Books

On the Shelf

| rachelhamm

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about my goal of seeing my own book on the shelf of a bookstore one day.  Well, today, I got really close.

When I self-published Twenty-Five in July of last year, I thought that maybe a few years (or a decade) down the road, I’d have developed a large backlist and possibly draw the attention of an agent or a big publisher.  That would lead to my dream of seeing my work on a bookshelf in a store.

Well, turns out, getting my book on the shelf of a library feels pretty damn good, too, and it only took eight months!

IMG_0926 IMG_0927 IMG_0928

I’m a member of a writer’s critique group that meets at Durham’s South Regional Library.  The leader of the group is one of the librarians, and when I published the book, he put in a request with the library to order a copy.  It took some time for the request to be approved, but he played up the local author angle and my good reviews on Amazon helped to gain the final approval needed and they purchased 2 copies!

After our group was over tonight, the librarian checked the catalog to see if the request had been completed and sure enough!!!  Going to find the actual copy on the shelf was exhilarating.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  The excitement of finding it, pointing to my name on a book sitting on the shelf of the library was probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

Next goal: Actual bookstore.

Cover Reveal: The Promise, by April Baker

| rachelhamm

My good friend and a great writer, April Baker, has just released the cover of her book: The Promise.  It’s GORGEOUS!  Check it out:

The Promise (2)

About the Book:

Genre: Paranormal YA

Armed with kick-ass shoes, can CJ stop a maniacal coven leader, save the town, and still get Mr. Melt In Your Mouth Gorgeous while surviving the darkness coming for her?

The smoke from the fire burned her eyes, its heat caressed her skin and the taste of fear choked her. She was going to burn just as her ancestor did all those centuries ago in New Salem Village. How could she have been so wrong about everything?

Cassie Jayne Bishop grew up the only non-believer in town of Coven. When a stranger comes to the sleepy town of New Salem, everything she thought was true unraveled around her. Ethan made her question everything, even her sister’s death. Clues start to pile up and Cassie is determined to find out if the Coven was the real reason her sister died.

What she uncovers terrifies her to the very depths of her soul….

The Promise is a mystery at heart, but it has a romance that will make your toes curl and your heart melt.

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Purchase the book:

Kindle

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About the Author:

So who am I? Well, I’m the crazy girl with an imagination that never shuts up. I LOVE scary movies. My friend Chazz laughs at me when I scare myself watching them and tells me to stop watching them, but who doesn’t love to get scared? I grew up in a small town nestled in the southern mountains of West Virginia where I spent days roaming around in the woods, climbing trees, and causing general mayhem. Nights I would stay up reading Nancy Drew by flashlight under the covers until my parents yelled at me to go to sleep.

Growing up in a small town, I learned a lot of values and morals, I also learned parents have spies everywhere and there’s always someone to tell your mama on you. So when you get grounded, what is there left to do? Read! My Aunt Jo gave me my first real romance novel. It was a romance titled “Lord Margrave’s Deception.” I remember it fondly. But I also learned I had a deep and abiding love of mysteries and anything paranormal. As I grew up, I started to write just that and would entertain my friends with stories featuring them as main characters.

Now, I live Huntersville, NC where I entertain my family and watch the cats get teased by the birds and laugh myself silly when they swoop down and then dive back up just out of reach. The cats start yelling something fierce…lol.

I love books, I love writing books, and I love entertaining people with my silly stories.

April’s Blog

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PS: DO NOT GET IN MY WAY IF THERE IS A SALE ON AT TARGET – my home away from home!

Book Review: Fate War Alliance, by E.M. Havens

| rachelhamm

book coverFate War: Alliance is the first book in the Fate War series.

Genre: Steampunk Romance

Overall **** 4 out of 5 Stars.  I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An arranged marriage between Prince Cole and Princess Samantha provides the alliance needed to defeat the Fate Army.

Prince Cole is your basic playboy-not-interested-in-being-King.  Princess Samantha is anything but basic.  When Cole’s brother is killed, Cole is forced to step into his place as next-in-line to the throne, but he doesn’t exactly go willingly.  Sam wants to escape palace life, but before she can, her parents send her to a “finishing” school and wipe out her uniqueness and free will.

