Learners, Reviews & Tour Buses

L-plater ahead………..

Greetings my friends,

Yes, beware the “L” plater ahead…..that’s me. To explain, here in Australia when a teenager is first learning to drive, they must display “L” plates on their vehicle and be with a full licensed passenger always. Well, that is how I feel in the aftermath of the release of my first novel – an Learner fumbling and stumbling her way down the track as she nervously tries to steer straight and not crash. Lol.

I’m such a newbie in the publishing field and this week has seen me all aflutter about nearly everything.😜😶😜😶

With all the craziness of the actual release of the book which was fun and thrilling and certainly kept me busy with the daily blog post updates etc – in the days that followed,  I have been on a complete rollercoaster of emotions – what if people don’t like it? Will they hate it? What if they don’t enjoy it? What if they do? Will they review it? And what if they don’t? Or what happens if………

Gahhhhhhhh – I felt as vulnerable and exposed as I did two years ago when I tweeted out that I’d written that first fanfiction chapter. Only this time I was even more insecure. I tell ya, there’s nothing quite like exposing the work you’ve spent so much time and energy and sleepless nights on to the world to make you feel completely vulnerable. It messes with your head, it rips a hole in your gut with nervous tension and it’s not pretty.  AT ALL. When I was posting on the fanfic site, any reviews that came through I could see immediately who it was from and respond to them, thank them for their kind words. With this book, I can’t do that. The reviews on the various different Amazon sites around the world don’t come up straight away and it looks like reviews left on, say the U.K. Amazon or the German one don’t show up on the Australian one, or even the American one.! And it takes a couple of days. Maybe they will come across eventually – I don’t know…..do any of you? I would have thought they’d all be collated onto the main Amazon site…? So……learning the Amazon system. And the Xlibris system of reviews too. Key phrase – patience. (Not one of my strengths, I’ll admit) 😏😏

Unfortunately it means I can’t always thank an individual who follows me for their review so I really hope that if you have taken the time to write a review, you can be assured that I will be reading every single one of them and I will be thanking you, no matter what. So please do continue to leave reviews on any and all sites you purchased the book – it’s vital and it really helps an author to know how they are doing.

Another L thing – I just joined Goodreads tonight. Apparently it’s a good thing to do for authors and readers plus it looks like fun. I’m  still exploring the site and how it all works. But if you are on Goodreads, please do leave a review there too. That’s the thing to do, isn’t it? And connect with me – I’ll connect back when I know how to do it.

More L things…..I’m going on a Blog Tour! I don’t know how it works just yet, how it all gets set up – I’ve got someone organising it for me and they will no doubt explain how it all goes.. All I know is that I’ll be interviewed on various different sites and I don’t actually go on a bus! Lol. (Good thing – my knees couldn’t take it). I’ll be given an itinerary soon and of course I will let you all know where the tour will be taking me. It sounds like a fun thing to do so I hope you’ll join me on this little adventure.

I’m still learning the ropes of promotion and truly it’s not as much fun as writing. I’m itching to get stuck into editing a book Two! But it’s a necessary part of publication and by the way – all of you superstars who retweet and share my stuff – you rock!! Thankyou Thankyou. 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘 Keep it coming!

Since the reviews take a few days to turn up, please feel free to share your thoughts of the book in the comments below. And I hope that when you do read the book, that you read the Acknowledgments section….there are people who don’t read those bits of a book, I know, but it was very important to me to thank the many people who encouraged and believed in me. I only wish I could have kept going with all the names but I was restricted in word count. You ALL however have my gratitude.

Finally, book one is just the beginning of the story – there is so much more to tell and if you previously read my fanfiction that this was based on, you’ll know it diverges greatly from the original as the story unfolds. Hope you come along for the ride.

Here are the purchase links:

Xlibris: https://t.co/zpAYall3vC

Amazon: https://t.co/lebPaVidm3

 

Much love,

Zelly ❤️❤️❤️

PS: Does anyone know how to add a purchase book button to their WordPress page? I’ve read the instructions and I don’t understand half of it – it’s like another language. 😜