My Author Journey

 

 

One Author’s Journey

#2

 

While the first title, Nan’s Journey, was going through the publishing hoops, my husband urged me to write the next book in the series. I hadn’t thought much about writing other books. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end every time someone called me ‘author’.  I simply couldn’t believe they were referring to me. I had the feeling that someone would pull back the curtain and find out the ‘author’ was only me.

Book II of the Nan’s Heritage Series seemed to fly off the laptop compared to the seven or so years it took to write Book I. I believe the first book took so long because I never thought it was something that would be published. With Elk’s Resolve, I had a little momentum going. Every day my husband asked me if I had written that day. That was a lot of pressure for me because I hadn’t gotten into the rhythm of being a writer. Being accountable to him was what I needed to get the book done. I also wrote furiously because I was afraid I would lose my nerve.

One lazy afternoon while I was napping, the phone rang. It was the marketing representative from my publisher. He told me Nan’s Journey was ready and asked me how many copies I wanted to order. He asked a lot of questions and my mind was officially blown. I heard terms I had never thought of before: push cards, promotional items, press release…

He could tell I was lost, so he recommended a book for me to read. It was Amen by Leon Mentzer. It was a book about publishing and marketing for the beginning author. I ordered it, some push cards, book marks, posters, and fifty books. He told me not to give any books to friends and relatives. I didn’t listen. I was afraid if I didn’t give the books to them, I would be stuck with them.

The books arrived. I opened the box and cried when I saw them. My heart was within those pages. Would anyone like it? The marketing book was in the box as well. I dove into it and cried when I read it. I realized I really didn’t know what I was doing. I thought I would be at my computer writing and the books would sell themselves. That’s what I had learned from movies I had watched.  I had just watched a movie where a poor boy wrote a book and immediately was rich. In fact, my husband had a list of things we were going to do with ‘all that money’. One funny thing I remember from those first ‘author’ days was my first time I went to the post office to pick up the mail for my paying job. I honestly wondered if people would approach me and think I was famous. Nope, I was still just me. I guess they never did get the memo that I was something special. I just have to laugh about that.

Leon’s book gave me a dose of reality from which I still haven’t recovered. One fact was that most authors never sell more than ninety-nine copies. Thank the Lord; my books have done better than that. There were ideas to get the word out and I marked up that book and attempted to put the suggestions into practice. I contacted him and he became my first book mentor. I will always feel blessed that he gave me good direction in those first months.

Some orders came in from people who had heard about me and I took them to the window of the post office. The clerk was a sweet lady and I had given her a book. She started talking to me about the characters in the book as if they were real people. I remember being shocked that she knew ‘my people’. I felt exposed. This woman knew the thoughts in my heart. I don’t know what I had expected. It did make me realize that I needed to be careful with those words I write because people were reading.