After being forced to wed and then consummate the marriage in front of a room full of strangers, Cole and Samantha get off to a bit of a rocky start.  He wants to get to know her, but all she wants to do is please him, and the two wants don’t exactly compute.  Eventually, Cole is able to coax out pieces of the true Samantha: she’s a fast reader who retains everything she’s read, she loves horses, dessert is her favorite part of a meal.  But Samantha is constantly at war with herself, having been “taught” in the finishing school what a true lady is and Cole’s behavior won’t let her follow her what she’s “learned.”

When it is finally revealed that Samantha’s mother repressed her daughter’s genius in order to hide her paternity, Sam finally accepts herself for who she is and allows her true self to come to the surface.  Cole gifts her a tinker shop and she shows aptitude for battle.  When the Fate army begins closing in, she proves herself capable of of much more than building trinkets by leading the Alliance army to victory against the Fate.

This was my first foray into the steampunk genre and I quite liked it!  Because the world is based on something I was already familiar with, Victorian England (with some medieval elements), the world-building didn’t throw me.  It intrigued me.  Havens does an excellent job of dropping in phrases and technologies unique to her world while giving the reader the context clues needed to figure out what those references mean.

The heat between Cole and Samantha was ABSOLUTELY FANFREAKINGTASTIC.  Havens teases the characters and the readers and when things finally happen, it is well-worth the wait.  It’s sweet, it’s sensual, it’s loving.  And then, to top it off, the reader can tell the characters genuinely like and care for each other, beyond lust and love.

Character Development: **** 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Samantha is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read.  Her constant internal battle is not only well-written and believable, it is also so unique.  She merges the two stereotypical female characters we’ve come to expect in Princess stories: the weak, damsel-in-distress, needing her Prince to be her Savior, with the strong, bad-assed, take-no-crap-from-anyone warrior, and she does it in a way that is not stereotypical at all.  I don’t think I’m explaining this correctly, but read it, and I think you’ll get what I’m saying.  I loved Samantha, because to tell the truth, I’m a little sick of female characters who are strong only because it is un-PC to write a female character who isn’t strong.  Samantha is weak AND strong.  Insecure AND confidant.  Subversive AND dominant.  But she’s not all obnoxious about it.

The other characters were also really well-written.  Cole started out a little cliche, but he grew on me, especially in his good intentions towards Samantha.  Zeb was amazingly well-done, and he was only featured in a few scenes, so I imagine he’ll have a larger role in the next installment.  Then there’s Jasper.  Oh Jasper. For a character who appeared only once and who didn’t technically say anything, he was incredibly interesting.  There’s mystery surrounding him – we don’t know if he’s good or evil, we don’t know why he joined the Fate army, we don’t know if he’s somehow controlling Samantha in her dark periods.  So many questions, but good ones!  I didn’t feel unsatisfied not knowing the answers to them, it just made me ready to read the next book.

Plot: **** 4 out of 5 stars.  A lot happens in this book.  We meet Cole and Samantha, they begin their married life, and Cole begins Samantha’s “re-education.”  Then there is the discovery of Samantha’s true self.  They fall in love.  Samantha finally enables herself to trust Cole and become intimate with him.  The Fate army draws near.  Samantha proves she’s more than just a pretty face by leading their army.  The progression of the plot is steady, the tension between Cole and Samantha perfect.  There were a few scenes of conflict between Sam and Cole that felt a little forced/contrived to me, which caused me to remove one star, but for the most part, it was beautifully plotted.

Writing Style/ Voice of the Author: **** 4 out of 5 stars.  Havens keeps it simple, which I really like.  The story was easy to read, the dialogue flowed well and felt natural.  The book is a breeze.  There were a few awkward scene jumps, but for the most part, I liked the pacing.  The author’s voice never intruded.  I said it in my review of Gone Girl, and I’ll say it again: nothing ruins the flow of a book like the author’s voice intruding.  Havens showed her story beautifully .

Favorite Lines:

“Although he had managed to cooperate as little as possible over the years with his father, King Arnold, his duties as Prince could no longer be ignored.  Duty.  He just couldn’t understand how societies so technologically advanced, and continuing to advance, could hold on to such archaic and simply barbaric traditions.”

