Confessions of a First Time Author – Part 1

Today, I share part one of my true confessions – the lessons I have learned in the early days of being a romance author.

Boy, was I clueless. When I retired from Corporate America I would have laughed if you’d told me I would write a novel. Sure, as a kid, I had always dreamed of writing, but I was well beyond the point where you admit your age and in those intervening years, I had only written for business. I thought I had let my inner-author die. What changed? I fell into writing romance novels because I love learning.

As a new retiree, I enrolled in courses from the history of the Tudors to the constraints on Presidential powers. I soaked up information. Then I jumped into an online class on being a romance author and I was in up to my neck.

Confessions of a First Time Romance Author

So I wrote a novel, “Bedazzled”. I make that sound so easy but it wasn’t. I rewrote the first 50 pages six times. My friends said they believed in me, so I gave myself a stern lecture and determined to complete the damn thing. And I did. Then I asked a few romance lovers to read it and provide feedback. I had it edited, and edited again and then did more editing until it was ready.

Another online course provided pointers about publishing. I found an illustrator I could afford at Fiverr. I bought ISBNs (those scannable book numbers) then found out I didn’t need them for eBooks – sigh. I spent a week trying to format a paperback version before I hired someone. Still, it was progress.

The day I hit “publish” on the Amazon website I was so excited I wanted to scream. There was no prelaunch work, no launch party, no big announcement on social media. There was nothing but a big sigh of relief. I immediately started on the next book in the series, “Beholden“. I was confident that people would be clamoring for it any moment.

Boy was I clueless

I thought I would tell a few friends, they would tell a few more and the book buzz would take off. I had no idea how to market an eBook and no understanding of Amazon algorithms and how to take advantage of them. I did not understand that I counting on too much from my friends. Nor did I know that I could take steps to make their task easier when they did assist. Did I support the launch with Facebook or Twitter? No, of course not. I did not even know how.

No surprise, the books didn’t sell. Of course my friends and family bought – thank God. Then, nothing. I did what new authors do, I checked the sales report everyday, watching for something to change. It didn’t.

So I did that thing I love to do – I started learning. I subscribed to blogs, learned about RSS feeds so I could get them automatically. Then I started buying what they were selling – tools to help understand that blasted algorithm, use social media, self-publish and market. Of course, that just led to offers for more free webinars, free eBooks and soon I was buried in advice. So – you will love this –I started subscribing to advice on how to handle all the advice! I kid you not, I did this.

Of course, none of this helped me reach more readers. It did help me set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account and even an email list on MailChimp. It told me what pages to include on my website, and what tools would drive more traffic to the site. It told me to write a blog. I bought into it all, and I bought more tools, more eBooks, more, more, more.

So here we are.

I listened, I read, I watched, and I learned. I was spending twice as much time learning, watching and reading as I was writing. I had a blog and social media demands, so I had to write more, too.

I discovered I like blogging and learning about publishing and marketing. Most important? I learned that you are all critical to my success.

I want to share more confessions in the coming weeks, and tell you how you can play a significant role in moving me forward in my newfound career. I hope you’re willing to engage, because I truly can’t do this without YOU.

Watch this space.