The highs and lows of self-publishing a novel
Sweet joys and bitter sorrows
I self-published book 1 of my new series.
Yayyy!
It was a ton of work, and that doesn’t even include the writing part.
Booo!
~~~
I love my cover.
Yayyy!
I had to resize it several times to meet KDP specs.
Booo!
I got my first 5-star review.
Yayyy!
I’ve only gotten seven more reviews since.
Booo!
~~~
I made quite a few sales my first couple of days.
Yayyy!
It has slowed down quite a bit since.
Booo!
Several times, my Amazon rankings have crept pretty low.
Yayyy!
I check them every 15 seconds except when I’m sleeping (and sometimes when I get up to use the restroom).
Booo!
~~~
I’ve written the first 40,000 words of book 2 in 22 days.
Yayyy!
I’ve got 70,000 more to go and then weeks and weeks of revisions after that.
Booo!
~~~
I’m resisting spending money on promotions until I publish book 2.
Yayyy!
If you don’t spend money on promotions, it’s difficult to increase sales.
Booo!
~~~
My new Substack blog has 75 subscribers.
Yayyy!
I won’t be happy until I get 750.
Booo!
~~~
I spend every day getting all my work done so that I can write every evening.
Yayyy!
My wife spends evenings mostly alone.
Booo!
~~~
I dreamt the other night that I became a bestseller.
Yayyy!
Thus far, it’s only a dream.
Booo—well, you get the picture.
I admire your tenacity and enthusiasm during this brutal process! Continuing on with the next one is the best way to maintain one's sanity, so it's terrific that you're doing just that.
What you’re doing with this new series is such a cool and worthwhile thing. There are teens out there I think your story will really resonate with. Word of mouth takes time, but I keep hearing it’s still the best way to get sales. But yep, I’m sure I’d be checking those numbers compulsively, too.