It’s been a few months since I’ve last updated the blog and so much has happened. So a quick recap should suffice.
In February, Muskets & Minuets had its cover release, which was super fun and awesome to count down to. I still can’t believe how beautiful the cover is. When having this manuscript as a published work was just a fantasy of my mind, a daydream and no more, I don’t think I could have dreamt up a more perfect cover. My deepest gratitude goes out to the illustrator, Marlowe Lune. You should check them out! https://www.marlowelune.com/ I really don’t know how I got lucky enough to deserve a cover that beautiful for my beloved book. I am still wordless over it.
In March, I stepped onto a plane and visited my best friend (she lives in South Carolina) and I just about had the best weekend I’d had in a long time. I don’t think I laughed so hard or smiled so much in well over a year! Seeing her is physick for my soul, especially since she lives a plane ride away. She is my sister from another mister, my soul sister, and we’ve been best friends for literally our entire lives. Truly. Our earliest memories of life include each other, so it is quite literally, our whole lives.
April was all about good weather and a secret project I’m doing for Muskets & Minuets. I’ll give you a hint (for those of you who follow me on social media, you probably already saw); on April 19th, we remembered the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord. I went to Minuteman National Park dressed in my 18th century attire. Needless to say, it wasn’t without purpose. More on that to come! *chuckles evilly*
And at last, we’ve arrived at the present. Which is a gift. No, but really, I am just stunned by what’s been happening in my author life. I never thought I could call myself an author. I’ve always identified as a nurse, which I still am, but ‘author’ was always a special title, a status to which I always aspired but never deemed attainable. This month, I feel I can truly call myself ‘author’.
Muskets & Minuets was released on Amazon for ebook pre-order. I was excited–it came faster than I thought it would–and so I was also nervous. I promoted a bit on social media over the coming days, and people I knew messaged me they had pre-ordered, so that was cool. Lots more asked when they could pre-order the physical book. More to come on that!
But then one night, as I was about the turn off the light, I checked my Amazon link and saw this…
Number 1?! Are you sure?! Is this real? Is Amazon playing me?! How? What?! I scrolled a bit saw that Muskets & Minuets was also ranked at #8 for its category of sellers. #8?! HOW?! It was on the same best seller list as Laurie Halse Anderson’s Seeds of America series, and Johnny Tremaine.
Oh, this…this is an honor I am not worthy of. There must be some mistake. This can’t be real. My book is only up for pre-order for Kindle, and no one has yet read it!
But it is real. And I am so overwhelmed with joy. I know these numbers are transient, and at any given time, my rank drops and lifts, but in that moment, I was #8. And then Thursday, I rose to #6! It has since dropped, and that’s totally fine, but holy crap, I was ranked #6 for my category! Does this classify my novel as a ‘best seller’, even before it’s been released? I was in the top 10, so that must count for something!
This is more than I could have hoped for. Truly. If I reached local readers who enjoyed my book, family, friends…then I felt I would be a success. I never in my wildest dreams imagined I could make a list like that with just pre-orders. It gives me pause, and then a bit of saucy hope for what may be to come when paperback is up for pre-order, and then when the book is actually released come October. OCTOBER!!!! We’ve still got five whole months to go!
For the meantime, I am working on marketing. It’s all so new and overwhelming, but I’m trying. I’ve never been the best promoter of anything, really, and that’s probably why I’m a nurse and not in business. But I’m sincerely trying. And something must be working, so I thank YOU, gentle reader, for your support. Because without you, I doubt I’d be where I’m at today.
And with this bit of good news, I leave you to your day. May it be filled with sunshine and only good things to come!
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