Contests & Incentives

I troll all the different communities for us self-published writers and it just occurred to me that sometimes, you have to make your own luck. I am in a very comfortable position because I have written a series and therefore I can afford to be a bit generous. So, I decided to start my own Facebook page for my writing and I posted a few contests as well.

*The first fifty people to buy my book will receive a free Amazon Kindle version of The Hook Up: Book Two.

*Of those fifty,  the first ten will actually receive a free autographed paperback edition of The Hook Up: Book Two.

*I am also hosting a contest for the first fifty people and one lucky winner will win The Beautiful People series (I suppose I should have said they win books two through eight as they will have purchased book one).

I suppose what really gives me solace is the one author who said she sold zero copies of her book the first month, twenty-odd copies the second month, fifty-odd copies the third month and more than seven hundred the fourth month. The author said she had sold more than seven thousand copies of her book so far. That is amazing and although Stephen King and James Patterson shouldn't quit their day jobs for fear of this author, I still believe that is quite an accomplishment.

Being a self-published author doesn't mean you have to only depend on Kindle to sell your novel; so far I also have copies of my novel on CreateSpace (where I created a paperback edition that is out of this world and brought tears to my eyes when I received the proof in the mail), my novel is also available on Scribd and Smashwords. For those who don't understand how big Smashwords is, they have a premium site which, if your book is chosen, feeds into Sony and Barnes & Noble amongst other book stores and ebook chains. This opens up the possibility of your book being discovered by the world; the same way as any other author who has to pay an agent, manager, publicist and publisher.

This journey has been so fulfilling (and mind you, I still haven't even sold a copy of my novella . . . yet) that I wished I had started it at the beginning of the year. Life is filled with so many endless possibilities and yet, inertia is our biggest enemy.

I stopped letting fear drive my life. Fear I would be a failure, fear no would appreciate my work, fear my work was not good enough because I couldn't get an agent. I started making my own luck and have never felt so in charge of my own destiny ever.