“Sprocket Defend!”

“Sam found it wasn’t just warmth that soaked into her body from his touch, strength seeped in, too.”

Purchase Fate War: Alliance

Kindle

Paperback

HeadshotAbout the Author:

Who is E.M. Havens? I’m a lot of things. The word that seems to define me most at the moment is mom. It can be all consuming. Not only am I a mom of three (one of them is a teenager…pity me), but I also home-school (pity me more). I share this awesome responsibility with the love of my life, best friend, and soul-mate husband.

Add to that, the twenty-five chickens, twelve turkeys, ten guineas, nine pigs, three barn cats, two Great Pyrenees guardian dogs, a Chihuahua, a house cat, and a goose, it makes for one crazy, full, and certainly entertaining life.

Somewhere in there I find the time to write.  I started out young writing poems, then moved on to songs. I actually have a Bachelor in Music with a secondary in Science because I can’t stand English. Yes, the writer hates English.  I like to read the story for the experience of reading the story, not to nitpick each letter and comma. But I digress.

I eventually found blogging and really enjoyed sharing my life that way. When an unfortunate turn of events separated me from my music equipment, I decided to use my overactive imagination, my love of reading, and my new found hobby, prose writing, to release some of my creative energy.  I wrote my first novel and loved the experience. Fate War: Alliance is actually the second novel I wrote and the first to be published.  Now I’m working on my third and several sequels to Fate War!

So that’s pretty much me, sitting in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma, reading, writing, collecting eggs from the coop, and being a schoolmarm. It’s a pretty great life.

E.M.’s Blog

Author Facebook Page

Fate War Facebook Page

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Author Interview: E.M. Havens

| rachelhamm

E.M. Havens is the author of the Steampunk Romance series, Fate War.  The first book in the series, Fate War: Alliance is available now, and I spoke with E.M.  about the book, being a writer, and a few other random things.  Come back tomorrow for my review of Fate War: Alliance.

I don’t know much about the Steampunk genre – can you explain some of its characteristics for my readers?

Steampunk generally refers to a story/movie set in Victorian or Wild West era with alternate fantastical, steam powered technology. The ascetic is usually lots of brass, silver, and gold with gears, cogs and of course steam. While the 1800’s London or America is the norm, steampunk can be done in other centuries and in made up places, though hardcore steamers might balk. Fate War is a bit of a hodgepodge. It’s a fantasy world loosely based on Victorian England, but I’ve thrown a little medieval in and there will also be many surprises in the next installment.

You write in a couple of different genres – do you have a favorite genre to write, and why?

I write in different genres because I’m a new writer and I haven’t found my niche yet! LOL! I think my favorite genre is just whatever happens to be fueling my passion at the moment. When a story won’t leave me alone, it doesn’t matter what genre it is, it’s my fave.

Your characters are very well-written.  Do you base them on people you know, or do they spring from your imagination?

My characters are not based on any one person. They do exhibit characteristics of different people I know and interactions I’ve experience with others. Mostly, I just try and see life from that characters perspective and they seem to come alive. There are actually a few chapter after Sam’s big reveal with the Queen that were not in my outline because when the truth came out, Sam just didn’t react how I imagined. It was very disconcerting for me as a new writer. I tried to write the next scene I had planned but Sam just wouldn’t/couldn’t carry on the way I had envisioned. I finally just went with her and eventually we came back to the story line. So, to answer your question, it’s a little of both.

Tell me about the next book in the Fate War Saga.

Wouldn’t YOU like to know! I’m being pretty tight lipped about it, but I’ve left clues on my facebook page every now and then. Without giving too much away, I will say that we continue to follow Sam and Cole as they settle into their new roles…and it’s not going to be easy. As a matter of fact, there is much I’m dreading about writing a few scenes because it’s going to hurt. We will get an answer to “What the heck is going on with her freakin’ eyes!!!???” I promise. We will also get answers about Jasper and the Sovereign. In addition, we will follow some other well loved characters such as Captain Jensen and Hope. There will also be a plethora of new characters and love interests to keep things steamy!

I talk a lot on my blog about becoming a “real” writer.  When did you feel like a real writer?

