Things are getting very exciting. The release is just two days away. I have sent out ARC copies to 35 readers. Last I checked, 21 of them have downloaded the ARC. I've uploaded Force of Corruption to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IngramSpark, and Kobo. I also entered it in an indie-author award competition.
Before I go on, I need a fan-girl moment. One of my favorite authors is C.M. Stunich. She is the author of F*ckboy Psychos and Havoc Boys Series, along with many others. I love her writing and I recommend her books every chance I get. Here’s the best part—SHE FOLLOWED ME ON TIKTOK! I freaked out and accidentally hit the ‘nudge’ option, which sent her a wave or something. SHE WROTE TO ME! She said, “Hey there.” Then I gushed about how much I love her work and she thanked me. It’s so cool, I’ve been floating on happy clouds for three days.
Back to our regularly scheduled program blog. I've gotten several comments from my ARC readers about how excited they are to read my book. It’s very encouraging to hear such kind interest in something I wrote. A few of them have shared my cover or reels on their social media. I recommended my book on a reading group to someone who expressed an interest in finding more romantic suspense titles to read. Another group member then commented they bought my book. It’s my first sale to a complete stranger. I didn’t even post a blurb, link, or anything, just the cover. She had to go search on Amazon to buy it. That was a profound moment for me, someone saw my book and decided to take a chance on it.
This brings me to the anxiety I'm having that all of these people are now counting on my writing to entertain them. What if I don’t deliver? My husband keeps reminding me that I wrote it for me. I accomplished my goal. If nobody likes it, who cares. Unfortunately, I care. I don’t want to let anyone down. If they invest their money and time to read what I wrote, I want them to love it. Nobody tells you how hard it is to wait for feedback on your work. It's a cross between waiting for a bar to appear in the window of a pregnancy test and waiting to see where Santa left all of your Christmas presents under the tree at age 5.
Getting everything uploaded to all of my chosen platforms was also more challenging than I imagined. Did you know you can’t open an ePub file on a computer that doesn’t have a special program to do so? When I got the ePub file from my formatting person I tried to load it on my computer for safe keeping and distribution. What I got was a jumbled bunch of nonsense and maybe hieroglyphics. If I couldn’t open and save it, I couldn’t upload it either. I had to scramble and figure out how to make it happen. I ended up purchasing Scrivner. It’s a highly recommended writing program that does formatting and organizes your writing. It was less than $100, but I didn’t actually need it. I will probably use it to try formatting in the future, but mostly it was an unnecessary purchase. I found an app called Calibre. For less than $5, it reads ePub files and most importantly, lets me upload them. I was finally successful in getting both the ePub and PDF files and cover files uploaded to all of my distribution providers.
Amazon works through Kindle Direct Publishing. It was the first platform I ever tried. My short story, Haunted Hunting Camp, was my experimental publication. I figured out how to get it uploaded. My first several attempts were abysmal. I had to figure out some rudimentary formatting so the chapters started where they were supposed to. It’s in pretty good shape now, for someone as clueless as me.
There are three Barnes and Noble book sites. It’s pretty confusing. The first challenge to sell there is to figure out how to find the right website. It’s Barnes and Noble Press. The program is very picky and if your book isn’t up to snuff it rejects your upload. Initially my cover was the wrong size because I told my designer the wrong page count (I explained this in my last blog). She was able to quickly fix it and I got everything uploaded. B&N takes a couple weeks to approve it once you get it uploaded.
Next, I worked on IngramSpark. It kept saying ‘incomplete’. I tried over and over again to complete my upload and registration of my book in their system. Something just wasn't right. Turns out I had uploaded it to the wrong place. I had to delete everything and start fresh. I had to choose a different path to get it correct. Finally got that one done and they are reviewing it for errors, etc. It should be live in time for my release. IngramSpark is a print on demand distributor for authors and the place where book stores and many libraries purchase books. My local independent book shops will not sell my book unless it is listed there.
Last of all, I uploaded it to Kobo. It’s the book shop for Rakuten. They are a worldwide distribution shop. My book is more likely to be purchased in places like India and Japan through Kobo. I will be thrilled if anyone in another country buys my book!
I’m going to look into Target and Wal-Mart as well. I imagine it’s a similar process to all the others. Just lots of Googling to figure it out. By putting my book in multiple distribution channels I’m hoping to reach more readers.
I'll be needing to update my website this week with all of the links to purchase. I also have it showing my upcoming release, need to change it to show it’s here now. I’m trying to work on the second book in the series, Force Majeure. It’s been difficult to focus on writing while waiting for reviews. I've compared it to sending my baby off to preschool for the first time. But I only had to wait four hours to see how that worked out.
Many of my ARC readers planned to read it over this Thanksgiving weekend while they were stuck in a plane, train, or automobile. I’m hopeful reviews will start coming in after the weekend is over. I haven’t read it again since the formatting was completed. I have an opportunity to be interviewed on a podcast and I was looking for a few quotes from the book to answer questions the interviewer has for me. While reading a few paragraphs, I FOUND A MISTAKE! It’s just a pesky little quotation mark facing the wrong way. I want to jump in and fix it because it will drive me crazy, I hate typos. Remember all the issues I had with the ePub file? I can’t just open the formatted file and fix stuff. I might have to get the formatting person to do it. I don’t want to fix that one thing then find more. So, another thing I need to be patient about. I need to get all of the ARC feedback. I need to do my own proofread. I need ALL of the errors to be fixed at once. I am interested to see how many ARC readers point out the mistake. I’m looking at it as a test for how well they find mistakes and tell me about them. I just hope there aren’t a bunch more.
I think someone needs to tell writers about the trials and tribulations of becoming an independent author. You have to have thick skin to deal with constructive criticism, and NONconstructive criticism. You must have the patience of Paige Patterson, my female main character, she’s a sniper with nerves of steel. You have to be willing to figure out how to do everything by yourself. You must have at least a few bucks to hire a professional for some parts, like editing and cover design. Yes, you can design your own cover, but it’s not recommended. Authors also have to be marketing and social media experts, which we aren’t. Many are extreme introverts, thus the writing instead of talking.
I am definitely learning some social media savvy. I have crossed into four-digit followers on Instagram, yep, 1,004 followers! Whoohoo! I have thousands of views and likes on TikTok. It takes posting every few days. I’m not great at making videos but I have improved, hopefully I will continue to learn.
Next time you hear from me will be after my book launch. Wish me luck!
Thank you so much for reading.