Some more Indie Author ups and downs…

Facebook adverts really work! They’ve been so successful I had to pause my boosted posts for 48 hours just to take a break from the notifications and lower my phone from my face for a while. It was getting out of hand; I was walking into lamp-posts as I replied to people, I’ve ruined several meals while chatting with readers on messenger and I was getting worried my children would forget what I looked like, with that white rectangle permanently obscuring my face.

My main feeling is gratitude that so many people are taking an interest in Daughter, Disappeared. In three weeks I’ve sold 180 ebooks, 120 paperbacks (101 via Amazon and 19 signed copies I sold directly), had 11,398 pages read on Kindle Unlimited (equivalent to 37 books), plus sixteen Amazon reviews: delight and relief in equal measure.

There’s something terrifying and direct about being an Indie Author. A contract with a traditional publisher gives a book instant gravitas; the experts liked it enough to publish it. This gives the author a buffer from failure if the book doesn’t succeed. I was half expecting I’d publish DD, a few friends would buy it out of kindness, and that would be that. So it is beyond awesome that it’s doing so well. It’s been so much fun to connect directly with readers across the UK who are reading it; that would probably not have happened if I’d been with a publisher. I’m also pretty chuffed that my local Waterstones and library have both said they’ll get some stock in. Is it terrible that I immediately started looking forward to taking a selfie beside my book in Waterstones?!

The initial post-publication period hasn’t been without stress, mostly the ongoing saga with the ‘out of stock’ message Amazon still has, even though over 100 books have been printed by Ingram Sparks from Amazon orders. I was particularly gutted to hear that some orders had been cancelled by Amazon due to stock being unavailable and people invited to re-order. But I think I know why that was…

A typo.

Despite my best efforts to produce a perfect polished novel, having paid for a professional proof read, an eagle-eyed reader spotted a typo (MS, thank you). I’ll air my dirty laundry: there’s a sentence where I’ve said Jane when it should be Anna. I’ve still got a bruised shin from kicking myself.

The ebook was easy and free to replace, but the paperback file required a fee to be paid and a three-day re-approval process, during which time the book was unavailable for printing. Arrrggghh.

So there are 120 paperbacks out there with a typo. Sorry!

Some people have asked about my next book, a thriller set on the west coast of Scotland, and it’s on track to be published in February 2017. I’ve got a week booked off work at the end of December to finalise it before it is proof-read and I’ve already seen the first cover demo by talented designer Mark Thomas from Coverness.com (I would highly recommend Coverness to other Indie Authors out there). I’m sure a lot of the success of DD on facebook is the fabulous cover.

In the meantime thanks for reading if you already have, and if you haven’t… would you like to? Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/2eCnZRf