2 Days
The Heart of the North will soon see the light of day for everyone. My first book releases on 12/1/25, 2 days from now. Day after tomorrow in paperback, hardback, and Kindle. I’d say I feel totally relaxed, but yeah, I’m not. I’ve read the book many times these last several years, but it’s another for others to do so, ask for their time, hope they feel their investment has been worth it… The self-published fantasy/sci-fi market is massive and to get one reader amongst the hundreds of thousands of genre-dedicated fans is humbling.
These last couple of weeks have been headache inducing, and if my hair hadn’t already begun turning gray when I was in my 20s it would’ve started now, in full speed, in all its annoying glory (PS, I look older than I am because of this; it has had its benefits and drawbacks, lol). Now, aside from having my book released to be read and publicly judged - the antithesis of the introvert world! - the other anxiety inducer has been verifying those who did pre-order the paperback will receive it! Oh, and I suck at marketing myself, but that’s a battle for another day…
But the orders and shipping. I have one Kindle and 2 paperback pre-orders. Kindle one is easy, obviously. The file was uploaded, and I already verified it. Yup, looks like a Kindle book. Check. Done. The paperbacks… I have a copy. I know what it looks like. But I ordered it as a proof from my printer. Since the book was set to Enable Distribution and became available on Amazon.com, I haven’t been able to receive confirmation on how it all functions to where I can see it all in the background. I’m supposed to trust the system. Um, yeah, that doesn’t work for me. Amazon, even with all their many, many issues, can only assist so far as they’re not the printer, only one of many sellers (along with B&N, bookshop.org, etc.); thus, they don’t have the ability to know if the printer received the pre-order, and the company I’m using is notoriously awful at replying to emails (they don’t have a phone number), normally taking 10 days or more to answer a query.
On a positive note, on Thanksgiving Day, they printed the two pre-orders to ship. In addition to a bulk order to Canada. Yeah, not sure what that’s about, lol. I 100% respect and agree with not knowing who the individual buyers are; it’s none of my business and I still support the privacy of people. I do, however, think it would be neat to know when a business buys wholesale shipments. If the book sells well, you would be able to communicate with them and see if you can assist in anyway - signed copies, for example.
I took Monday off from work, 12/1. With it being release day, I would be useless at work, my mind constantly racing, verifying everything is as it should be online and available. Possibly have a video released on Instagram; I’ve never posted a video before, just pics.
When all is said and done. I created every aspect of this book: I wrote and edited it, formatted it, and created the cover and inner artwork (which was improved by Luna Haven Thorne). For better or worse, I own every single aspect in every way. And I wrote the book I’d like to read. As a writer, what other reason would there be to write a book?
2 days, we’ll see :)
Patrick