Welcome to the Pearls of Wisdom Blog Tour! Today's guest is Best Selling Author Monica Murphy. Monica is the author of the wonderful One Week Girlfriend. She is represented by Kimberly Whalen at Trident Media Group. Today Monica will be sharing her caveats about self publishing. Like many other self published authors, even those that like Monica became best selling sensations, they all made mistakes along the way. Here is your chance to learn from their mistakes and take an easier road to success.
Monica's Post: Be Grateful
When Borders closed down a few years ago, I remember authors
and readers were tremendously sad and worried.
How will we discover
good books, the readers cried.
Who will hand sell our
books to readers, the authors cried.
It was a legitimate worry. Word of mouth is important, from
books to TV shows to movies to music. Discoverability is everything.
But then came along the explosion of the e-reader. And with
it, the stigma attached to self-publishing lifted. The world has changed,
people. There is so much content out there for readers to try and rake through.
A book can get lost pretty easily.
So when I set out to self-publish One Week Girlfriend, I did
it all wrong. I should’ve had more build up. I should’ve sent out more review
copies to bloggers. I should’ve done a big cover reveal.
I did none of that. Not at first. I uploaded the book onto
retail sites and chewed my nails hoping people would discover it. Watched my
sales figures obsessively. Threw myself out there on social media sites and
chatted it up with bloggers, other authors, reviewers, a handful of readers.
Gave the book away to a few of those bloggers and reviewers and hoped for the
best.
Girded my loins and prepared for the worst. What if they hate it? What if the book bombs? It was a chance I had to take. I love my characters. I wanted readers to discover Drew and Fable in the hopes they’d love them too.
Within days something really cool happened. I had readers contacting me on Goodreads. Where can I find your book? Is it out? I want to read it. They said this again and again. I had bloggers contact me. I had other reviewers contact me, asking to host me on their blogs. Heck, I had a wonderful woman (hi Christine!) from the Shh Moms Reading blog offer to coordinate a blog tour for me. That she was so generous with her time and cheerily arranged the entire thing blew me away.
And then I put the book on sale and somehow, it hit the USA
Today Bestseller list.
Twice.
It’s been a surreal ride, one that I’m still trying to wrap
my head around. It’s hard to believe this has all happened in the span of two
months. It feels like a lifetime ago that I put One Week Girlfriend out there
and hoped for the best while secretly preparing for the worst.
So why did I entitle this post be grateful? Because I am
eternally grateful to all the bloggers, the reviewers, the readers and how
their word of mouth helped One Week Girlfriend gain traction. Without them, I
would be nothing. They are so generous, so enthusiastic, telling their friends
to read my book. Engaging with me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, sending me
emails…
I love them. There are some really wonderful, supportive people out there and if I could hug them all, I would. I find that I smile a lot for absolutely no reason. I’ll be chilling on Twitter and a reader will tweet me they’re ready to give up a body part to read the next book and I’m stunned. They send me pictures of what they think Drew and Fable look like—and they’re spot on with my imagination. They message me to say they re-read the book (blows my mind people!). It’s amazing. I’m humbled by their support.
So don’t forget them, my fellow writers. Don’t forget the
readers out there who could fall in love with your books, your characters, your
writing. They are why we do this. Don’t get lost in your own little writing
world. Don’t be afraid to reach out and contact someone. They are dying to read
your work and fall head over heels in love with your books, your characters.
I just know it.
About the Author
Monica Murphy is a writer, a wife and a mom. She drinks too
much coffee and spends too much time in front of her computer. She likes to
read, she watches bad reality TV and she sometimes acts younger than she really
is. Though most of the time she's sure her kids think she's a complete buzz
kill.
One Week Girlfriend, a new adult/contemporary romance, is Monica's
first book.
Nice article... I just self-published my first book and the insights will come in handy...
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