Perseverance: 1.Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. 2.Continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory.

Well as of late, I've found myself a bit uninspired.  I've been wanting to write a blog post but having no interesting thoughts to write about, blogging has been pushed to the side.  This in itself has finally given me something to write about... perseverance.

Having recently self-published my first book, I find myself a bit discouraged at times with my lack of sales.  I know there are millions of books and authors out there and to stand out amongst the crowd is a tall feat in itself.  Self-promotion seems exhausting when it feels so pointless.  But... I know that if this is something I really want to do, I must persevere.

Silly me, before I published my book, I had all these great ideas about how many copies I would sell.  I reasoned with myself that because I had so many different groups of friends, they would tell their friends and word would spread like wildfire... not so.  I know most authors don't like to share how many copies they've sold but I'm not embarrassed, I've sold 13.  However, probably half of those have been gifted in exchange for honest reviews, which I haven't received yet.  Now if only I could sell 1988 more, then I might be able to get an agent's attention.  Yes I just laughed aloud at myself, it's okay you can too. :)

When I first self-published, I was so excited by the response and I had such high hopes.  It seemed like quite a few people said they would purchase a copy, now I don't know if they forgot... but it didn't happen.  As for my facebook page, I must say, that was a bit disappointing at first too.  Again, I depended on my friends 'liking' my page and actually found myself a bit insulted by those who didn't.  However, after joining some groups on facebook, with one little request, other authors showed me so much support and seriously spiked my number of likes.  Authors really are supportive of one another!

On top of all of this, the one review I have received was so disheartening, as I mentioned in another post.  All the reviewer did was summarize my book, which bothered me because she basically gave away the story, and responded with the same three stars I'd given her.  With that, I'd rather have no review at all, instead of a false, ego-based one.

So, my whole point of my little rant is that self-publishing is easy, self-promotion seems to be the tough hurdle, but perseverance must be the key.  I keep hoping that the more I persevere, the more I will get the word out about my book and once more people are talking about it, perhaps more sales will be generated.  One can hope at least.  Right?

Anyways, on a side note, in celebration of Canada Day, since I am Canadian, my book will be free on Smashwords from today June 29th, 2013 - July 1st, 2013.  I hope you'll stop by and grab a copy. :)  Here's the link.

And to all you other self-published authors, keep pushing on, I have faith we'll all get there some day. :)