Commitments are scary. Public commitments are even scarier. If the hero in a romance novel is skittish about making a commitment, trust me, the author of that story is far more frightened.
I know firsthand because I made a commitment only five minutes ago, and it wasn’t my first. I created the preorder listing on Amazon for the first official book in my All’s Crazy in Love Series. Not a prequel, not a short story, but a full-fledged novel in a series that stole my heart and means the world to me.
No going back now.
I make commitments to myself all the time, and even to my readers. But they aren’t real commitments. They aren’t the kind with deadlines and consequences. This is. I have to meet Amazon’s deadline, a hard and fast external deadline, not my self-imposed but very flexible kind. If I don’t have my final manuscript uploaded and ready to go by Amazon’s deadline date they will punish me, cast me out, prevent me from using their preorder option for a full twelve months.
Trust me. I don’t want to be on Amazon’s bad side. They are ruthless about these things. No amount of cajoling and begging will get them to come around.
Whether or not I am ready, come February 21st, Crazy to Believe will be for sale. It will be available around the world, for sale or on Kindle Unlimited. I will advertise it, promote it, share my baby with everyone. Expose it to the world for praise, ridicule, or silence.
Then I will sit back and wait. And pray. A lot.
Because that is what authors do.
First, we pray that people actually buy our books, then we pray that they like them, and say so—in reviews, to their friends, on social media. Because that is how a book becomes a success. And no matter what an author may tell you, they want their little baby to flourish.
I know authors for whom sales are the measure of success. For others, it is critical acclaim, even awards. For others, simply putting their work out to share with the world is a success. I will be honest, I have published books where any and all of these were my goal. But having readers enjoy and be entertained by my romance novels is always my first priority. Hopefully, the rest will follow.
Awards, I’m not looking for any.
Survival would be more in line with my thinking.
Are you laughing right now? Because I am not kidding. The process of self-publishing could almost kill the average person. You have to have a compassionate heart and a creative mind to write a romance, but you have to have skin tougher than any alligator to publish one.
We slave over an idea, torture it into a first draft, a second draft, maybe a sixth or twelfth. I have done rewrites until I no longer recognize my manuscript. And so it goes until we finally believe we have a potential success. That’s when we hand it to an editor and wait for them to hand us back a beat up, redlined copy of that thing we thought was good—really good.
It wasn’t. Not even close. Fortunately, in my case, my editor is tough, but she’s also a genius. And she’s kind. Although she has shown me the error of my ways on virtually every single page of my manuscript, she has also gotten behind the book and it’s potential. She has inspired me to fix the problems she identified and move forward. So I do.
I do my millionith rewrite, knowing that expert eyes have given me the roadmap to a better novel, then hand it to a proofreader, someone eye for detail never ceases to amaze me. Off to be formatted, add gorgeous cover art by a talented designer and then…
I have to let it go. Put it in the universe.
Make that scary commitment.
Which I did. Yesterday. I can see it on the Amazon site, my novel, ready for preorder. This train is moving, gaining speed. All I can do now is make sure the track is smooth, the conductor is sober, and get out of the way.
If you are ready to go on this ride with me, destination excitement, entertainment, romance and escape, then it’s time for you to preorder my next novel, Crazy to Believe. Or start at the beginning with the prequel, Crazy to Wed. The prequel is available to you for free if you join my email list here. You will get bi-monthly newsletters with offers for other bonus content, exclusive deals, behind-the-scenes updates, and pictures of cats. At least I am honest. There will be occasional pictures of cats. I can’t help myself.
Just want to buy the book, no strings attached? Get Crazy to Wed here.
Meet the Crazy Eights
Eight women. Seven single by chance or by choice. One dare—marry in the next twelve months. The stakes are high. Losing is not an option.
When eight friends from childhood reunite at their twentieth high school reunion, they realize they only see each other at weddings and funerals. This is unacceptable to friends as close as this. The answer—obviously—more weddings. To get the ball rolling, the lone married woman, Gabriella dares her friends to marry or else. When they laugh off her idea, she doubles down on her challenge and raises the stakes.
Gabriella doesn’t care if Avery is so shy that she’s hardly even spoken to a man, or that Rachel can’t choose between the multitude of guys she sleeps with each month. Gabby ignores every argument, instead selecting the worst penalty for each of them to pay if they lose.
The Dare is on. The women open their hearts to every opportunity that crosses their paths, no matter how unlikely or elusive the man might be. They’ll help each other—as long as it doesn’t cost them the win.
Within weeks Avery finds a fellow cat rescuer, Sofia’s heart flutters with new possibilities at work, and Willow spars and sparks with her horrible neighbor. Melinda has to be coached, but not Harper. After twenty years, she’s finally flirting with her high school sweetheart.
All’s Crazy in Love offers eight funny, touching, steamy romances—from first love to second-chance romance, from unexpected babies to unexpected attraction. Get to know these wonderful women who find each other, themselves, and a chance to snatch the biggest prize of all—love. Read these stories and more in the All’s Crazy in Love series.
Travel with these lifelong friends as they discover love, test friendships, and race to cross the finish line.
Let the games begin…