Michelle Lynn: Love Me Back

I’m sitting in front of my computer, thinking about what to share with you all. I’ve decided to give you a glimpse into my journey into self-publishing. When I sat down to write my first book, I had no idea about this underworld of blogging and Facebook. Love Me Back, my first novel, was released April 22^nd. 

I pressed that published button without a clue of what would happen. My mom actually said, “Hey, if you get really bad reviews, just release a second book under a different name.” Oddly enough, that comment put me at ease. I told no one that knew me except for my husband and my immediate family. I let the book take its course and I was shocked to find a small amount of people buying it. When I finally confided in a good friend, she told me to look into groups on Facebook. I shared on a few sites, expecting nothing. I would check my Amazon sales every five minutes, just to see the number sold remain the same. Then I got busy at my “paying” job that afternoon. When I got in my car to drive home, I was shocked to see I sold sixty copies in those few hours. I was shocked and quickly called my husband and told him how I wanted to bottle up that feeling and never forget it. The thought that sixty people who didn’t know me, bought my book, thrilled me beyond belief.

Unfortunately, I had lessons to learn. The most important being hiring a professional editor. Even though, my reviews were good, there were a few referencing typos or grammar errors. I ended up taking it off sale June 1^st and hiring an editor. I re-released Love Me Back on July 8^th and by then I had learned a little more about this self-publishing business. I lined up a blog tour with a blogger and found groups and fellow authors to converse with. In the last seven months, my knowledge has increased but there will always be more to learn.

So, even with five books under my belt, the nervous knot still resides in my stomach and the fear of what the public will think still terrifies me every time I hit the publish button. However, on the flip side, I’ve never enjoyed what I do more and if only a few readers can lose themselves in my stories, I’m happy with that.

Michelle Lynn