I think it was just last weekend. LOL!  It was the strangest thing, for the first time in my entire life, when someone asked me, “what do you do?”, I answered, “I’m a writer.” It actually shocked me. I usually just say, “I’m a stay at home mom.” But it just came out. Then when they said, “Ohhhh….well are you published?” I answered yes and they proceeded to check out Amazon and download my books! I felt….real. LOL!

Tell me something completely random about yourself that has nothing to do with Fate War or writing.

I was in show choir in high school. It was really fun, but nothing like Glee…NOTHING like Glee. Okay, a little like Glee. Friday’s were spirit day’s and our director wanted us to wear shirts to support our group. That’s all well and good…and we did…but we were ridiculed relentlessly. Not because we were the show choir geeks, but because some idiot did not have the foresight many, many years ago when they named the group, that it might be a little awkward for a bunch of kids to walk around high school all wearing shirts that said, SWINGERS.

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Thank you, E.M. for stopping by and introducing me to Steampunk.  Now everyone, go and buy her book!

Purchase Fate War: Alliance

Kindle

Paperback

About the Author:

HeadshotWho is E.M. Havens? I’m a lot of things. The word that seems to define me most at the moment is mom. It can be all consuming. Not only am I a mom of three (one of them is a teenager…pity me), but I also home-school (pity me more). I share this awesome responsibility with the love of my life, best friend, and soul-mate husband.

Add to that, the twenty-five chickens, twelve turkeys, ten guineas, nine pigs, three barn cats, two Great Pyrenees guardian dogs, a Chihuahua, a house cat, and a goose, it makes for one crazy, full, and certainly entertaining life.

Somewhere in there I find the time to write.  I started out young writing poems, then moved on to songs. I actually have a Bachelor in Music with a secondary in Science because I can’t stand English. Yes, the writer hates English.  I like to read the story for the experience of reading the story, not to nitpick each letter and comma. But I digress.

I eventually found blogging and really enjoyed sharing my life that way. When an unfortunate turn of events separated me from my music equipment, I decided to use my overactive imagination, my love of reading, and my new found hobby, prose writing, to release some of my creative energy.  I wrote my first novel and loved the experience. Fate War: Alliance is actually the second novel I wrote and the first to be published.  Now I’m working on my third and several sequels to Fate War!

So that’s pretty much me, sitting in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma, reading, writing, collecting eggs from the coop, and being a schoolmarm. It’s a pretty great life.

E.M.’s Blog

Author Facebook Page

Fate War Facebook Page

Twitter

Book Review: Wicked Hunger, by DelSheree Gladden

| rachelhamm

wicked_hunger_previewWicked Hunger is the first book in the SomeOne Wicked This Way Comes series.

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Overall **** 4 out of 5 Stars.  I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Brother and sister Zander and Van have a secret.  A BIG secret.  They protect their secret and each other at all costs, until the new girl in town, Ivy, threatens to expose them both.

When I was reading Wicked Hunger, I had an eerily similar feeling as I did reading The Hunger Games.  The two stories aren’t alike, plot or character-wise, but they both have a darkness that one doesn’t usually associate with YA.  As I was reading Wicked Hunger, I kept thinking, I shouldn’t be enjoying this, I shouldn’t be enjoying this.  Exactly the same reaction I had to The Hunger Games.  With HG, I shouldn’t have enjoyed it because it was about children killing children.  With WH, I shouldn’t have enjoyed it because it was about Zander and Van struggling with their hunger to cause others intense physical (and sometimes, emotional) pain.

Sometimes it’s the books we shouldn’t enjoy that we enjoy the most.

Zander and Van can’t explain WHY they have this hunger for pain, only that it has been passed down through their family.  They think they are alone in the world and can’t explain their struggles with anyone, for their own safety as well as the safety of everyone around them.  They both do their best to control the hunger, Zander by channeling it into football, and Van by gathering a group of close friends around her and teaching dance classes; but controlling the hunger is the hardest thing Zander has ever done when he meets Ivy.  She fuels his hunger unlike any other person he’s ever met.  Plus, he is immediately attracted to her, so that really doesn’t help!  Van feels her hunger for Ivy, too, but luckily, her judgement isn’t clouded by teenage-boy-hormones.

