I had to do a post about this because it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
The support I’ve had since I decided to self-publish has been unbelievable. My dad has offered help. My brother and sister-in-law have been amazing, interested and supportive! My mum is incredibly supportive, although not overly impressed that I borrowed some of her quirks for the mum in the book. (A love of Martin Clunes, for example!) (Seriously. If anyone can shed some light on that one, feel free!)
My online friends are amazing. Cheerleading me all the way and promising they won’t get sick of me going on and on about writing.
People I’ve only just met on Twitter are encouraging and brilliant.

And okay, so no one has read the book yet. They may read it, think it’s crap, and hate me forever.

But I openly admit that I didn’t expect support, especially from people who know me in real life. Especially from the ones who don’t know what a Kindle is and don’t understand how I can be a writer if WH Smith don’t stock my book. But they have all been there, asking me about the book, about the process, how long it will be before it’s out so they can tell their friends to buy it.
It’s the complete opposite of what I expected. I honestly expected complete and utter indifference, of a “that’s nice” and an uninterested handwave variety.
And I’m sure that says more about me than it does about my friends and family, but it has been a very pleasant surprise and a nice lesson in human nature.

So, to everyone, even to you who has taken the time to read this: THANK YOU!

Sidenote: My release date is next week. Next Friday, to be precise. I apologise in advance for shameless plugging everywhere it is possible to shameless plug!

Other sidenote: On the plus side, it appears my day of formatting has worked and the file seems to have converted nicely for Kindle. I haven’t built up the courage to tackle Smashwords yet.
Not too keen on the KDP preview of my cover image though. Hope it looks better than that on the site!

The publishing date is getting closer! Although nothing is set in stone yet, I’m hoping to publish my first novel in about two weeks time. That said, I haven’t started on formatting it yet, and given some of the formatting horror stories I’ve heard, perhaps 2014 would be a more accurate publication date!

My novel has been edited to within an inch of it’s life. It went to the final proofreader yesterday. She has already found an error that is so blindingly obvious I’m embarrassed to have missed it myself!

I feel completely unprepared. I’ve been reading every bit of self-publishing advice I can get my hands on for months now, and I still feel that I don’t know enough and that I’m not prepared enough, but I also think that perhaps the only way to do this is to do it. I see other authors who have got reviews and publicity weeks before they’ve got a book out, and I have no idea how they managed it, considering I haven’t even formatted my book yet! I think that I will always be unorganised and feel like this, even when I’m releasing my twentieth book! (Don’t worry, I don’t really have twenty books! Yet!)

So, I’m jumping in with both feet.
And if anyone has any advice, it would be welcomed with open arms!