Victory!

I woke up this morning at 5am because Ava lost her passie in her crib and was demanding someone rush in to return it promptly to her mouth. While John attended to the princess, I rolled over and stared at my phone. I wanted to pick it up and look. I knew it had news. I just didn’t know if I could handle seeing bad news. And I’d surely never go back to sleep. But I could not resist. I reached over and turned it on. I had 17 emails and as soon as I saw the words “GREAT NEWS!!!” and “Congrats!!” I gasped. Then saw this on the Kindle Scout website:

 Campaign has ended. This book will be published by Kindle Press!

I had done it. After four years of writing and editing and rereading and rereading and thinking what the hell am I doing writing a novel, I finally did it. I, the person who balked at 3 page term papers in college, wrote a full length novel that will be PUBLISHED! I still can hardly believe it.

I am so thankful for all the support I had from my friends throughout the Kindle Scout campaign. I noticed friends I hadn’t talked to or heard from in so long reaching out to say they had nominated me. I even had a fairy god mother, a wonderful book blogger named Jude from Platypire Reviews who showed such faith in my book that she reached out to her own large network several times for me (Thank you Jooood!). From day one, I got the “HOT” label which I proceeded to obsess over daily (ok fine, hourly) for 30 days. But I quickly realized that although the label got you the Amazon Scout’s attention, it didn’t guarantee a publishing contract. Some books were getting published that had almost never been “hot” and others that had been on the list for the entire time were not getting published. So I have really been on pins and needles wondering if my book really has what it takes. After rereading it 500 times you start to lose perspective on the quality, like does this book totally suck or is it the best thing since Great Expectations?

My friend Tracy asked me right before I did Kindle Scout, “Have you done everything–everything–you can possibly do to make it the best?”

It was a great question. I think back to all my beta readers, my revisions, my freelance editor from Polished Pen, Max… I really had done everything. And now I am so glad I took the time and made a few investments. Now, of course, realizing that the audience for this  book may be larger than I even imagined, I am going to take at least a portion of my 30 days Kindle Press allows to do just a little more fine tuning. In fact, I brought in a ringer for the end. My good friend Catie Wittmack (author of Eliza’s Shadow) has done a quick read of the book, and I am making just a few changes to heighten the tension at the end (thanks Catie!). But then, I’m done. I will release my baby into the world. And then the real judging begins… the reviews. Eeeek! But I will be ready.

Thank you again to everyone, truly. My heart is so big right now and my success is in no small part due to you who are reading this.

Anyway, I like to include songs in my posts that reflect what I am feeling. This song, Some Nights, by FUN is such a battle cry song. Ha! The video is super cheesed out, but the song is just so epic I can’t help but love it. It actually inspired me to write a certain scene in Sirens. Today, I feel like I won a battle. I am sure there will be more to come, but for now I feel victorious.