Hi, there. Well, this is my first blog post on my new website. Exciting? I’m not sure yet.
If you happened to read my Facebook post last week, you know that was my first social media post ever. Which, by the way, I didn’t find Facebook as user friendly as you’d expect it to be. Or, maybe it was just the user. Regardless, a big thank you to my sister-in-law who helped me through it.
In anticipation of my debut book, LETHAL LEGACY coming out on Friday, I thought I’d share a little bit with you about my publishing journey. And I want to emphasize journey.
I’ve always had a secret creative side, and also a passion for reading, but it wasn’t until I left my career to became a stay-at-home mom that I decided to take the leap and write my first book. And, I fell madly in love with it. With writing, with the challenge, with the process, with the characters, with every part of it. Even the days where I stared at the blank page on my computer screen for thirty minutes, literally, not knowing what my next word should be. Forget sentence, I just needed a damn word. I committed to writing every single day, 7 days a week and I still do that today, two years later.
Finally, after months of writing every chance I had (was tough with a one year old), I finally completed my Romantic Suspense novel, LETHAL LEGACY. I was kinda proud of myself, my mom was so proud of me, my dad was too. And even my husband was impressed that “hey honey, I think I’m going to write a book” turned into an actual book.
It was almost immediately after I finished, that I thought – now what? Get published? Okay, how the hell do I do that? So, I researched my ASS off. Hours and hours of reading websites, blogs, submission guidelines, you name it. If it had to do with advice on publishing, I read it. So then, I came to an interesting fork in the road. To self-publish or publish traditionally? Well, after more hours of research and lots of soul searching, I decided to try to publish traditionally. Many reasons went into this decision, but ultimately, I knew that although I had done my research, the publishing world was a completely new and complex industry to me. I knew that I would be in better hands with experts for my first book. I also wanted to learn the ropes first, if I ever did decide to set out on my own and self-publish.
So, then I had to send out queries to publishing houses and try to get an offer. Fingers crossed.
What happened next? Oh, that’s right. THE REJECTIONS. And not even just rejections, the no responses—which, by the way, feels way worse than a rejection. However, my mom taught me to never give up, and finally, finally, I received an offer for LETHAL LEGACY. And then, shockingly, another offer the same week. I was so happy! After days of anxiety comparing contracts and weighing the pro’s and con’s, I chose Torrid Books and the process began.
Like I said, this has been a hell of a journey, learning curve and fun adventure for me. If there are any new authors about to begin a publishing journey of their own, feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I might not be able to help, but I can share my experiences and what worked and what didn’t. A piece of advice I’d like to give is this: Begin your second book while you're waiting for your first to get published! It can take years to get published and you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. It will help keep you sane too, while you're waiting on bated breath to hear back from them. Oh, also, write every day! This will help to keep the same tone throughout the book and will also help keep your creative juices flowing! I have a word count goal every day, and that helps a lot.
Anyway, here we are. My first book comes out this Friday! Feels pretty damn good, I must say. My second book entitled THE WOODS will come out later this year, and I’m currently working on my third. This one might take a little longer because I just welcomed my second baby boy in September.
Click the link below to get LETHAL LEGACY. I hope you enjoy!
Simon&Schuster, LETHAL LEGACY