When Van discovers what Ivy has planned to “out” their secret, she races to save Zander, Ivy, and herself.

Character Development: **** 3.5 out of 5 stars.  Zander and Van are well-thought out and portrayed.  I like that they have distinct personalities, but you also REALLY believe them as brother and sister.  Ivy is complicated – the reader can never figure out what’s going on with her, but Gladden does a great job showing how untrustworthy she is.  But my favorite character is probably Oscar.  He is Zander and Van’s older brother who has literally been driven insane by his hunger.  Although he only featured in 2 scenes, I could tell Gladden had his character down pat.  His moments of crazy were beautifully interspersed with moments of lucidity and I’m really hoping for more of him as the series progresses.

I had to take stars off for some of the minor characters, though.  Van’s group of friends is made out to be very important to her controlling her hunger, but the only one who gets any major “screen” time is Ketchup (fun name!).  And even Ketchup’s character is very minimally drawn.  We don’t get to see what it is about him that Van loves so much.  I really wish there had been more scenes showing us their history together, because it is clearly important to Van.  Then there’s Noah, a new kid in Van’s life, who seems to only be introduced as a distraction immediately forgotten.  Van and Zander’s grandmother is their care-giver, but only appears in a few short scenes.  We are told how strict she is, but it’s never shown.  A definite missed opportunity that I’m hoping will be corrected in book 2.

Plot: **** 4 out of 5 stars.  There actually is not a lot of action to this book.  What drives the story is Zander and Van’s inner turmoil as they deal with the hunger.  That being said, it is obvious that Gladden has put a lot of thought into her world.  There are many of questions left unanswered at the end of the book, plenty to fill books 2 and 3!

Writing Style/ Voice of the Author: **** 4 out of 5 stars.  Gladden does something unique, and it really works well for this story.  She combines present tense and past tense.  It gives the story an immediacy that intensifies the emotions of the characters.  She also does a fantastic job of moving seamlessly between Van and Zander’s points of view.  I never once got confused as to which character’s head I was in.  I took one star off because I found it difficult to jump into the story.  Gladden held back at the beginning a lot of the backstory, but then teased the reader with it continuously.  I don’t mind teasers when they are subtle, but these were not subtle!  I understand the purpose – build up the mystery and the tension and then reveal bombshells throughout the book – it’s just not my favorite way to do it.  I know some readers who would absolutely disagree with me, though!

Favorite Lines:

“Bruises can tell stories better than most people.”

“The pain burns up my arms and into my chest, but I can’t escape the animalistic thrill of destruction.”

“Instead, the colors look to be slowly blending together, a potter’s clay not yet molded into what it is meant to become.”

Purchase Wicked Hunger on Amazon:

Kindle

Paperback

Sheree SmallAbout the Author:

DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children. The Southwest is a big influence in her writing because of its culture, beauty, and mythology. Local folk lore is strongly rooted in her writing, particularly ideas of prophecy, destiny, and talents born from natural abilities. When she is not writing, DelSheree is usually teaching yoga, coaching gymnastics, reading, painting, sewing, or working as a Dental Hygienist. Her works include Escaping Fate, Twin Souls Saga, and The Destroyer Trilogy. DelSheree’s newest series, The SomeOne Wicked This Way Come series, follows Vanessa and Zander Roth, siblings with an uncontrollable hunger for pain and suffering that will either gain them limitless power or lead them to their deaths.

DelSheree’s Blog

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Book Review: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

| rachelhamm

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**** Overall 4 out of 5 stars

It takes some masterful writing to keep a reader engaged in a story with two incredibly, INCREDIBLY, unlikeable main characters.  I took the star off because the characters were INCREDIBLY unlikeable.  But I read their entire damn story.

On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick comes home to find his wife, Amy, has disappeared.  All the evidence suggests he killed her.  And he doesn’t do himself many favors – he’s strangely calm and unnerved by the disappearance.  Entries from Amy’s diary tell a tale of two people falling in love, and then her husband becoming less and less worthy of that love.

Or course, it would be too easy if Nick had killed her.  It would be too easy for her to be dead at all.  So she’s not.  And that’s where things go all bat-shit crazy and the reader gets sucked in to this dysfunctional relationship between 2 people who NEVER should have gotten married.

