337: Release Day! O Christmas Three is out in the wild
Today is going to be somewhat of a long post and it’s going to be less about me whining, and more about books. Yay! Right? No one wants to read about my whining. LOL. As many of you know, I’ve been working on getting my first self-published book out there. Today is release day, so here’s the obligatory cover and blurb here:
Garrett and Brianna Zane have the perfect marriage on the surface. They share everything from love to their wildest sexual desires with ease. So when Brianna confesses she wants a threesome with his best friend Leobardo Vasquez, it awakens feelings Garrett has long tried to forget.But the smoldering attraction between Leo and Brianna is hard to deny and even harder to dismiss when it’s all he can think about, especially when the three are trapped together in Leo’s cabin during a snowstorm. Seducing Leo will test their relationship, reveal old secrets, and maybe tear them apart. While there may be room for Leo in bed, there may not be room for a third in their marriage.
So, I kind of wanted to document my process to get this done here, because I’m sure it will improve with each book and get better and I like seeing how I change. It kind of why I blog about writing too.
I was on a strict deadline with this book, since it was a Christmas story. I knew I wanted it up in an October/November timeframe so it got some traction before the holidays. I’ve heard Christmas books sell well all year, but I really wanted it to be available and visible for Christmas.
Editing
So the first steps I had to take after the book was written was edits. These are the most lengthy part of the process for me, and now I know I need to build more time into my schedule for editing. I’m not a fast editor. I don’t know why I didn’t realize this before. Maybe I wanted to be a fast editor and somehow convinced myself that I was? I don’t know. Either way, I have to build more time into my schedule for it. Anyway, Team Awesome got the book. I gave them two weeks to read it and tear it apart, and they did well. I got all the critiques back, as well as a line edit, and got to work fixing all the crap that I screwed up.
And it took forever.
But I got it done and then I had to think about other things (which really I needed to start way earlier in the process, but I didn’t know that…)
Distribution
I had to get distribution set up. Yes, I could do all the self-publishing portals, like KDP, PubIt, Writing Life, ect. but I also wanted to expand distribution to every retailer I could reach. Now I have a hatred of Smashwords’ meat grinder, because it ruins all my pretty formatting. So as of this post, I have not uploaded to Smashwords. That may change. But I’m not sure the pittance that Smashwords generates is worth the time to put into going through the meat grinder. I also signed with a distributor, mainly because I wanted the option to have a preorder button if I so wanted. I didn’t with this book because it was so fast going up. I’m very happy with the care they’ve shown me so far.
For this part, I really should have started way earlier. I should have given myself at least a three or four week lead time. For the next book, I’ll be attempting to try out the preorder status, so be on the lookout for that one…
I’m also considering a print option, but that might be a while coming. It’s a little more expensive to go that route and I want to be sure it’s not super expensive for the consumer to purchase the book as compared to the ebook pricing. Seeing a $16.99 price tag associated with a print book whose ebook price is $3.99 always rubs me the wrong way. I don’t want the gap to be that big. I might combine it with another novella and do a print option for the larger book that way. I’m not sure yet. I am considering those options though.
Marketing
I actually haven’t done much more than announce the links as they go live for each version of the book. My real promo is set for the first couple weeks of December, so I’ll let you know how that goes when it happens. This is the part I’m most worried about. I’m not a marketing professional, and I’m not sure if this is something I can do a lot of. I’m hypersensitive to being the annoying marketer, which is why I think I shy away from it. That’s the other thing about my distributor is that they have options for me to buy a marketing package with them. Things that will help me get reviews, buy ads, and generally get my name out there.
Overall
It’s been a good experience. I’m trying not to obsessively look at sales and rankings. I literally refreshed ARe a couple times in a row… So… That means it’s time for me to step away from the computer, and let the book do its job. It’s the best product I can make, and I’m proud of it. While menages might not be to everyone’s taste, I will always love this book and I hope that people enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.
I’m a bundle of hypersensitive nerves, so I’m going to go grab some tea, sit down and watch some Warehouse 13 for a few hours. Then I’m going to get back to work, because I have a book due November 30th.
