Annette Marie, Author of THE NIGHT REALM (Spell Weaver #1), Shares 10 things she wishes someone had told her about being an author (with a giveaway!)

10 things I wish someone had told me about being an author…

1. Writing is only a small part of the job. I spend at least as much time or more on revisions, editing, proofreading, outlining, marketing, advertising, book covers, book interiors, ebook formats, social media management, finance tracking, launching releases … the list goes on and on!
2. Writing never gets easier. Some days the words flow like magic, but other days, every word is a struggle and everything I manage to scrawl on the page seems terrible. It usually isn’t, but sometimes it feels that way. Even after ten books, I still have bad days.
3. Clicking “publish” is terrifying. For my first book, I think I had more butterflies sitting at my computer with my mouse cursor hovering over the “Publish Now” button than I did when I was about to walk down the aisle at my own wedding.
4. Waiting for your first review is also terrifying. In those agonizing hours or days between the book releasing and the first reviews, every little doubt I’ve ever had about the book comes clawing its way to the forefront of my brain.
5. Reader reviews are awesome! Once the reviews do come, it’s one of the most rewarding experiences to hear how much readers loved the book and characters, what scenes were their favorites, what they can’t wait to read about in the next book. Seeing their excitement and exhilaration makes all the work worth it!
6. Obsessive rank stalking is a thing. How many times have I refreshed the Amazon pages for my books? Thousands. In those early days after a release, refreshing the page over and over throughout the day to see where my book is sitting on the Amazon charts … it’s punishingly addictive.
7. Obsessive sales tracking is also a thing. It’s possibly even worse than rank stalking. Refresh, refresh, refresh. Wait for the daily sales number to tick up. Refresh, refresh, refresh. A lot of authors have to impose limits on themselves for how often they’re allowed to check sales.
8. Other authors are wonderful! Speaking of other authors, I’ve discovered a whole community of talented, generous, and amazing authors since I first started out. So many are delighted to help their fellow writers with everything from beta reading to sharing insider tips to offering much needed consolation when you accidently upload the wrong file to Amazon and have to wait an agonizing twelve hours to fix your mistake. (Yeah, I’ve been there.)
9. Indie publishing is the best thing that’s happened to the publishing industry. This one might be controversial, but indie publishing has allowed so many talented writers to bring their books to thousands of readers. More books, more reading, more awesomeness! Without indie publishing, I wouldn’t have ten published books, thousands of readers, and a full-time job doing what I love.
10. You’ll work harder than you’ve ever worked in your life. I had this silly idea in my head that if I was a full-time author, I would have so much more free time to relax once my writing was done for the day. But nope! I work harder than ever before, because being an indie author doesn’t just mean writing. I’m running a business too, and yep, it’s just as demanding for me as any other entrepreneur. But absolutely worth every late night and nonexistent weekend!

Author Bio:

Annette Marie is the author of the Amazon best-selling Steel & Stone series, which includes Goodreads Choice Award nominee Yield the Night, and fantasy trilogy Red Winter. Her first love is fantasy, but fast- paced urban fantasy and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) with her comparatively sensible husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon

The Night Realm
Annette Marie
(Spell Weaver #1)
Published by: Dark Owl Fantasy Inc.
Publication date: October 20th 2017
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy

Clio is good at all sorts of things. As a nymph, she’s great at outdoorsy nature stuff. As a nymph living in exile, she’s got the “blending in with humans” thing down pat. As a nymph living in exile because she possesses the rare ability to mimic magic, she’s had to pick up some unique survival skills.

But stealing from the most dangerous spell weavers in the Underworld? Not so much.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what she has to do to earn a ticket back home. Conning her way into the night realm may have gone pretty well, but now she’s got a new problem. His name is Lyre and he’s a sinfully alluring incubus, a dangerously skilled spell weaver, and the only thing standing between her and stealing some damn magic.

Maneuvering around him without blowing her cover shouldn’t be that difficult, but chaos has been dogging her every step, monsters hide behind beautiful faces, and Lyre keeps saving her neck even though they’re enemies. Kind of enemies? Either way, her mission is getting complicated fast, and in the Underworld, even one mistake could prove fatal.

Goodreads / Amazon

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway