4/27/2015 1 Comment How's it Going?So we had a book release for The Unfading Lands on April 3rd. We are now almost three weeks in and much has continued to happen. So I thought I would update you on what is actually going on and some of the cool things that have happened thus far. :) Kicking off on April 3rd, we had an incredible jump start! People from all over the world, literally... bought my book. As the numbers rolled in, it was amazing to see where people were located and where The Unfading Lands was most popular. I have to admit I was quite surprised. Turns out, people in the UK were pretty excited about it. haha. It was so amazing to see the book go global. For a small town East Texas girl, the idea of people in Europe, Australia, and even Africa reading my book seemed so out of reach... but come to find out it wasn't. Blows my mind a little bit and puts a small little giddy butterfly in my stomach just thinking about it. So thank you for that! By day four of the release, we had hit the Amazon Hot 100 New Releases for Epic Fantasy! HOT 100!!!! In ALL of Amazon!!! Are you kidding me?! I cannot tell you how I felt in that moment. I know I've done a blog post over it, but I fear words just cannot describe how excited I was to see this happening. Not only did it happen once. It continued to happen. Four times. #90. #76. #77. #97. From that, I received a huge boost in sales and ebook downloads, and again, it was amazing to see how many and where they were from. My first book promotional gig was to be Four Square Friday in Uvalde, Texas. I set up outside a cool clothing store called Huntston's Clothing Company and was able to meet and greet several people. The local newspaper had printed an article about me the day before, so most people recognized me from that, and that was a cool feeling. I have only lived in the South Texas area for about 2 1/2 years, so to branch out and do something locally here was a big step. I knew people wouldn't exactly know who I was, but with the newspaper and Four Square, I believe I'm getting there. My sister came down to help with the launch and it was fun. Our teamwork with the book, my words, her cover design... it was a cool moment for me for us to launch it together. After Four Square I continued working with online promotion, and for the next few days I continued to hit goals I had dreamed about but never really vocalized for fear of sounding outlandish. haha. That following Wednesday I packed up and headed to Galveston, Texas, with hopes of escaping the craziness a bit and for some quiet time to work on book 2 in the series. However, during the first week of my book release I was asked to be a part of an anthology of short stories (what I explained in last week's blog post). That deadline loomed before me faster than my deadline for book 2 of The Unfading Lands, so I decided it would be best for me to get started on that first. So I did. I completed that story, and it was approved and finalized this week for the anthology. If the Shoe Fits by Katharine E. Hamilton will be grouped with 26 other amazing stories, and the anthology is aimed to be released in December. :) That project in itself was a fun and new challenge for me as well. I finally felt like a real writer, contributing to such a project. ;) While in Galveston, I darted over to Houston on April 18th, for MenilFest at the Menil Collection museum in Montrose. I spent the day with fellow Indie Authors talking about our books and meeting new readers. It was fun. Plus, my bestie, Yvette, came out and joined me to help. Despite the dreary weather there was a great turn out and I was able to meet some pretty awesome people. I also was able to book my spot for the Texas Book Festival in the month of October... which I did not think I qualified to attend, but found out I actually could. So I will now be adding that to the calendar of events for the month of October. :) After Houston, I came back home and have been resting from all the craziness. :) But I have not slowed down in regards to book promotion. This week, I hope you guys check me out on several websites. :) www.nicolefaithhill.blogspot.com www.morgenbailey.wordpress.com http://www.uvaldeleadernews.com/node/2621 http://books.txauthors.com/category-s/2181.htm http://www.indieauthornews.com/2015/04/indie-author-interview-katharine-e-hamilton.html As more happens, I will let you know. I am currently booking events for the remainder of this year and even next year already! So please let me know if there is an event you may have and might want me there! :)