I was very weary throughout the first half of the book.  I knew Nick hadn’t done anything to his wife, but only because, like I said above – it would have been too easy.  Yet, he was so unlikeable.  I practically hated him.  And Amy.  The pictures of Amy that Nick painted and that Amy’s diary painted were of 2 different people.  And I didn’t like either of them.  So I found it hard to stick with the book even though I wanted to see what the twist ending was I’d been hearing so much about.

About three-fourths of the way through the book, I couldn’t put it down.  I spent 3 hours hunkered down on my couch (on a Friday night, no less) finishing it.  I wanted to see what the crazy psycho characters were going to do to each other, how it would play out.  By that time I had no clue how the author was going to end it, but I don’t think I’d call the ending a twist.  I think it was very appropriate for how f***ed up the characters were, though.

Character Development – ***** 5 out of 5 stars.  I did not like the characters, but Flynn did an amazing job of drawing their characters and delving into their psyche.  The characters felt very real.

Plot – *** 3 out of 5 stars.  The story begins with an unoriginal idea, a missing wife and her husband is the main subject, but Flynn subtly adds in twists, turns, intrigue.  The characters become the plot.  And, see above for how the characters were drawn.

Writing Style/ Voice of the Author – ***** 5 out of 5 stars.  I’d give it 6.  You know how I know a book is really good?  I forget I’m reading a book.  The author just tells the story.  Keeps it simple.  That’s what this was.  I never felt intruded on by the author’s voice.  There were no flashy words or prose to distract from what was happening.

One final note.  This book was good, but from all the hype surrounding it, I expected to be sucked in immediately and to not want to put it down until I was finished.  I expected a massive twist ending.  Neither of those things were true.  The hype actually let me down.  When I started reading the book, I was a passenger on a 12-hour car ride.  Ever few chapters or so I had to put the book down and stare out the window (that’s how much I disliked the characters).  I didn’t want to keep reading, keep reading, keep reading.  And I had what seemed like all the time in the world to do so.  I was disappointed because everyone I’d talked to about the book had said how amazing it was.  I wish I had read it without hearing all of the hype, because I may have liked it even more.

First Month Stats

| rachelhamm

internet-statistics_1July is over.  My first month of self-publishing is over.  I’m hoping that sharing my findings will help those out there considering self-publishing.

I enrolled in KDP Select for the e-book.  I choose the 70% royalty option and priced the e-book at $2.99 US, with comparable prices for other markets (UK, France, Germany, Canada, etc).  My royalty for the e-book is approximately $2.03.  I used 2 of my five free days early in the month, on July 3rd and July 6th.  My thought process for the free days being that people would be on (or about to be going on) vacation, likely a beach vacation, and would be looking for something easy to read.

For the paperback, I went with the publish-on-demand (POD) service CreateSpace.  I priced the book at $10.99 US, again with comparable prices for other markets.  My royalty for the paperback when ordered through Amazon is $1.90 (no one has ordered it through CreateSpace, so I won’t worry about their royalty).

Now the good stuff – the stats.  Here are all the details from the first month:

Money Spent

ISBN for the paperback – $10.00

Proof copy of the paperback – $8.28

Business Cards (with Title of Book, link to Amazon’s page where people can buy the book, and all of my Social Media contact info) – $49.52, purchased through Staples online print center (500 cards)

Copies of the paperback for Gifts, Giveaways, and In-person sales – $187.65 (35 copies)

Shipping of a paperback copy to a Book Reviewer – $2.75

Total Costs: $258.20

E-books Sold

USA – 64 copies

UK – 267 copies (that’s right, they like me in the UK)

Canada – 4 copies

Total Sales: 335

Royalty Total: approximately $680.05 (this is calculating $2.03 royalty for each copy, though the exchange rates may cause some differences.  I’ll know a firmer total when I receive the report on the 15th)

E-books Borrowed

USA – 3 copies

UK – 5 copies

Total Borrows: 8

Royalty Total: Not sure what the payout will be for borrows yet, I’ll find out in my monthly report around the 15th, I believe.  The average for the past couple of months (according to KDP community message boards) is approximately $2.00 per borrow, so $16.00

Free Downloads over 2 days

USA – 487

UK – 152

Canada – 4

France – 10

Germany – 14

India – 3

Total Downloads: 670

Royalty Total: $0.00, duh 🙂

Paperbacks Sold

Through CreateSpace – 18

Royalty Total: $34.20

In-person by me – 12 + 2 copies that were given with a promise of payment later (I know where they live!)

