Unspoken.

After the excitement of publication day, today is the day the nerves really set in.

Unspoken, my new baby, has flown the nest and is now out there in the wild world learning to fend for itself. There can be no questioning the thoughts of others. Readers are the most important people in any writer’s life outside of family. What they think matters. If they don’t like the look of the work you have slaved over for months, they are fully entitled to say so, and  publicly.

So, I sit here, constantly updating the Unspoken Amazon page before clicking onto my KDP reports to see how sales are going. Late last night I had a message from my author friend, Pam Howes, informing me that the book was in the 300s in all three Saga charts. I was encouraged by this as I have never written in this genre before and I spent an unsettled night, fighting the desire to go pick up my phone to check the ratings. The book has a chance of doing well in a very crowded field although many of the best selling authors write for this category.  The cover, created by the uber-talented, Jane Dixon Smith, is a big selling point, I also believe I have a very good blurb and my fab long-time, editor, Maureen Vincent Northam says  the book is an intricately woven, and beautifully told story.

So, why the nerves when everything seems to be going so well?

Reviews.

It is every author’s nightmare. You log onto Amazon and find that there is a new review waiting to be read. You close your eyes, then click away from the page, make a strong coffee, grab your box of Kleenex before pulling on your big writer’s pants, taking a deep breath and clicking the back button to refresh your book page.

Before clicking on the review link, you pray to all known deities that it will be at least a 3 star rating but you are convinced that it will be a 1  with a headline of ‘dreadful,’ or merely, ‘don’t bother.’

Most authors would be delighted with a 4, but a 3 would do just to let prospective readers know that the book isn’t going to end up in the charity shop, unread, or deleted from the Kindle after the first chapter.

Because of the length of Unspoken, I might have to wait until the middle of next week before I face that prospect. Until then I’ll just keep replying to the wonderful Facebook messages I’ve been receiving and wallowing in the glow of being a published author once again.

 

Amazon U.K. link