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4/20/2015 0 Comments How do you Write a Short Story?In the past couple of months I have recently joined a group of fellow Indie Authors in an awesome venture... into the land of short stories. Some of these authors have been writing for years... some are newbies... and then there are some like me who have been around a little while, but have yet to ever write a short story for publication. A proposal was pitched a few weeks ago for 25 of us to write individual short stories with the theme of 'Relationships,' and they will be compiled into an anthology. All royalties from the sales of said anthology will be given directly to MacMillan Cancer Society Charity. I thought, "Sweet! I definitely want to do this! Sign me up! Woo hoo!" It was then a few days later that I realized... "Katie, you have never written a short story... you might want to find out what that officially IS and the requirements." So I did. 3500 words... 3500 WORDS?! That is impossible! No way! The shortest snippet I had ever written was 14,000 Words and it wasn't even finished yet! How do you write a story in only 3500 WORDS?! I sort of began to freak out and think... "Okay, this is for the people who have written SO LONG that they can just whip it up in five minutes and it be perfect." Right?! Well, I decided to sit down and think. Go figure... What would I write about? The theme is relationships... no stipulations... it could be any type of relationship, any aspect of a relationship... okay, okay, okay... hmmm... what is a type of relationship that would be a fun, quick read packed with lots of descriptive details and leave the reader smiling... because that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to show the fun side of relationships... not the heart wrenching or the sexy-time side... but the fun side. The side of relationships that doesn't always have to be serious. The dating side. The whole, "Hey, he's cute. I'll go talk to him." Side. So it hit me. Speed Dating. Yep. Speed Dating. I had it. Could be fun, right?
So I went for it. I sat down and began typing up a fun story about the trials and errors of speed dating from the perspective of a man and a woman. I've actually had a lot of fun writing it. I am not finished. I have reached that dreaded half-way marker... the one where I inwardly freak out that I'm not going to be able to finish it in less than 3500 words... but at the same time, it is right where it needs to be, so there is no reason for me to freak out at all... but it's coming together nicely. I even had a friend, Yvette, read what I had written so far, just to make sure it was as cute and fun as I thought it was... because you can never be too sure you are as funny as you think you are... And she liked it. BOOM! So now, I am Katharine E. Hamilton.. .Children's Author. Fantasy Fiction Author. AND Short Story Extraordinaire! (Maybe not extraordinaire...yet) BUT you get the picture. :) The ETA for the Anthology is December... Just in time for Christmas. It's going to be cool, folks. 25 Authors. Different genres. Different personalities. Different aspects of 'Relationships'. I'm so excited about it, and I cannot wait to read all the stories.... So I will keep you posted, so you can check it out. Mine will be the story snuggled in the middle with 3501 words. ;) 4/13/2015 0 Comments Release Week!Ummmmmmmm .... So you guys are incredible!
I have had MORE FUN this week! Just watching the numbers go up and up, and seeing posts EVERYWHERE for my book has been A-Mazing!!! Here's how my first week of the book launch has gone! * We hit the Amazon Hot 100 New Releases for Epic Fantasy... not once... but FOUR times! #90, #77, #76, #97!!! (The first time being on DAY 4!!!) * We have booked 2 additional book signings to add to the calendar! :) * First book signing at 4 Square Friday, I sold over DOUBLE what I had set my goal. * I had two interviews hit the stands, and one in particular provided the website the most traffic they had seen in over a year, so they are running my interview for the remainder of the month! * I have been asked to contribute to an anthology of short stories for a charitable cause... having my story written by May, and the anthology ETA released by December. :) * I finally received ALL of my books from the publisher... finally! haha. And I have already sold an entire box just in conversations with other people... this is roughly 25 books... in TWO DAYS! :) It's been a great week! Now what about week two, you ask? Well... today I might actually go back to my day job and work for a few hours to clear my desk of what I am sure has been stacked there this passed week while I was out. Then it is back to business here. I will be in Houston by the middle of the week, having the MenilFest Indie Author Book Festival on Saturday. :) Lord willing, selling more books! :) Thank you for all of your support! The Unfading Lands is on its way up the charts! :) Let's keep it going! :) Wouldn't you just love to see a movie one day? ;) haha. Katharine 4/3/2015 0 Comments Official Book Release Day!I want to start this post by explaining something.... Friday's are my cleaning days. Yes, I clean my house on Friday each week. That being said, I went to bed last night (Thursday) with this strange feeling that The Unfading Lands might possibly go live a few days early. Don't know why, just sort of felt that way. At 3 AM, my phone dings and I glance over and I have an email from Amazon. "Your book is now live!" Wait... what?! A WEEK early!?????!!!! I forced myself to go back to sleep, though my head started spinning with everything I needed to do... I lasted until about 5:30 this morning (Friday). I hopped out of bed and headed straight to my computer and read through the multiple emails that awaited me. I then looked up my book on Amazon.
