HAPPY NEW YEARS!
In only a few short hours, we will say goodbye to 2017 and ring in the New Year. Before that happens, I wanted to look back at the year I’ve had and share it with you all, because you have been a big part of it!
The year started with the release of my first young adult novel, MUSE SONG, in January 2017. Admittedly, it hasn’t done very well on the sales front but I do have it up on Instafreebie where it’s been downloaded nearly 700 times. Would I have liked those to be verified sales netting me a royalty? Of course, I would. But, as I’ve continued on this publishing journey, I’ve come to realize that this is a long-term investment. And this means that this book has reached nearly 700 readers. Maybe some of them will go on to purchase my other works and that is what tis is really all about.
The biggest personal milestone for me in 2017 was getting married to my long-time partner of nine years, Robert. We celebrated our nuptials on April 7, 2017 surrounded by friends and family at a beautiful hotel in Boston. It was an amazing night and everyone had a blast.
[Our Wedding Day]
After tying the knot, we embarked on a three-country, ten-day honeymoon. We spent time in Paris, Edinburgh and Zermatt. The skiing in Switzerland was downright terrifying (they don’t have any barriers on the sides of their trails … on sheer cliff faces. Not conducive to a safe skiing excursion for the blind girl) but the rest of the trip was a lot of fun> We saw a castle in each country (a requirement of mine) and we got to see lots of other tourist-y stuff (Robert’s request).
[A little romance by the Eiffel Tower]
[Some fun at Edinburgh Castle]
[Staying warm-ish at the Matterhorn]
In turning back to my year in writing and publishing, the back half of the year was pretty amazing. As I mentioned earlier, I’m now utilizing Instafreeibe as a mechanism to get my books out to more readers for FREE. Thanks to that service, my mailing list went from roughly 200 people before September to clocking in at about 800 as of today. The fact that you have read something of mine and enjoyed it enough to sign up is amazing and I am so immensely grateful to each and every one of you. You are the reason I do this. In a similar vein, in looking back the total of books sold (and yes, I include “Pains and Penalties” which is free to begin with in this figure) has exceeded 14,000. It may be down from my figures from 2016 but the fact that 14,000 copies have reached new readers is gratifying. It spurs me to keep going and putting new content out.
As I look toward 2018, I hope to be able to make significant strides in the process of putting out my next novel. Either by late 2018 or early 2019. And I hope to be able to bring you more sneak peeks and some fun contests. Keep an eye out for something for audiobook lovers in the early new year.
Thank you again for being with me this year. I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year and I’ll see you in 2018!
