hubs' fishing boat and my newsletter.  We had fun on the boat and subscribers had fun with the newsletter.  It's all good.

Except Hubs and I now have the fishing bug.  Last night after dinner, we were chatting and then decided to throw the rods in the car and drive to a local spot.  We didn't catch anything, but it was lovely out, and it gave me a chance to practice casting.  I suck at that.  My reel is now a gnarly mass of knots.  It was a blast.  And we got to see the moonrise over the river.  Then we came home. 

Things are ramping up for the release of Accidental Death, and to that end, I decided to lower the price of Dying Embers to .99 for the month of May.  I love May.  It's my favorite month.  So, my love of May and my excitement over the publication of my second book means readers win.  Spread the word.  (I mean, once Amazon actually updates the book's listing with the 99 cent price.)

And since Accidental Death is releasing soon, I'm moving ahead with some marketing.  I'll be on Omnimystery News this coming Friday with my cover reveal and a week later with a book excerpt.  Plus, I designed up some postcards and bookmarks for the release.  Yay! 

The gal at the local bookstore thinks I need to go to a regional book event coming up in a few weeks.  I think she's probably right, but... :shudder:  It's hard to even think about putting myself out there with other writers - IN PERSON - especially after all those years of not telling most people in real life that I write books.  I'm thinking about it, though.  I mean, Tess Gerritsen's going to be there.  That alone terrifies the hell out of me... err... makes me interested in going.

Anyway, that's all I can think of write now.  I hope you all had awesome weeks last week and that this coming week is amazing for all of you.

:hugs:

Free-king Out

Yesterday was my first ever free day at Amazon.  And here's a summation of how it went:

Me: :crawls out of bed, powers up 'puter, gets coffee:  "La la la, let's see how the freebie thing is going.  Wow, eleven books. Cool.  Hey, honey, eleven new people are going to read my book."

Him: "Wow.  Cool."

Later...

Me: :blink blink:  "I'm up to 54 books now."

Him: "Fifty-four books?  Imagine if those people actually bought the book..."

Then the roads finally got good enough for me to venture out where I mailed books to some people, talked about Dying Embers to the postal gal and the ladies at the bank and the gal at the convenience store.  Snagged some foodage.  Came home around 1:30pm.

Me: "Holy shit.  124 books."

Him: :visibly cringes:  "So, this is supposed to help with sales?"

Me: "From everything I've read, yeah."

This goes on several more times until bed - except by then we were both cringing as books walked out the door.  Flash ahead to this morning...

Me:  Final tally 356.  And one new sale.  :drinks coffee, smokes cigarettes, waits for Hubs to get up:

Him:  :snags coffee, pets Max, lights a cigarette:  "So what was the count?  Hundreds?"

Me: :cringe: "Do you really want to know?"

Him: "Yeah."

Me: "You sure?"

Him: "Yeah."

Me: "356"

Him: :silence:

This had better work in the long run.  Or I'm going to have serious egg on my face.  Fried.  With scalding hot butter dripping down my cheeks.

Looking on the bright side, there are 356 new people who could potentially read Dying Embers and then recommend it to their friends who might buy a copy.  Or they could like it so much they buy a paperback to keep on their shelves (cuz it's pretty).  Or they could like Dying Embers so much they purchase the next book and the next and the next. 

This morning, though, I'm kinda freaking out a little. 

Oh, and because who doesn't like free things, my Goodreads giveaway contest started yesterday.  There's a widget on B.E.'s Writerly Space if you're interested in the chance to get a hardcopy of Dying Embers and some swag.  (It's on the right side, underneath the 'Dying Embers is for sale' doohickey.)

Too Late Now

Last night as I was laying in bed not sleeping, a thought occurred to me on how to change Dying Embers.  You know, that book I've been talking about because it's releasing like TOMORROW? 

Of course, the thought also occurred to me on how I should've better designed the postcards I ordered yesterday to market Dying Embers.  Yeah, those are a done deal.

And perhaps maybe last year I should've made myself known to the local bookstore owners, so that when I was ready to have a new book coming out I could pop down there and say 'hey guys, my book's finally ready'.

And obviously I should've kept in contact with all those people I've known over the years who would be tickled to find out I'm publishing a novel.

Needless to say, the night before the night before release day is not the time to be thinking of these things.  And needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night.  The endless gerbil wheel of what-ifs and shouldawouldacouldas. 

The only thing that helped was a simple thought:  It's Too Late Now. 

There are a lot of things I can do moving forward.  First thing is to remind myself that Dying Embers is already the best book it can be.  Sure, I could've done one more pass through reading (and I angsted over that for a good ten minutes at least) but I know I wouldn't have found anything else to polish. 

Yes, I probably could've designed those postcards better, but I only ordered 50, they weren't expensive (like .26 each after shipping and taxes), and they'll suit my immediate purpose - to have something I can mail to friends and acquaintances so they have something they can hold in their hands.  Next time, I'll leave more white space for a more personal message. 

I didn't really have the money to hang out at the local bookstore, and it would've just been weird to wander around their store once a week or whatever, not buying anything so I could make sure they knew my name when the time came.  (Quite honestly, I've stayed away from the bookstore because I've been on a tight book budget, and I know I would've blown quadruple that every freakin' time I stepped through the door.  I know me.)

Yeah, all those people.  My former customers, my ex co-workers, forgotten friends...  They haven't really stumbled over themselves to stay in contact with me either.  They're busy people, I'm a busy person.  We all get that.  I do know that some of my customers still ask about me from time to time, so hopefully when they ask, the answer will be 'she's published a novel'.  As for old friends, I still have a few awesome friends from my time in FL, and we keep in touch via FB, so I'm not totally bereft.

I guess my point is... yeah, I had a point before I started this... is that this is pre-release jitters held up under a magnifying glass for all of you to see.  I assume I'm not the only writer who does this - chime in published friends - and it's natural.  Yeah, I'm going to worry over every word in that book because it's out there in the world and I can't change it now without totally upsetting the apple-cart and spilling Granny Smiths all over the street. 

This is me.  This is the process.  And I'm trying to be as honest as I can about all this without scaring the hell out of potential readers. 

Any questions?

BTW, the postcards are due to arrive 2/25 and I have a shortlist of people who'll be seeing one in the mail shortly thereafter.  If you're interested in receiving a lovely 4x6" postcard, signed by me, let me know.  They're basically the cover of the book on one side with the blurb on half of the other and space for an address on the other half of the other side. 

Ack, now I have to work on my signature - which for checks and things is totally illegible and utilizes my full first name.  Basically something like this: B~~~ S~~d~~~~~.  10 years ago, it was readable.  Honest.