Lessons Learned

Everything in life has a learning curve - some steeper than others. Some you can learn, get tutoring on, study... and some, you just gotta get in there and do it. Jump in with both feet. Because, good or bad, nothing is a better teacher than experience.

Now granted, some things, by the very nature of their life-threatening danger, require a good deal of instruction before attempting. For instance, I don't recommend skydiving without expert guidance - because forgetting that all-important 'pack' you are required to bring with you, is only going to be a one-time mistake, a very messy mistake, if you forget it because of inexperience.

Thankfully, self publishing isn't as dangerous. Although it can be almost as painful - especially when you do something completely and totally bone-headed, that with a modicum of foresight, you should have seen coming. Like releasing a new novel the day before Thanksgiving.

Yeah, I did that. Me. The bone-head. Why would I do that, you might ask? Because I'm a bone-head, haven't you been paying attention?

In all seriousness, After taking 2 years to complete this next novel in my Wings of Steele series, Dark Cover was 99% finished. And the readers were beyond restless.

I could almost see them out there, somewhere beyond the window of my monitor, gathering with pitchforks and torches calling for my book or my head. Yep, I succumbed to the arrows and slings I had withstood for months and rushed my release. By mere days. My editor had completed multiple reviews, the beta readers had completed nearly 2 full reads, chapters had been adjusted, new content written, proofed and included.

And under pressure, I chose the date a few days in advance; November 23rd. Completely forgetting Thanksgiving was November 24th until after I announced the release to my readers. DOH! Talk about a face-palm moment. It launched great on the 23rd, selling over 100 copies the first day. Then fell flat on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I jumped without a parachute.

God bless those readers that created a few sales those two days, but the book's momentum basically stalled, having to slowly recover on it's own. Bigger picture, will it kill me? Not like a drop without a parachute, but guaranteed it will still hurt. Lesson Learned? NEVER release a book remotely near a holiday.