• Home
  • Tales From Sea and Skies
  • Jaguar Empire
  • My Stories
  • About Me
  • Other Writing Services

Wood the Writer

~ Author of Tales From Undersea

Wood the Writer

Tag Archives: self published author

Cover Reveal – Outcasts’ Alliance

27 Monday Dec 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in Blog, cover reveal, self publishing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

cover reveal, self published author, self published book, self publishing, steampunk, steampunk book, steampunk fiction

How was everybody’s Christmas? I’m happy to say ours was enjoyable and peaceful, with only one relative being disowned and one near house fire. (If you’re trying to figure out whether or not I’m being serious, don’t worry about it.)

I’m proud to reveal the cover for the third book in the Tales From Undersea trilogy, Outcasts’ Alliance:

The e-book will be coming out on December 31st. The paperback version will be delayed slightly due to recent paper shortages and delivery issues from Amazon, but it will be coming in the New Year. I will also be publishing hardback copies of the entire trilogy soon as well.

Stealing From Thieves is out now! (Plus a book deal)

23 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in Blog, book launch, books, pirate, sale, self publishing, steampunk

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

99 cents, book deal, book release, book sale, ebook sale, new release, self published author, self publishing, steampunk book, ya book, young adult book

I’m very happy to announce that Stealing from Thieves, the second book in the Tales from Undersea series, is out now on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and in Kindle Unlimited! Click the book cover to go to the Amazon page:

If you haven’t started the series yet, book 1 is only 99 cents (or 99p) until Sunday.

Join the Undersea newsletter for more book releases, deals, and free stories.

Four things I learnt from writing and publishing my first book

18 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, book launch, books, Editing, indie, self publishing, story, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

creative writing, self published author, self publishing, writing

As proud as I am for not only completing but self-publishing my first novel, it soon became apparent that there were a lot of things I did wrong, and a lot of things I can learn from. These are just a few which I’ll be applying for my future books, and which may be beneficial to other authors:

Abandoning ideas can be a good thing

People always tell you ‘don’t give up’ and ‘always finish a book’. There is some good sentiment in these statements, but I think it’s more important to recognise when you should give up or abandon a project which isn’t working.

For me, I spent years working a novel which I was proud of at the time, but looking back it contained every YA book cliché. Rebellious princess? Revolution? Non-human and borderline creepy love interest? Yep, it had them all.

When I first came up with the idea which would turn into the Undersea series, I was reluctant to give up on the book. But after much reflection, I realised that letting it go to work on this new project was the right move. While there are still some things with this new series, I’m not happy with in hindsight, reception has been much more positive, so I’m glad I didn’t release that cliched book as my debut release.

Plan from the beginning

While I decided early on that I wanted this series to be a trilogy (with the possibility of further books in the future), I didn’t plan out each book in the trilogy until I started the first draft. This has held me back as I’ve wound up with dozens of different characters and sub plots to juggle and resolve cleanly in the final book. Many character arcs have gone a different direction than I intended and some foreshadowing in the first (now published) book I’m now wishing I had cut out. If I write another series with ongoing continuity, I’ll do much more planning from the start so I don’t end up writing myself into a wall.

The final draft is never the final draft

You would think that once the final draft is done, it’s over, right? Oh, how wrong I was! There are still edits, proofs, print copies, copies in different formats. These are all the files in my ‘final version’ folder:

And that’s for just one book.

No matter how low your expectations, you’ll still be disappointed

This one is going to be difficult for other authors to swallow, but is precisely why we need a thick skin. I knew that as a debut author with virtually no platform, my sales were going to be low at first. But I thought I might get at least a few on release day. Maybe a few people would read my blog or see my social media posts.

I opened my Amazon account the next morning and… nothing. My first sale didn’t come in for a few days, and that was me buying a copy of my own book to check it for errors.

Part of it, I have now learnt, was that it takes a few days for Amazon’s system to pick up a book, add the ‘look inside’ feature, and start including it in search algorithms. This is why next time I’ll go for a ‘soft launch’ to give Amazon a few days to register the book before I start promoting it. I’ll also focus more on looking for ARC reviewers to look at the book on release (contact me if you want to join my ARC team, btw).

Sales have picked up a tiny bit thanks to some promotions, but are still nothing most days. But I’m not discouraged. This is just part of the process. I’m going to keep writing whether I ‘succeed’ or not, so it really doesn’t matter.

 

If you want to find out more about the Undersea series or get some free stories, join my newsletter.

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER

Contact me

jessica@woodthewriter.com

Social

  • View jwoodwrites’s profile on Instagram
  • View jessicawood21’s profile on Pinterest
  • View jessicawood10’s profile on Flickr
  • View jwoodwrites’s profile on Tumblr

Contact me

jessica@woodthewriter.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Wood the Writer on WordPress.com

Archives

Categories

Flickr Photos

DSCF4530DSCF4527DSCF4524DSCF4528
More Photos

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Wood the Writer
    • Join 179 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Wood the Writer
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.