One year of self-publishing

On June 14,  2012, I self-published my first title. Human Instincts had been waiting for two years on my PC when I  decided to take a chance and send it out there. Since the editing process took longer than expected, the book wasn't ready in the beginning of June as planned, so I had to delay the release for the middle of the month. June 15 had a nice ring to it, but not knowing how long it was going to take for the ebook to be approved and what were the exact steps, I uploaded the book a day early. Amazon still lists it as being released on the 13th, maybe because I uploaded the book in the morning. The date is not that important, except that it kind of stuck, and it turned into a trend with all my ebooks being released on the 14th of the month.

So, a year... a busy year as far as self-publishing is concerned. Now I have three titles out: Human Instincts (an apocalyptic novella), Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks (a shapeshifter short story collection), and The Impaler's Revenge (the first novella in The Impaler Legacy vampire series). They're only available as ebooks as I didn't bother with printed copies. Maybe when I have a full novel, I'll consider that option too, but at 30,000-35,000 words, these are short, fast reads, perfect for e-readers and even your PC. Well, the Romanian edition of Human Instincts is also available in print from Millennium Books, but you have to speak Romanian for that.

During this time, my ebooks have received over 50 reviews on various platforms. Most of them are positive reviews, all the negative ones coming from people who received the books for free for review purposes, ha! I'm quite proud to announce that not even one refund has been recorded on Amazon.

Considering that I only had a vague idea about self-publishing when I started on this adventure, I don't think I did that badly. Of course, there are areas where I could have done better, especially where promotion is concerned. Still, sales and reviews still trickle in for titles I haven't promoted in six months, so I must have done something right. Or maybe it's because of the writing, hell if I know... Waiting for editors to return their drafts is still frustrating, but I got better at handling my impatience. I always work on a new project while editing another one. I'm not as good at social networking as socializing in particular is not my forte, but feel free to interact with me on Twitter, Facebook, etc. I promise I'll be nice. The good news is that writing has become easier and remains the most enjoyable activity from the whole publishing process, and as long as I enjoy it I'll stick to it.

What's on the agenda for the upcoming year? Here is the plan:
- finish and publish the entire The Impaler Legacy series by the end of the year (there are good chances for that to happen since I'm close to finish writing the last novella in the series)
- publish the first book in The Stolen Wings trilogy probably in the beginning of the next year (final draft still needs to be done)
- write the second book in The Stolen Wings trilogy (preferably this year so I can set a tentative release date towards the end of 2014)
- squeeze in either a steampunk novella or the first part of a space opera saga somewhere in there (it depends of time constraints as I plan to do some traditional publishing too, mostly for anthologies).

Until then, check this space for some discounted prices in July. Those who know me know why. :)