Well, my friends, it has been a week since A Place With No Dawn (Order of Crows book 3) released. You know, back when I made the decision to try to publish it so quickly on the heels of releasing The Stolen (Fae-Cursed book 2), I said it would be crazy. I was right. It was crazy. So when I say this past week has been spent on the verge of burnout, I guess it comes as no surprise. But that’s where I’ve been. Damn near burnt out, feeling the crush of Mercury Retrograde, and more or less taking it easy.
Huge thanks to everyone who has been there with the support, the shares and likes, the book purchases, and all the love! As always, I’d be nowhere without my support network. A book release looks a little different when it’s a sequel in a series. It narrows down readers who might catch the excitement, but it’s also a good reason to promote the first books in said series. With No Dawn, the sense of self-satisfaction means as much to me as selling a bunch of books on launch. I already went into why this release means to much to me, so I won’t go into it again, but I’m definitely feeling accomplished.
What now? Well, no more releases for a while, that’s for sure. Nope, now I’m turning my eyes to the Cocoa Village Book Fest on April 18th. I have author copies of A Place With No Dawn en route to me as I type this, along with a few restock copies of Cadillac Payback, and I’ll be event ready! The cool part about doing events last year is that I’m practically ready to show up already this year.
I haven’t managed to nail down a second event just yet. I don’t love that, but considering some schedule changes here for the Black Feather Press crew, it’s unavoidable at this point. I’ve already identified two events I won’t be repeating this year, so I’m hoping to add a few more book-centric dates. I will, of course, relay that information if and when it happens. Regardless of what the rest of the year looks like in that regard, I refuse to call it a loss. It will simply be different. As we see what the personal changes for us look like, we’ll adjust business stuff as we can.
In the meantime, it’s online promotion and me. That is, by far, the hardest part of this indie gig. Getting noticed in a whole sea of indie authors on various platforms is kind of like screaming in an excited crowd, but I’m still trying. Still grinding. I do have to say I’ve found a really awesome circle on TikTok and I appreciate them a lot. Funny, huh? When I dragged my feet for literal years on joining that platform. That’s not to underplay my awesome friends on the other socials. I really do love all of y’all.
I think that’s all for now. I just thought I’d drop in to say thanks and give a little update. I’ll be back soon, my friends.
Aj Elmore, Author 