It was beyond phenomenal. I tear up just thinking about it even now. I thank you guys for the support of my dream! It seriously is a dream come true!
So what did I do after that? Well, I then began scrambling... I had scheduled all my promotions, all my marketing, for April 10th! So I had to quickly start shooting out emails, Twitter messages, Facebook messages, Texts, etc. to see if I could possibly reschedule everything for this week! Oy! After I did round one of that, then I had to go through and post on all social media the announcement. Then I had to change my marketing. I had called my sister, Kerry, aka my graphic designer, last night and told her my suspicions about the book going live early, and we had game planned redesigning the marketing posters and such that we had already completed and lined up for the 10th. Well, she got a frantic call this morning, and she quickly waved her magic wand and the marketing was updated and we were good to go. Brad shuffled into the living room around 9 and asked how long I had been sitting at the table... ummmm.... since 5:30.... I sheepishly smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He just shook his head and smiled, saying "Be sure to take a break at some point today." I also saw his eyes roam around the messy table, my papers scattered everywhere... and the load of laundry I had yet to fold that was sitting on the side of the couch. I read his mind, because let's face it, I know him well... and Friday's are my cleaning days. So I quickly said, "But don't worry, with all this going on, I am still going to clean the house!" Not sure if he believed me, but he smiled and left for work. So I sat at the computer another two hours and plugged away. haha. My brain began to fry about 11:45 and I decided I should get up, move around, maybe accomplish SOME cleaning, and began to sweep my floors all the while thinking where else can I advertise, who can I contact, did I email everyone????? That's when I came across a FROG that scared the living daylights out of me! A frog! In my house!!!!!! I don't do frogs. I don't do lizards. I can handle spiders and snakes, but for some reason, the harmless frog and lizard scare the beJesus out of me. So I swept around the nasty little creature and created a small fence with shoes around it so that Brad could dispose of it when he came in for lunch. No frog was going to prevent me from being superwoman today by Cleaning AND releasing a book! ;) Now I sit... and it is 5:05 PM and I have a clean house, partially. ;) Laundry is done. Dishes done. Floors clean. Rugs vacuumed. House dusted. Frog is now disposed of (though Brad tossed it at me and had a good laugh at my freak out episode before he placed it outside). But my table is still messy. My bed is still unmade. And I'm pretty sure I forgot to put deodorant on this morning.... But you know what, it has been an incredible day! Everyone... Friends Family Strangers Social Media Everyone... has been so amazing today. Thank you to those who shared the release announcement in any shape or form. Thank you to those who purchased the book! I cannot even tell you how grateful I am for the turnout. And though I am still quite nervous about the idea of everyone reading a piece of my heart! haha. I am excited for you guys to read it and tell me what you think. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you again. And thank you to the little frog that almost gave me a heart attack, but forced me to keep cleaning. So that I could find any and all other hidden creatures before settling into book mode for the next couple of weeks. ;) I will keep you guys posted on how everything goes for this first week! :) (Hopefully no more frogs) Let's hit those numbers on Amazon! And Keep sharing! :) -Katharine |
AuthorHowdy Everyone! And welcome to my website! My name is Katharine Hamilton and I am a writer and multi-genre author! Thank you for stopping by! Archives
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