Royalty Total: (I spent $5.34 on each copy and charged $10.00 when selling them) $55.92

Total Sales: 30

Paperbacks Given Away

3, though I have plans to give a few more away

Royalty Total: $0.00 again

Profits

Approximately $527.97.  For someone who never expected anyone to even read my book, let alone pay for it, I am REALLY happy with that number.  Even though I won’t actually see the money for a couple of months (Amazon doesn’t pay out until 60 days after the end of the month in which the royalties are made and CreateSpace is 30 days after the end of the month in which the royalties are made).

Marketing

I did very little marketing.  I posted the link to the book on my personal facebook page and several friends and family members shared it.  I then created a Facebook Author fan page, a Twitter account, and a Goodreads author page.  I asked on my facebook pages for friends to leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads IF they read and enjoyed the book.

11 reviews have been posted on Amazon, all 5-star, 10 by people I know.  The one person who I didn’t know, heard of the book through a friend of a friend.

14 ratings have been posted on Goodreads, with 5 actual reviews.  (10) 5-star, (1) 4-star, (1) 3-star, and (2) 1-star.  (5) of the 5-star ratings are from people I know, the rest are from strangers.

I’ve listed 2 giveaways on Goodreads.  The first giveaway is for the US and Canada, for 5 copies.  I started it on July 8th and it will end on August 8th.  So far, there are 758 entries.  The second giveaway is for the UK, for 1 copy.  It started on July 15th and will end on August 15th.  So far, there are 98 entries.

483 people have added Twenty-Five to their bookshelves on Goodreads.

I have two book bloggers doing reviews, but those will not appear until next week at the earliest.  From what they’ve said in our email exchanges, it sounds like the reviews will be positive, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed there.  But, even bad publicity is good publicity, right?  I’m raising the prices on both the e-book and paperback tomorrow, and doing 3 more free days on Amazon the last weekend of August.  I’m going to reach out to sites that promote free e-books before the second free promotion, which I did not do with the first 2-day promotion.

I did not tinker with the book’s description, cover, or tags in the first month, though I may once the higher price kicks in if I see that sales have dropped.

So, that’s it.  My first month of self-publishing all laid out.  I said in my last post I was happy I’d done it and I’m even happier today.  I am so proud of myself and my book for taking a chance and taking the leap.  These numbers are modest, I know, but they are mine.  And they are more than I expected, especially the e-book sales in the UK.  I can’t wait to see what the next month brings.

I’m Glad I Did It

| rachelhamm

It’s been three weeks since I self-published Twenty-Five, and I have to say, I am so happy I did it.  Before taking this leap, I really wasn’t sure about self-publishing.  I’d read articles saying that the stigma had been lifted and more books were being published by the individual authors than by publishing houses now, but it was still a big risk for me.  What if I pressed the “upload” button and then never sold a single copy?  What if I did sell copies, but then got bad reviews?  I struggle with rejection issues, so this was one of my biggest fears.  I didn’t want to fail at this, at writing.

My book is my proudest accomplishment.  But, it still is strange for me when people I know read it.  Again, that fear of rejection.  What if they don’t like it?  Will that somehow mean they don’t like me anymore?  It’s so silly to be so proud of something and hold it to your chest without giving anyone else the chance to see how awesome it is.

So, I did it.  I took the chance and I created the e-book and the paperback.  And you know what?  People like it.  I’ve actually sold copies!  Sure, a lot of the copies I sold were to family and friends, but then again, a lot weren’t.  It’s only been three weeks, and I haven’t had thousands of downloads, but my book is in the hands of hundreds of people.  Hundreds.  I don’t  know if I ever expected that.  I haven’t made much money because the majority of those hundred were free downloads, but money isn’t the point.  The point is, I wrote a book and now people can read it.

And I can’t even tell you how awesome that is.

I can tell you, though, that it really makes me want to get another book out there for them to read!  I’m working on that.