New Year, New Fear
Oh what adventures await in 2024
Hey! How was your liminal week?
There’s a special kind of emptiness between Christmas and New Year’s in most places that celebrate both. A freezing pause on the regular busy-ness that dominates most of our lives.
Maybe that helps add some reverence to the feeling of reflection that is so strongly associated with the winter holiday season.
Antarctic Warmth
A few months ago, I learned that it is relatively easy to mail things to Antarctica. In fact, depending on where the address is, packages are even eligible for free shipping through Amazon!
Besnowed being set in Antarctica made me want to find a way to get the book all the way there.
What I needed to do next was clear. An order was soon placed with my snowy story beginning its long journey home.
Only to be dead on arrival.
And then not much happened.
The influencer I tried to contact is a bit too big for an amateur author like myself. Beyond the radio silence all my contact seemed to produce, he was also leaving Antarctica the same day Besnowed was set to arrive.
I thought that would be the end of the story.
With nothing really to lose, I posted about what I was trying to do on social media.
I didn’t really expect anyone to answer, but I figured there was nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Jake McCartney eventually answered my tweet and a line of communication opened up between myself and a resident of McMurdo Station!
So, I sent another book (with free shipping) to Antarctica. The only worry seemed to be if we missed the summer window. After the short sunny season, there is no more mail delivered to the base.
I then mostly forgot about it, shrugging my shoulders and thinking not much would be lost if it didn’t work out. Fortunately everything went smoothly and there is now officially a copy of Besnowed at McMurdo!
Jake McCartney picked up the book and read through it just in time for the holidays.
With welcome praise and a story of how he would put my book in the local Antarctic library, I had the best gift of the year falling into my hands.
100 Copies
When I started Nights and Weekends Season 4, I wanted to set an ambitious goal for Maneus. 100 copies sold by the end of the season.
I missed the mark.
By a lot.
I found some success, but let’s call it moderate at best. As any good marketer would, I decided to redefine the parameters and methodology to ensure I would win.
I said I’d extend the deadline until the end of all Season 4 activities.
When that failed, I said I’d extend the deadline to the end of the year.
That failed as well.
However, I noticed that all my books combined were dangerously close to 100.
The perfect storm to reach a made-up goal!
I’m happy to say I did in fact meet the deadline and achieved that redefined goal:
over 100 copies sold by the end of 2023
Legitimate Author
I know my quantified graph and its objective metric of numbers is far from impressive. These aren’t the kind of sales that would buy me a ticket onto Oprah.
However, I noticed that they are consistent.
Since the release of Maneus, I’ve made at least some sales every month.
I think releasing two books has allowed me to prove myself as a legitimate author. I can imagine many people saw Besnowed as impressive, but not a sign of a real skill. With two and then three releases though, I’ve begun to really prove my abilities as a writer to the public at large.
No matter how anyone really views me and my writing, no one can deny I have gone from never having published a book to having three being read by people from all over the world.
I remember holding back because I thought it would hurt my chances at becoming a real writer. There are a lot of agents and publishers who look down upon self-published books and will never consider already published material.
I was reminded of that fear with a recent rejection.
It may still sting, but I have to remember that not doing anything is the quickest way to never being known as a writer at all.
Until next time.
Cheers,
John