Congratulations - It’s a Book!

On Christmas night (which is when my family and I open presents) I had two extra gifts under the tree for everyone.

Paperback copies of my two books.

I realize this in and of itself doesn’t sound all that special (probably even seems a little self-serving).  However, considering that I had only told two people in my family about my career as an Indie author, I thought this was a quick and easy way to spill the beans.  Needless to say, those who weren’t in the know were pretty shocked (in a good way).

So, why did I choose to keep the lid on my Indie career for a year?  Well, for a few reasons.  For one, it’s always been important to me that my work stand on its own merit.  If I was going to be one of those authors who only sold ten books, I wanted those purchases to be from ten strangers.  Second, I didn’t want people to constantly ask me when my book was coming out.  It’s kind of like when you’re in a serious relationship.  After a while, people want to know when you’re getting engaged.  Then, when you get engaged, the first thing people ask is when you’re getting married.  Then you get married and people immediately want to know, “when are you having kids?”  Well, I wanted to skip all of that and go straight to, “here’s my baby (book), signed, sealed and delivered.”  Done and done.

Admittedly, it felt a little strange to have my “secret” out.  Everyone wanted to know the who, what, when, where and how.  My uncle thought maybe I’d told him and he hadn’t been paying attention.  My father took to sidling up to strangers in the grocery store and telling them to check out my website (okay, not quite that extreme, but let’s just say if I ever decide I need a PR person, I know who to call). 

Obviously, everyone announces the arrival of their “baby” in a variety of ways (book launch parties probably being the most popular).  I’m sure there are other authors out there like me who chose a more covert route, for reasons completely different from mine or maybe even the same.   As I always say, whatever works for you.

Mostly, I just want to keep on having babies.