Dear Reader,
It has been 10 days since I published my book and while I haven't sold millions yet, there have been a few people who are already posting on social media about it and giving my book great shout outs. I was really worried at first because I haven't received my author copies, yet other people are receiving theirs. This is due to Covid19 slowdowns and authors all over are experiencing the same dilemma, which makes me feel a little better about it because I know I'm not alone. Fortunately, those who have received my book are posting little videos about it and I can visually see that it looks great! I worried that it would have a dark line down the middle or the printing would be smudged, but everything looks great.
Since I'm a 'self-publisher' I'm also learning a lot about this world and navigating KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) and I'm seeing that my expectations do not meet what they are offering. I would like to be able to see how many people are purchasing my book per day, but I can only see how many books are being shipped per day. With it being that way, I have only sold six books even though I have marketed it to about three-hundred, plus social media. So, while these numbers are a little daunting, I'm still moving forward with my marketing strategies and getting this gem out into the world! This journey will test me in all the ways I expect and don't expect it too.
The next thing that's been interesting is that while I planned on launching this book in the summer, I was also planning on launching my YouTube channel at the same time. Since I published early, I sort of forgot that I needed to actually make YouTube videos, and last week I published a welcome video, but I need to learn more about video editing. The videos that I have contain content but do not have any visuals, and it is going to be a big learning curve for me to figure out. So that's a hurdle that I'll need to jump over, gracefully or not.
Overall, I'm still proud of myself for making it this far. I've struggled my whole life with wanting to be an author, and now that I am, I'm doing a great job. Self-publishing takes work and is like having another full-time job and I'm very happy that I'm pursuing my dreams. After this adventure, I will have the experience and every other book will be a bit easier.
Sincerely,
Stephanie