M4 (or My Magical Monday Moment)

My book cover

OK, hand on heart, I can truly say I am really proud to be able to say 'I AM A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!' As of last Monday, I achieved my Dream and one of my 5 life-time ambitions (see below for other 4). Yeah, I published my first book...

OK, it's only 15,000 words short. OK, it's only priced at .99c. OK, I only get about 35c for each sale but that's not the point!

I worked hard to get to this stage. I started writing about 6 or 7 years ago, learning the craft of writing, punctuation, story lines, conflict, show don't tell, and everything else us authors have to learn to be able to call ourselves an author. Oh, I also needed a good looking cover, so I learnt how to do that too through trial and error, using various free image manipulation programs, making several up.

My baby was nervously sent out to volunteers to pull apart - the first people to ever read any of my work - then it was amended and given to an editor who really pulled it apart. After the final rewrite, I had it proof-read one last time and then turned to the formatting. I had to learn how to format my document for Smashwords and Amazon - no easy feat - yet it got through the first hurdle of being submitted for inclusion in the SW premium catalogue.

Me, around the time of  'End of the Road'.

Once all this was done, I had to check that the book looked OK on several platforms, that the people who were following me and waiting for the book not only got to know about it, but got a free coupon code for it too.

Then I discovered Amazon Central, a place to add author details, so I did this. Then I realised that this was only for Amazon.com, and that Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.es etc etc needed individual entries. Amazon also sent me to Shelfari to complete some book details, as these migrate across to Amazon.

I am also learning about where to follow my books performance, ie its sales, downloads etc, and so visited and set up home with NovelRank, My TitleZ, as well as learning which Amazon page to visit to learn of which sales...

A banner I created for the book

So you might forgive me for ignoring this blog, for dropping out of The Twitterverse, for basically closing the door of my cave to get this first task done. The on-line presence is essential to become a successful author, but it won't write your book for you...

So now I'm busy writing part 2, looking for a suitable image for the cover and trying to keep my on-line presence alive. I have to say, despite my absence, I have received some incredible support from certain Twitter folk, some of whom I have got to know over the months, others I hardly know at all.

It's fair to say that without the contacts I have made on Twitter, My Magical Monday Moment would never have come...

Thank you, you know who you are.
xx