Debut month for The Nothing Within has been a good one. To everyone who helped make that possible: Thank you!
Here’s what happened:
My supporters were awesome
So many friends and family members snagged a copy of the book, shared their encouragement, and spread the word through Amazon reviews, Goodreads reviews, Facebook posts, and word of mouth. In particular, my 20 beta readers have been heroic throughout the editing and publication process.
Publishers Weekly reviewed it
I was surprised such a major publication considered it, and even more surprised when they published a pretty glowing starred review.
People read it
I’m aware that’s the whole point of this exercise, but it’s still cool to see it happening.
A couple hundred people bought the book in its various forms. Also—as new authors often do to grow their audiences—I ran an Amazon promotion, temporarily offering the Kindle version for free. During the 3‑day promotion, over 4,000 people downloaded it. Because of that, it hit the #1 spot in five Amazon categories. And for whatever it’s worth, over 1,200 people at Goodreads have it listed on their “To Read” shelves.
I learned about the F‑bomb
The Nothing Within isn’t an obscene book, but it does contain some swear words: roughly 50 (out of 118,000), most of them in PG territory. Even so, that’s lead a few people to leave angry 1‑star reviews. And if those words upset them that much? Fair enough. As Mom used to say, “In matters of taste there’s no dispute.”
However, this had a silver lining. It lead me to read the Wikipedia article on the history of the F‑word—which was eye-opening, especially the part about the first known English use of the term around 1310. (Do not click that link if the F‑bomb discomforts you.) I’m a better person for having read it. Personal growth comes from unexpected sources.
Photo Credit Max Pixel under CC0 License.