A Writer's Life: Book Release Day!

Want a brief glimpse into a writer’s life? Here’s mine:

You know how people say writers have to have a thick skin because they have to be prepared for any kind of review? Know how they say you develop this skin over time? And you know how some authors even say they don’t read reviews at all?

Not me. I know, I know, I should just write the best book I can and then move on. And for the most part, I do. But I just have to know. I think it’s akin to that moment in a horror movie where the sorority girl comes out of the shower, hears a strange noise, and goes to investigate in a towel. We all know it’s a bad idea, but she HAS to know what that noise was. Well, that’s me. I have to know what that review said. And, yeah, it feels a lot like being naked in a towel in front of the world.

My point of this little story is to say that some writers like me pay close attention to the first few weeks of our book babies’ lives. Part of this includes the dreaded Amazon ranking. When you scroll down to Product Details on a book’s sale page, you can see a list of categories the book has been sorted into and where the sales are for that particular book at that particular moment in time.

I’ve watched it before, when I’ve run a sale or when a new book was released. I was like, yay, I broke the 10,000’s. Well, today was a first for me. I broke the top 100.

Let me say that again before I tell you the rest. I. Broke. The top. 100. Now the less impressive part. This ranking was only in a very specific category of books, but even so! I will take every scrap of goodness I can out of this publishing thing and celebrate it. So here’s where the first two New Orleans Magick series books stood as of yesterday evening:

Magick Charm's ranking Monday night

Free Spirit's ranking Monday night

A minor victory, but it feels kind of huge right now. I think I’ve earned that glass of champagne.