It's done. At long, long last it's finally done. No more typo hunting, no more fighting with Amazon over bleed dimensions (or what bleed IS. I'm an industry professional, Amazon, bleed is not typically just making the page bigger, it's its own thing, but I digress), no more crying over printing complications or worrying I won't have the $$ to ship PR boxes out; it's done.
I am so proud of myself.
Why did I self publish? I've been through all the traditional channels; when I first started querying I actually got picked up twice! The first one fell through and myself and about thirty other authors were suddenly dropped, which broke my heart, then within a few months another agent scooped me up... only to become incredibly unwell and unable to keep working with me as she took time to focus on her own health. I'll never begrudge that, her health was absolutely right to be her priority, but when I was cut loose again I decided I couldn't go through the rejection process again and finally decided to just selfpub.
I'll admit it, I used to look down on selfpub. I thought it was just vanity press, the choice for those "not good enough" - and I'll be the first to admit how wrong I was, too. During this process I've met some incredible, talented, successful authors that did it all by themselves and I've been humbled by the hard work that goes into it. And I had a lot of advantages over others, too! My husband is a graphic designer by trade who happens to enjoy doing page layouts and formatting and cover design, and I have my own art for my cover and my illustrations. My husband did the audiobook too - all these have saved money where the dedicated self publishers often have to go out of pocket to see their dream come to fruition. It's been months and months and months of hard work even with the shortcuts and bonuses I've had access to, and I have nothing but respect for my fellow self publishers. C.C Davie in particular has been an incredible source of awe and inspiration.
Here it all is now: the audiobook will be out in a couple of weeks or so (takes a bit of time to process), the eBook drops on the 22nd, and the paperback is out now through Amazon for those who wanna save on postage and on my website here for those wanting to spring a few $ extra for sprayed edges and autographs. I've added links in the shop for the amazon store, and there are options for retailers who are interested in bulk orders too. I'm genuinely quite overwhelmed by the support I've had; I've already made back printing costs, which just blows my mind considering that's only from preorders and doesn't include eBook sales or from my PR partners, and I'm keeping on top of shipping with no trouble at all thanks to my wonderful husband, who took one look at all the orders coming in, then looked at how overwhelmed I was getting, and said "I got this, love". I hope you guys love it as much as I do. This whole special, magical world is so important to me, I'm so happy to finally get to share it with you all.
There are two more books in this series, by the way. One out next year and one in 2025 (I'm hoping), so don't worry; the answers to your questions are coming!
One last thing I wanted to add for the curious folk who have read this far; I wrote this book for myself, yes, but the proceeds from the sale are going to my husbands top surgery. I married an incredible trans man who deserves the world, but I'll settle for getting him comfortable in his skin first. If I can manage that, I'd like to then look into helping out other trans folk in similar situations. I'm not trans myself, but I've seen the struggle and the pain and if I can do anything to help then... I will. I want the world to be a good and safe place, I will do what I can to help with that. The book release is the same day as our wedding anniversary; we've been together 16 years now and married for 9, and I can't imagine a single day of my life without him.
Anyway! I'm gonna go collapse and play Baldur's Gate. Thank you all again so much for everything. I couldn't have done this without you all.
-Athena
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