Ok, they were a verrrrry small publisher, but they ran totally professionally and they paid royalties.
I was now (in my mind) a 'real writer'. Someone who was going to get paid IF anyone bought the book. I was in an anthology with a few other authors, but I was going to be published!
For the first time ever, I had an editor who went over my manuscript and sent me (minimal) corrections and I had to fill in a cover art form.
It was really happening. I was being published!
Exciting news is all the more exciting when you can share it, so of course there were messages sent to writing friends who totally understood what this all meant. Family were excited because I was excited, but didn't really have any concept of what an achievement it was.
The beauty of digital publishing is there isn't as long a wait as with print books for your book to 'hit the digital shelves'. Not quite instant gratification, but definitely not delayed gratification. The time between getting the news and seeing my work available for purchase online wasn't very long at all.
Being with a small publisher, and knowing nothing back then about promotion and marketing, sadly I didn't make mega bucks from my first book but I did make enough to buy a few coffees and cakes - I made money from writing !
I was luckily able to order a print copy and to hold my 'book baby' in my hands. Something I had written. Something other people would read. The little girl who wrote a puppy poem that was read out on the radio never envisioned such a thing, but obviously the seed was sewn way back then to put words together, the love for the process and seeing an end result.
That butterfly dance that started up in my belly the day I got 'the email' was something I'll never forget. The same publisher accepted two more subsequent submissions, and the emails with that news were just as exciting (I wasn't a 'one hit wonder'), but there's nothing like your first.
Andra will be re-releasing her first published story as one of 'The Hothouse Flowers' series - 'Jasmine'. Keep your eyes open for it in May.
If you'd like an Advance Reader Copy to review, you can join Andra's ARC Team here.
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2 comments:
Well done, Andra!I doubt the excitement of seeing your books published ever ends...maybe not like the first, but there is a thrill, a sense of accomplishment with each story published.
I agree your first is never forgotten. I remember way back...um...thirty five years or so...I sent in a 350 word short life story to Readers Digest about a piano that showed up my house when I was around 10 years old. They sent me $350. That was the most I made in writing for the next 10 years. That same story was made longer and published on Medium last year. I haven't made $350 from it, but it's made a few bucks.
There are so many firsts to celebrate in this business. Your first short story. Your first novella. Your first novel. Your first series. Keep on making those firsts and you will be continuously excited.
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