100,000 copies downloaded

August was just a busy month, but it also marks a major milestone. Near the end of the month, the 100,000^th copy of Muirwood was downloaded to someone’s Kindle. Not sure who that person was or exactly when it happened, but 100,000 is a big number considering last December it was less than one thousand. When starting down the trail of self-publishing, I figured that once I had a few thousand readers, a publishing company would find me. They did, and they’ve kept me busy this last month.

Basically, I have four books going through the production process of publishing simultaneously. Each book in the Muirwood Trilogy has been edited, removing all those pesky typos and dyslexic moments which have eluded me over the years. My favorite typo was “gravepine” (should have been ‘grapevine’). Not sure why I couldn’t see that after reading the manuscript so many times, but I am certainly grateful for the many editors who have been poring over the books and fixing those little flaws which drive me crazy and which I cannot, for some reason, spot on my own. For others looking to self-publish, I would highly recommend paying for professional editing services. That is my biggest regret.

I’ve also been working with a great editor (tip of the hat to Master Chris Cerasi) who has been the development editor for my new series, Whispers of Mirrowen. Book one, Fireblood, will launch in February. Working with a dev-editor was so helpful and interesting. Through all my creative writing classes, I was told to always trim-trim-trim. What surprised me about the feedback was the need to expand in certain places to develop some characters further and expand certain critical scenes. So it required some additional writing, but I am so pleased with Chris’ advice and input. Also, I’ve seen the initial cover designs for Fireblood which made me smile for about 36 hours straight. I’ll share the cover art for all the books as soon as I am able. 47North will be sending me some copies of the book and I would like to be able to hand some out to early readers. Stay tuned.

There is a lot to get done before the launches in January (Muirwood) and February (Mirrowen). But I am enjoying the process and excited about having my goal and dream fulfilled in 2013. To lucky reader of copy 100,000 – thank you, whoever you are! And thanks again to all the readers who post reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading them and how they motivate me to continue writing, one night a week, one chapter a week. I’m already on chapter 12 of the new book. One step at a time!