30 Days Published – A Retrospective

Day 30

3000 hits on the website! Better do something to celebrate. Oh, look, a typo.

Day 29

Today I am joining all the social medias. They are hard to learn. It’s taken me all this time to get used to Twitter and I’m still not that great at Twitter. Is this what old people feel like when they see kids texting? And what’s my Tumblr password? It says I already have Tumblr. I don’t have Tumblr, do I? Oh, look. There it is. How awful. No wonder I forgot about it. *deletes*.  I hope people click all these social media buttons on my website. I hope they know how to use them. I certainly don’t. What’s Pinterest for again? Ah, someone will probably tell me. Oh, look, a typo.

Day 28

I’m tired. All the time. I’m never going to be not tired again, am I? I thought it would be over when the book was out. I was wrong. No sales in two days. Might as well quit now. No, that’s stupid. I need to write the next one. That’s what I need to do. That will help sales. But it all takes so much time. And I’m so tired. I need to go to sleep. I’m glad I decided to write a shorter book this time. I dreamt that I had thirteen five-star reviews. Just thirteen. My dreams are so understated.

Day 27

Am I posting too much, or not enough? Let’s post a bit more just to make sure. (OH, BALLS!  I didn’t put a mic on Daniel during the TV interview in Chapter 7.) I need to start making a list. (Oh, look, a typo.) Definitely a list.

Day 26

‘Thank for following. I looked at website. You’re writing is really good.’

Don’t lie, stranger. We both know you didn’t read it.

(But thanks.)

Day 25

*reading a book that uses double speech marks instead of single*

‘ugh, gross’

Day 24

I am officially a Goodreads author with a little G badge to tell people I’m definitely a Good Read. I’ve only got five friends, but boy, are they the lucky ones.

Day 23

Imagining book covers I will never be able to draw/articulate. ‘It’s kind of like a B-Movie poster, but done in stained-glass with an art deco style? And lasers?’

Day 22

Neighbours keep asking me what it’s called then getting me to spell it for them. I decide not to worry about the accents, then hesitate and tell them my name again instead. Why not make it easier for people, I say.

Day 21

Not today.

Day 20: Someone from Texas has messaged me to say she is on Chapter 4. I am already braced for impact, but – she thinks it’s funny? She actually liked Hickory Briskett, the stereotypical Texan rancher? AND she thought he was funny too? Thank you, tolerant stranger! Bullet dodged. This time.

Day 19

2 more sold today, and I’m not sure to whom. People I know have been making a point of telling me when they’ve bought it. So… strangers?

Day 18

*on the toilet* Someone bought a copy before breakfast… eager much?

Day 17

I know Wattpad is just a big forum. I’ve used forums before. But somehow the Orange makes this one a bit scarier?

Day 16

I am halfway through the working day, when suddenly I stop in the middle of the office and go a bit quiet and think SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT THE ROULADE IN CHAPTER 17, NOOO NOT THE ROULADE

Everyone else: ‘what’s wrong?’

Me: ‘um, nothing’

*carries on, quietly*

Day 15

Much the same as above, only it’s over lunch and I’m wondering what happened to Daniel’s crook.

Day 14

Getting into the habit of telling everyone on the internet that the P stands for Peter because they keep calling me PJ. How did I not foresee this?

Day 13

A stranger wrote a review on Amazon. A nice one. A reallynice one. “It is that rare breed of urban fantasy that actually has faith inpeople.” I didn’t even know that, and I wrote the damn book.

Day 12

Filling out interview questions for a blogger who is well within their rights to forget about me tomorrow. Suddenly it is 10PM and I realise I should probably log off soon.

Day 11

*tweets about book during lunch break*

*someone actually responds and says they have just bought it*

Most money ever made on a lunch break.

Day 10

Someone at work hands me his phone and says “buy it on my phone”.

I tell him he needs to get the app on the playstore to read it.

“I’m not gonna read it. Just buy it. Or I can give you the money in change?”

Fanx.

(I definitely still made sure he bought it.)

Day 9

I cannot believe this person actually bought a copy. She says she’s planning to read it NEXT month, but whatever. NO BACKSIES.

Day 8

A stranger in an indie author Facebook group has impulse-bought my book seconds after I posted a link.

Sucker.

(Kidding. THANK YOU AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS)

Day 7: ‘how many have you sold?’

*tells them*

*raises eyebrows* ‘really?’

Not sure what this means, and it’s a daily conversation now.

Day 6

A Texan blogger messages me to ask if she can interview me and review the book for her blog. I’m not really in a position to refuse. Really hope she doesn’t hate the Texan character. Thank you stranger!

Day 5

I realise now that checking my sales stats every four hours doesn’t actually generate sales but somehow, I can’t bring myself to stop just yet.

Day 4

Someone messages me to say he found some typos, but doesn’t remember where they were and no one else would notice them anyway. Mkay.

Day 3

Two copies sold in Canada? Thanks, but why? How? Who – what?

Day 2

‘how do I market my ebook’

About 3,100,000 results.

‘how do I market my ebook free’

Day 1

*wonders* How many people are going to unfriend me over these Facebook posts? Should I tone it down?

…

Nah.

*posts again*

6 hours in

That was quick. It’s out. It’s there. I can see it. It’s got my name on.

Now I can fix the typo.

Only another six hours until I can tell everyone it’s for sale.

5 minutes in

Oh, look, a typo.

Oh, look, the submit button is frozen.

What… what do you mean, I can’t re-upload right away?

I have to wait six hours ‘til it’s on the store before I can correct it?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

*hides*

10 minutes before

Forgot to write the blurb. Whoops.

30 minutes before

I can’t believe my book is going up for sale on Amazon. How exciting. I sure hope I got all the typos!