AgathaChristieFan's self-publishing journey

AgathaChristieFan

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Hello everyone! It's been a real eye opening reading your self-publishing diaries on here. It's my favorite forum on Absolute Write :)

Ten days ago, I published my debut novel, and I'm very excited! Since I'm self-publishing for the long haul, I thought it'd be beneficial to learn formatting myself. That night I only got 4 hours of sleep, but it was worth it to see my mystery thriller on Amazon as a kindle book.

Two days ago, my proof from Createspace came in the mail. It was pretty cool to have a physical copy in my hand :) There's a copy of things I have to fix (like getting rid of some blank pages and making the header disappear on the front matter pages and the first page of each chapter). My friend said she'd help me if I need it.

Soon, I plan to download my story to Nook and Smashwords. I hope the process is easy as Amazon was. I've read some horror stories that other authors went through. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So far, I've had 6 sales. Three were from family members and 1 from my writing buddy. The other 2 are mysteries. I think it's time to play Harriet the Spy LOL.

I really don't plan to promote it until I get back from my New York City trip next week. Two bloggers offered to review, which is cool. I'll set up a blog tour and do a giveaway on Goodreads.

I'm really excited to share my publishing experience with you guys. And to continue reading about your journeys :)
 

Celeste Carrara

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Yay! I'm glad to see you self published your book! Congrats and I wish you all the best.

For some reason, that Twitter link is just taking me to the main site, not your Twitter page. I'd like to follow you on Twitter so send me the link when you can.
 

Ann Joyce

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Congratulations, ACF! Looking forward to watching your progress in your journey.
 

AgathaChristieFan

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For some reason, that Twitter link is just taking me to the main site, not your Twitter page. I'd like to follow you on Twitter so send me the link when you can.

I fixed it :)

Thanks Celeste, Ann Joyce, and RL McKeown! I'm supposed to be writing for NaNo (only 2 days left YEA!!!) but I can't stop rotating from this site, Goodreads, and my blog. It's like an addiction LOL. I should start packing soon since I leave tomorrow. Eventually I'll get it done :)
 

Spell-it-out

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Congrats ACF! It's great to see you've taken the plunge and put your work out there, I hope it goes well for you. Well done on the 6 sales so far.
 

PeterReynard

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Congratulations, that is awesome! As a fan of Agatha Christie myself and a new self-published author, I say, Go You!
 

AgathaChristieFan

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Thanks PeterReynard! I've loved Agatha Christie's novels since high school too. For lunch, I would spend my time in the library. My debut novel is inspired by "Then There Were None."

I just downloaded your mystery. I can't wait to read it. You had me at 'as a fan of Agatha Christie myself' LOL. Good luck with your publishing journey. Do you have a self-publishing journal on here too?
 

AgathaChristieFan

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For May, it looks like my total sales on Amazon were 6. I'll take whatever I can get. I published on May 20th.

Last night, I was pumped, attempting to download my book to Nook. I signed up, but I was at a standstill until I received an email to continue registering. I didn't get that until this morning, so after work, I'll go home and try again. By this weekend, I'd like to try downloading to Smashwords. I'm still having trouble formatting my headers/footers to match for Createspace, so I'll continue tweaking it.

Starting last night, I've complied a list of bloggers who specialize in the mystery, thriller genre to see if I can guest blog, have an author interview, or book review. It's time to start marketing. Later, I'll look on Goodreads to see if I can join any groups--I don't want to do that until I know for sure that I can commit time to something else.

They say the best promotion/marketing is getting another book out. So I should definitely make time to write and edit. For my women's fiction novel (the next book I plan to publish), I'm almost at the beta-reader stage. So excited! Then the NaNo novella I did for this month will be the next one published.

Since I write in cross genres, I plan to rotate every other book with a different genre. Hopefully everything will work out. I'll clearly label my books on my blog so readers shouldn't get confused.
 

SeeM0

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Sounds like you're off to a good start. :) Congrats and good luck.
 

PeterReynard

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Thanks PeterReynard! I've loved Agatha Christie's novels since high school too. For lunch, I would spend my time in the library. My debut novel is inspired by "Then There Were None."

I just downloaded your mystery. I can't wait to read it. You had me at 'as a fan of Agatha Christie myself' LOL. Good luck with your publishing journey. Do you have a self-publishing journal on here too?
I love "And Then There Were None." It's one of my favorite books and it was what I thought of when I read the blurb on Amazon. I'll be sure to check it out. And I hope you enjoy mine.

Nope don't have a self-publishing journal on here. Didn't know there was something like that. And good luck with the next one because I hear that's the best way to get more sales.
 

AgathaChristieFan

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Thanks SeeMO. I love that publishing is a steady marathon instead of a quick race :)

PeterReynard, I hope you enjoy it. Anyone can start a journal on here by clicking on the new thread in this forum. There's a lot of self-publishing journals on here--that's where I learned valuable information so I could have realistic expectations.
 

iron9567

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Congrats on the publish I hope you have many sales in the future.
thanks
iron