It’s the night of May 25th as I write this, and that means my debut novella has been in the wild for a month already. I can hardly believe it. On top of that, the cover of my next novella, MELON HEAD MAYHEM (July, Shortwave Publishing), is going to be revealed tomorrow (Friday). So, yes, I’m celebrating a bit with a somewhat poor excuse for a margarita because why not celebrate the wins and milestones? This is a ridiculous thing we’re doing, but it’s good, too. And I can drink to that.
I have no real goal in mind with this post, other than to take the time to reflect on my first book. So, how about it?
I wrote CURSE CORVUS three years ago. It went through a few revisions and several early readers, and I spent the next 2+ years trying to sell it. It got rejected, a lot, and for most of that time I resisted the idea of self-publishing because it felt like a “last resort” or, worse, like “giving up”. Talk about dumb. I probably knew it then, but I certainly know that now. I don’t need to get into the validity or merits of self-publishing right now or how it’s not for everyone, but–it was for me. By late 2022 I had decided that was going to be my path for this book. I’d since put out three books of other folks’ stories through Dread Stone Press, so why not? I knew what the process entailed and I was prepared to take it on so I could get this story into the world. And I don’t regret it for a second.
What have I learned since then? Not too much I didn’t already know, but they were good reminders nonetheless:
- Covers are important! Duh. I’m so thankful for Evangeline Gallagher and the perfect cover they created. I’ve heard numerous times now that the cover is what drew the attention of future readers.
- People are reading my book! And, like, really quickly? I’ve lost count of the number of times someone told me they read CURSE CORVUS in one or two sittings. I love that.
- I’ve sold more copies than I expected but far less than I hoped. Is that odd? *shrug* Low expectations, high hopes, I suppose.
- Word of mouth works. Full stop. I’ve seen it first hand. Please please please if you like a book let people know. Even if you think everyone else is talking about it, or you think you see it a bunch so there’s no need to share more about it–do it anyway. You might be the one that finally convinces someone else to check a book out.
I have so much more to say but not enough brain power to articulate it, so I’ll end with this. Thank you to every single one of you who have given my book a chance. I am so proud of the book I created (with so much help, of course), but I am thrilled to have it out of my hands now and into yours.
Beware the raven.