Pre-orders for my book are LIVE and why I'm looking at long term results
On things I've learned in this season of becoming a new mom of two under two, and a newly minted published author.
November, November—I love this month.
To start, it’s my birth month. Plus, in many moments of my life, November has been when I’ve experienced the most break-downs and existential crises in a year. In hindsight, they were all beneficial, part of a larger plan. Because, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been on the healing path; I wouldn’t have changed careers; I wouldn’t have written my novel, The Town of Perpetual Autumn.
Pre-orders have been open in the Philippines since November 12th, but just recently on the eve of my birthday, my book got listed on Goodreads, Fable, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo!
I know—me? A published author? With a beautiful book cover and a deep, meaningful novel to boot? Great balls of fire!
If my sixteen-year-old self could see her thirty-four-year-old self today, she’d hug me, and I’d hug her back. What a brilliant thing we’ve done for ourselves today, kid.
I’ve learned a thing or two about publishing in the Philippines and beyond; and like all great things worth having, it isn’t as straight forward as one would hope. But that’s okay. This new reality is a challenge worth accepting. I’m choosing it because I love it.
For instance, I learned that it’s one thing to write a book, and it’s another thing to market a book. That it’s not enough to hire someone to create all the pretty social media content, you need to actually market and sell it. So there’s ARCs which I am managing myself, and I now get why people charge to do it for authors (it takes a lot of work!) There’s also a legitimate marketing strategy called book tours which you can hire a literary marketing firm for and I plan on doing this myself when the book is out. We authors do all this to enhance the exposure of the book.
To what end?
For long term traction and results.
I once listened in on a marketing mentor for authors before, and she mentioned to never stop selling your books, whether you’ve written them 10 years ago or 10 days ago, the numbers add up, and your readers will cast a wide net if they like your book enough. So that’s what I plan on doing. To continue selling my books until I can’t sell them anymore.
I appreciate how a writer’s work builds upon itself over time. The concept makes me believe that I am creating something that will take space in someone’s bookshelf or someone’s life; it never expires.
Somehow, I am able to connect this to my experience as a parent. As parents, we do what we do because we love our children. We toil under enormous patience and love for them, knowing that all the brief moments of compassion with them will add up to our kids (hopefully) becoming people we will admire and want to be friends with when they become adults themselves. We pour ourselves into our children believing that even when we are long gone, they will live on, carrying us around.
I feel the same way about writing books. Even when I am gone, my books will still be around, carrying bits and pieces of me, holding the dedications I wrote to my husband and my children. Acting as a portal to the mindset of a thirty-something year old sleep deprived mum who had a dream and wanted to live it.
I am so grateful that the reception for my debut novel has been warm. I’m looking forward to see how this will pan out for the next year. All the while, I’m still stewing with the reality that I am now a Goodreads author! That my book is on Kindle, Nook, Fable and the like. I want to savor this feeling, package it up, and enjoy it for years to come, especially on the days that are not-so-good.
So I remember what it feels like to dream, and make those dreams happen.
Things I am busy with recently:
Wrapping up my ARC list for my official Launch Crew. You can still join here.
Collecting and managing my pre-orders for the month of November
Started watching True Blood on HBO. It’s become quite dated, but the story, the plot and the characters are chef’s kiss so far. I’m just at season one.
Really into The Wedding People by Alison Espach, I highly recommend.