Being one in a million, and not in a good way.

There are a lot of books out there, like a lot. Amazon has over 6 million books in their archives and active listings. I currently have 4 novels and 2 novellas published on Amazon, so that makes me one in a million.

When I first stared the journey to publication I thought the hardest part would be getting accepted by a publisher. That part was hard and I was very lucky to find the right publisher for my works so quickly. At the moment I have 3 other novels I'm shopping around and have a list of rejections a lot longer than I'd like to admit. I'll keep looking, hoping to find that one publisher that likes my work enough to invest in it, but I'm also focusing on self publishing.

I wrote a first person four part novella series that spans a year in the life of a woman named April. I love this series poured my heart and soul into it, but it's not traditional romance or erotica so it has no place in the traditionally published world. That's why I've self published them. It's a lot of work and a huge investment, but if you really feel strongly about your work and you're willing to put both time and money into it, then it's always an option.

I also wrote a novel that has very special meaning to me. It doesn't follow the traditional romance formula and it's dark. For this book I wanted to keep complete control over it. I didn't want to have to change it to suit a publishers vision, and I wanted to use it as a means to give back to a community that means so much to me. I'll be writing another post next week about this project with details and an awesome cover to debut!

Now my books are out there. They've been edited, formatted and created. Covers have been commissioned and they're on multiple selling platforms, only they're one in millions so now the battle is trying to get people to give them a shot. Marketing is an extremely daunting task. There are hundreds of facebook groups for advertising books, but it seems the only people on them are authors. There are thousands of bloggers who review books, but you have to get in with them and that's no always easy. It's the same with review sites. You can put your book on them but then you have to wait for someone to read it.

If you don't have a following, a famous friend, a gimmick or a horseshoe up your ass and incredible luck, selling books can be a real challenge. I'm hoping to crack the secret but publishing is a fickle industry and it's getting harder and harder to sell books with pirating. I don't want to be famous, I just want to make a career out of writing so here's hoping I catch some awesome luck.