Well, I have to admit, I’m glad the promo stack week for Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins is now in the record book. I put more time, energy, & money into promoting that second Oregon Meltdown companion novel of mine than I care to admit. No doubt a more rational person might ask if the sacrifice was worth it.
To which I would answer, absolutely. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I not only took on the promotional side of this project with everything I had but left it all on the field when the final whistle blew, as the old saying goes.
Which means I now have a clear conscience to go back to my true passion—just plain old fiction writing—knowing I gave it my all.
My enjoyment of writing even includes these weekly posts, by the way. To be honest, when I first started down this road, I was more than a little apprehensive & viewed the entire process as the evil twin of self-publishing. After all, I’m a storyteller at heart, a novelist by choice, & a promoter by necessity. But a blogger? Yeah, right.
Well, fast forward a few years & here I am enjoying this moment as much as I do writing my own letters, journal entries, & of course, fiction—OK, maybe not that much, but close.
Before I gloss over these last couple months as if they were merely a string of days dominated by grueling work with little or no enjoyment, I have to state emphatically they were nothing of the sort.
Sure, there were late nights & early mornings when I began to wonder if my attention to detail was wearing out its welcome. But truth be told, I enjoyed the challenges & successes, learned from the failures, & kept my sense of humor more or less intact.
After all, I gifted myself the opportunity to:
- learn new programs, terminology, & strategies directly or indirectly related to the self-publishing world
- join & stay somewhat active on various social platforms
- Threads, IG, Facebook, BlueSky, X, TikTok, Substack
- make a few TikTok reels
- meet people from around the world
- hone my skills discerning scammers from actual artists & business people
- interact with legitimately kind individuals
- learn a lot about how mailing lists work
- realize that before I’m ready to publish my next novel, I’m going to set up a Kickstarter campaign to help mitigate the impact of funding the promotional side of self-publishing.
I mean, how could I not see this as an overall positive experience?
So now it’s time for me to go back to refocusing on my next novel, as well as on my exercise routine, sleep hygiene, & lollygagging time that have fallen by the wayside.
Keep you posted.
Drew
P.S. I’m happy to report that at the time of my writing this post, Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins has maintained its 4.8 out of 5 with 58 global ratings & 55 customer reviews on Amazon. Not too shabby, right?
P.S.2. I started uploading some of my TikTok reels a few posts ago just for the fun of it, so here’s the last one I made for the KDP Countdown Deal.
P.S.3. If by chance you’re interested in reading and thoughtfully reviewing either of my two companion novels, please see the Amazon links below. (And thanks so much in advance!)
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.
My first self-published novel, Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown, is currently available on the Kindle Store & Kindle Unlimited.
My completed companion novel, Core Haven, was released on July 31st, 2025. Available now.
