When was the last time you stared blankly at something for an inordinate length of time before comprehending what you were looking at like you were some quirky cartoon owl character?

Well, for me it was a little over week ago. I woke dark & early on the morning of July 31st bleary-eyed from the ridiculous schedule I’d been keeping for weeks before the launch of my second novel, Core Haven. I was feeling pretty good about the whole situation, in part because I was, & still am, surprisingly comfortable with most aspects of my companion novel.

Anyway, there I was with a whopping 22 pre-orders in my column. (I know, I know, some writers wring their hands if they don’t have at least 100, but hell, they’re living in a world apart from mine).

What I didn’t have—& still have very few of at the present moment—are reviews.

Now, if you do inhabit the indie author universe, that previous sentence will no doubt cue the distant sound of a death knell.

But if you don’t frequent the indie author space, that probably doesn’t seem like a big deal. In casual conversation, you might tell me you believe most readers routinely rate and review books they read, especially since so many authors stress the importance of doing so.

To which I’d respond, “Hey, can I tiptoe alongside your pet unicorn through the fantasy land of your simulation & sniff the tulips too?”

‘Cause trust me on this, oh non-indie writer that you’re fortunate enough to be at this moment, reviews are considered by most as the be-all & end-all of launching.

So there I was early that morning ready to face the music for having decided that my overall strategy was flawed at best. I mean, with my first novel, Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown, I didn’t even try getting reviews till after it came out, so I thought six weeks beforehand for my second was a vast improvement.

Well…I want you to know at this moment I’m raising my right hand & typing only with my left as I make a solemn oath. I swear by the writing muses I keep hoping will one day stop by for a prolonged visit—the next time I publish a book I’ll wait three to six months longer so I can garner as many reviews as humanly possible before its release.

So imagine my surprise the morning of July 31st when I checked online to make sure everything was live & saw the image below.

Top new what? After I caught my breath, I proceeded to find more incomprehensible items like:

Before I had much of a chance to do a happy dance, however, incoming emails started pinging on my phone. The flood of cold pitch emails remained fairly consistent till a few days ago when the average went up from five to twenty/day, no lie.

Problem is, I have to read through them all since some are legit responses to something I already sent. OK, I admit others were entertaining & enlightening about the use of AI, but still…

Fortunately, a few ratings & reviews started coming in as well, so now I can use a couple pull quotes to put into ads & such.

And of course, as you can imagine, those early Amazon ranking numbers have gradually settled over time the way a slugger’s batting average at the stellar start of a season eventually levels out.

But next time, as Calliope is my witness, I’m going to start way early, like maybe a year or two before it’s all said & done.

In fact, maybe I’ll get started right now.

Keep you posted.

Drew

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BookFunnel Promo LINK

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I invite you to check out Lee Hall’s excellent video review, especially the first book he includes on his short list of memorable indie reads—uh-huh, that would be Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown.

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