Publishing Progress

Progress – Naheli’s Sacrifice

After three weeks of being a published author, here are the facts up to date:

I’ve sold three paperback copies of Naheli’s Sacrifice — one to my mother and two to good friends. 🙂
I’ve sold eight e-book copies, one of which went to my mum again. 😀 The others were mostly bought by other writers I know via Holly Lisle‘s forum, but I think there are one or two that are unaccounted for, so they may have been actual sales, no telling.
I have 900 Kindle pages read via Kindle Unlimited, which makes for two people who read the book completely. Or ten who read a fifth each. 😀
I have five reviews on Amazon, two four-star and three five-star ones! Which is fantastic, I think.
I’ve been able to give away a total of 51 free copies via Amazon KDP Select, using two of my five free promotion days.
I’m doing another free promotion this Sunday.
I’m getting really good feedback from people who are reading Naheli’s Sacrifice right now. Better than I’d hoped for, actually, which makes me happy. The story has been described as tragic, stark, beautiful, hopeful, with an ending that might bring a smile — sums it up very nicely, I think!
I’ve earned too little money to even pay a tiny bill with it, and sales will very likely go down next months since my friends now all have a copy. 😀 I don’t mind, though. A writer friend just told me it took her six months before the first unsolicited sales started showing up, and I’m fine with that. It’s still grand to see my novel out there and to have the paperback right in my hands!
Also a fact: My best friend cried because she was so moved by what I wrote about her in the Acknowledgments. Isn’t that sweet?
Last fact: I’m SO going to do NaNoWriMo again this year! My eleventh time. Looking forward to November and 50,000 words on Darklight Rest. 🙂

It’s really exciting to watch the stats Amazon produces on your published e-books. Apart from being able to see how many copies I sold (three, two of which to family :D) and how many were taken during the free promotion (just over 50 now!), I can see how many pages have been read by readers using Kindle Unlimited. At least, I think that’s what it is — still learning my way around this!

The graph is really interesting and looks like this:

kenp-count

Now, there’s no telling how many people actually share those read pages, but seeing as there are days between those two spikes with no pages read at all, I’m guessing there were only two people. And if that’s correct, it would mean Person A read the entire book (which is about 445 pages) in two days, and Person B read it in one day. Which, although at first glance it may seem sad because there were only two people, is actually great — because it would mean that at least two people found the book interesting enough to read it in just a day or two. 🙂 And I may be totally wrong with this, but I’ll choose to interpret it in this way and be happy about it!

This week I got the print version for Naheli’s Sacrifice done. I am now waiting for my proof copy to make sure it all looks good, and I’m so excited to see it! That must be a special moment, to see the book in actual printed form… well, unless I’ve messed up with the cover and it looks horrible, which might be the case. 😀 I’ll know more hopefully this week when it arrives.

Darklight Rest writing has been good today. I don’t really know where I’m going with this story, other than some vague ideas about Liya and Mariany. But I’m about 20,000 words in and Mariany hasn’t even showed up. Which doesn’t matter, I always tend to write a LOT in first draft and then cut a lot in revision. But I’m inspired and enjoying the writing and also getting some new characters that I like.

Also, I discovered PinInterest! I can’t believe I haven’t used it sooner. I made this collection for Darklight Rest, and it inspires me to no end, especially when, as usual, I get stuck with the setting. 🙂

First review

I really hadn’t expected to receive any reviews at all this early in the process, but today I got one. I still can’t believe it. I don’t know who the person is, which feels really strange, because so far the only people who have read… well, ANY of my writing have been friends, family, or members of online writing groups. It’s a good one, too — not a five-star one, but I’m totally fine with that. The comments are VERY nice and I’m… I don’t know. I’m at a loss for words. I always dreamed about publishing a book, but now is the moment I’m sitting here crying because this… knowing someone, somewhere, read my words and liked them… enough to even post about them… this is what I really wanted. I’d be glad to make a living from my writing some day, but in the end, I don’t care that much about sales. My number one goal, which I set up when I took one of Holly Lisle’s classes, was to reach others with my stories. People I don’t know in person, people across the globe.

And now it’s happened. I think this might be the second happiest moment of my life, my wedding being the first one. 🙂

See review here.

Naheli’s Sacrifice is live!

Oh. My. God.

It’s so much. There’s so much! I don’t know where to start, I don’t know how to catch up, there’s just so much to do and tell and brag about! (This is me grinning here!)

Last week, I finally published Naheli! I ended up settling on Naheli’s Sacrifice for the title, and I’m so proud of the cover. It may not be the final one, because there’s always room for improvement, but I think it’s okay for now, and good enough to be out there. I can’t image Naheli is actually being looked at, being read by people!

Of course, the big crash came already a day or two later. Two copies sold: to my wife and my mother. 😀 I was prepared for that, though, so it’s all right. It takes time to get the book out there, to even get people to realise it exists. This self-publishing business is IMMENSE. There’s so much to learn, there are so many resources out there, and I’m excited and so enjoying the process. Finally I am working on my big dream for real!

But for now, just for today: I’m happy. Naheli is out there, it’s gone to about 20 people for free when I ran a one-day promotion last Sunday, and I’m excited to see if there will be any feedback at all. It feels strange, knowing that the story is there in the hands of people I don’t know. I’m so curious to know them. I want to know what they are like, why they decided to download it, what they usually read. If they are like me or completely different, where in the world they live. So… if you are one of them, one of the 20 people who own Naheli’s story right now… please leave a comment and tell me who you are. I always imagined myself as the kind of writer who would actually talk to her readers. 🙂

The latest days, I’ve worked on putting together a free e-book containing some bits and pieces of notes and pictures I’ve collected during the whole Naheli-creation-process. Amazing, the things I found! Maps that are four years old, things I hardly remembered planning to put into the story. I had time travel planned, of course! 😀 Along with alternate dimensions, dark angels (those still fascinate me — I may go back to them one day), the mainland, a fanatic sect called TRUTH… oh, it was exciting. 🙂 But I do think Naheli’s story turned out better this way.

I’m working steadily on a new project. Will post more about that later. AHHHH, I’m so happy and proud! Talk to me, treasured readers! 🙂

Goodbye, Naheli.

Writing has been good today again. Haven’t been feeling too well otherwise (maybe it’s the strange weather), but the Muse is awake. And she’s happily throwing plans out the window (see previous post).

Meanwhile, I am trying to get my cover for Naheli set up. I haven’t even completely decided on a title yet. My favourite all this time was The Fourth Rule, but it seems Tree of Glass is more popular with my testing writing partners. I also like Naheli’s Sacrifice, which is really what it is all about. But I need to make a decision soon because once I have the manuscript back from my editor, I won’t be able to wait, I think. I’m only weeks away from my very first publication, and I’m impatient now. It’s amazing, seeing it all come together. I’ve worked on this story for a total of four years… and just found my very first notes while cleaning out my wardrobe. It’s funny, seeing the first ideas that sparked this novel. They have little to do with the final product, but that’s the way I’ve always worked. Of course I had time travel planned for the original version. And other dimensions. Oh, and dark-light angels. And shapeshifters. And three groups of religious fanatic on the mainland. … It’s probably a good thing I managed to stick to one storyline in the end.

I’m missing Naheli. When I had finished my final self-edit, I actually grieved for a few days. It was like losing a friend, someone who has accompanied me for a long time. Maybe that’s what stopped me from really getting Naheli out there for so long. Once I do, her story is set in stone, and we won’t be rewriting anymore. Still, it’s time now. I need to take this next step.

Onward to Arrianha. She also has a story that needs to be told.

Best writing song right now: Nova by VNV Nation.