Vellichor Ink

Things have been fairly quiet in my corner of the writing world. In the Light of the Moon is out there in the ether and sales have slowed down, though I did hit over 200 books sold!!

I realize that 200 books is like a blip to most authors. Hell, 200 is probably smaller than the number of ARCs they send out. But to this indie author just starting out, 200 feels pretty huge! Especially since my marketing plan has been…let’s just say, nonexistent.

I also got my first payout from the ‘zon for ebooks sold! It was a bit wild to see the deposit in my bank account (however small it was) and know that I earned it with my words! I wish I could tell my younger self that it’s happening. Slowly but surely, that dream has come true.

It feels surreal to be here…on the edge of a dream realized. But here I stand, and it looks pretty amazing. Daunting, overwhelming, and stressful, but amazing.

I have hopes and dreams that this writing gig will take off. That more people will find my words and I’ll be able to at least come close to breaking even so I can keep it up. Either way, I really love being able to say I’m an author now and the motivation that just that short sentence has birthed has been incredible.

So far the book has been read in lots of states all over the US, in Canada, England, and Germany! My first bookstagrammer has a copy and is going to read it and post about it. And my very first book club is reading it this month!

Another huge milestone is that I was in someone’s house and saw it on a bookshelf for the first time.

I was at my friend Jill’s and we were meeting to discuss things with our writers group for the county and I looked up and saw it, there on the shelf. It stopped me in my tracks. I realized that I’ve seen it in people’s hands or on tables but never on someone’s shelf. It brought tears to my eyes. I know I keep using the word surreal but there’s no better word to describe it.

In other news, my editor has a hold of Book 2, Pathfinder, and I should have it back to make my first round of edits in a couple of weeks. We met on zoom last week and discussed it and she said she was so pleased to see how much I’d grown from the first book! I’d told her (and I know I’ve said it here)–the first book my first book. It was full of mistakes and a fledgling author trying to prove to herself that she could actually do it. Book 2 is much more streamlined. I didn’t feel the need to put in every word or make things work that just couldn’t or wouldn’t that I wanted to include anyway. And there certainly isn’t two pages about dates. She said there weren’t any lulls or places where the story lagged–it just drives forward with momentum!

I’m so, so excited to get it back and make it even better. I’m finding that this whole process of having an editor and getting feedback is a lot more fun than I ever thought it would be. It was so daunting and nerve wracking at first, but now I am looking forward to her suggestions and her thoughts. We’re looking at a release date of end of November so I’ll start working on teasing the date and ARC sign ups soon!

Just a quick note… if you’ve purchased and read In the Light of the Moon can you do this indie author a favor and go leave a review? I’m not asking for five stars, but anything would be super, SUPER helpful. Reviews garner interest and I need a little more interest to keep this going. Goodreads or Story graph would be helpful but wherever you purchased from would be incredibly helpful! And if you have feedback, please be kind! I’m always up for constructive feedback but please remember there’s a human being on the other end of this screen.