Jenn J McLeod
“ It’ s hard work and luck, and that the first often leads to the second.”
For me it was also about being ready – that“ luck happens when opportunity and preparedness meet” – and when my season came around I was as ready as I knew how to be, although not for the rollercoaster that would follow.
So what’ s really changed for me since March 1 when House for all Seasons hit the shelves? I’ m still hunched over a keyboard in a kind of self-imposed solitary confinement and developing addictions to coffee and chocolate, only now I’ ve developed new addictions to Amazon rankings, Goodreads star ratings, and sales figures.
People probably think that having the ultimate affirmation— a published novel— makes a writer feel six-feet tall and want to brag. No! I actually am six-feet tall and the thought of spruiking about myself and my work is more likely to have me shrinking into the closest corner because, as I’ ve discovered, it’ s when that groundswell starts to form as your book hits the shelves and reviews start coming in that a writer can feel the most vulnerable. One minute you’ re swept up in a tsunami of promotion: guest blogs, bookshop signings, Twitter storms( I wish!). You are living the dream and riding so high until...
Until that wave of expectations— reader, publisher, family, friends... your own— flips your stomach
inside out; the kind of dumping wave that turns you in every direction and leaves you gasping for breath.
That’ s where I am right now, trying to breathe, desperate to know if I’ m meeting everyone’ s expectations. Yes, book blogger and reader reviews are coming in and they are GREAT! But are they as great as Author B’ s or Author C’ s reviews? Why did that newspaper not review MY book? Are my sales good enough? Have they justified the promotional spend? Will all this affect book two? Will there be a book three?
Breathe, Jenn! Just breath!
Jenn J McLeod
Jenn J McLeod- author of contemporary Australian fiction- released her debut novel on March 1, 2013. House for all Seasons is the first in a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster. Discover more at www. jennjmcleod. com.( And, of course, on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Google +( and anything else the tech gurus have invented in the time it took to write this article!)
www. jennjmcleod. com
Jenn has a number of‘ author portraits’ with a country theme on her website TIP: Make it easy for the media to access information about you and images for articles / interviews
www. authorpreneurmagazine. com |
April 2013 |
AuthorpreneurMagazine |
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