This was my first attempt at making my own cover. Luckily for everyone, I decided to go with a professional cover designer. I highly recommend it!

So now I’m one month in. I published my book on March 4, and now, I’m just sitting back and watching the royalties roll in. Ha! That would be nice, wouldn’t it? No, it’s not quite that easy. I have to admit, the first few days were exciting for sales, as people I know and knew I was writing a book purchased it, all on the same day, driving up my numbers, and actually putting me in a few top 100 lists for new releases. That was really cool. I took a lot of pictures on my phone when that happened. This was about the highest I got:

Number 64. Not bad (it’s also the number of books I sold in March)! I enjoyed it, I posted it on Facebook, and texted it to my friends. I am sorry to say that a few days later I was off all of the lists, and probably about 4,000 in most categories. I didn’t expect to come out of nowhere and become an immediate best seller. I knew it would take time. People don’t know to buy your book if they don’t know about it, and really, I don’t have a publicist. I wish I did. So I have to do my own marketing. And it’s hard! I’m just not young and hip enough to advertise to the young, hip kids and young adults out there! Just ask my daughter. Apparently, I appeal to older adults, and they seem to be the ones not only buying my books, but also reviewing them, and giving them five stars! So thank you, 48–59-year-old men! Who knew you would like a coming-of-age-romance/love story taking place in the mid-1980s? I bet they didn’t even know they would. Hey, I think it’s a story everyone can enjoy. I enjoy it. Haha.

I’ve been working on finding more ways to get the word out there. I have embarrassed my teenager so much by approaching women on the street (not really on the street. Maybe in line in the grocery store where I am also in line) and asking them if they remember the 80s. Then there are the college age girls I’ve run into and asked if they like a nice love story. I thought everyone was supposed to be so into the 1980s right now?!

I did a group promotion, which was kind of cool. It finished up at the end of March, and there was a winner, and all I had to do was mail out the signed book. It went to Tennessee. That was also cool. The winner got 29 romance books. I can venture to say that my book might be a bit different. There is for sure some romance. But it is pretty tame. Tame enough to let my mother read it. I mean, I was embarrassed to have her read it, but not horrified. Had my father still been alive, I wouldn’t have let him within 15 states of my love scenes. Uh uh. No way. My brother wasn’t embarrassed, and he even told me when certain things didn’t seem realistic. Anyway, all this to say that my story is a love story, a story that tries to prove that love can last forever. So if you know a great way to get the word out there, please let me know. I really think that it would sell well if the people knew it was there. Plus, there are six more books after this one. I want them to do well.

So here is what I have done the past couple of weeks. I decided to publish on Barnes and Noble. I know some people don’t like to shop on Amazon, so I thought a choice would be good. Then, I lowered the price of my eBook. I ran an ad on Facebook letting folx know that the book was cheaper. I quickly sold three copies! A friend sent me a notice from our local library letting me know that they are taking submissions for eBooks from local indie authors for the month of April. All I had to do was put my eBook on Draft2Digital and fill in a form. I completed that today (I had to get a new library card to do it, but the new card is really cool looking!). They will select a certain number of books, and then one lucky author will actually be eligible to have their book published in print! I haven’t researched the publisher yet, but I will. But I think it’s wicked cool to have your book in the library. That’s my reader geek showing. I have also been pursuing local bookstores. I have a few books in one, but I learned from another that I didn’t have the right settings online for my distributer. I needed to give a bigger discount to retailers, and also allow returns. I went on Ingram Spark and changed my settings. I emailed a few places and told them I made the change. Now all I have to do is find a few spare hours to go to every bookstore in Portland and talk to them about carrying my book. My brother is also trying to get the book into a Massachusetts bookstore I shopped in as a kid. Maybe the promotion winner in Tennessee will get into stores there. Who knows, anything could happen.

I’m also still at it on the social media pages, trying to chip away at the folx who follow me so they will finally give in and buy the book. I think my algorithm is majorly flawed on TikTok, though. I just can seem to get my videos even seen, let alone liked. I’ll keep trying. I’ve gone headfirst into Instagram, and still plugging away at Facebook Pages. People have recommended that I do a Spotify playlist for my book, but that would mean I have to join Spotify. It might be worth it.

Here is my most recent TikTok video. It did pretty well. I think people want more smut. I might have to give in and post some. I was hoping to leave that alone so they could read about it in the book, but I guess, give the people what they want, right?

My book, “May I Have Your Attention Please” can be found on my new universal link, in both paperback and eBook! Check it out! I plan to release my second book, “I Just Can’t Say I Love You,” in September 2023. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!

Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, TikTok, @dbmquick and Instagram, quickdebby_author. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.