Guest Post: Best Selling Author Monica Murphy

Welcome to the Pearls of Wisdom Blog Tour! Today's guest is Best Selling Author Monica Murphy. Monica is the author of the wonderful One Week Girlfriend. She is represented by Kimberly Whalen at Trident Media Group. Today Monica will be sharing her caveats about self publishing. Like many other self published authors, even those that like Monica became best selling sensations, they all made mistakes along the way. Here is your chance to learn from their mistakes and take an easier road to success. 

Monica's Post: Be Grateful

When Borders closed down a few years ago, I remember authors and readers were tremendously sad and worried.

How will we discover good books, the readers cried.

Who will hand sell our books to readers, the authors cried.

It was a legitimate worry. Word of mouth is important, from books to TV shows to movies to music. Discoverability is everything.

But then came along the explosion of the e-reader. And with it, the stigma attached to self-publishing lifted. The world has changed, people. There is so much content out there for readers to try and rake through. A book can get lost pretty easily.

So when I set out to self-publish One Week Girlfriend, I did it all wrong. I should’ve had more build up. I should’ve sent out more review copies to bloggers. I should’ve done a big cover reveal.

I did none of that. Not at first. I uploaded the book onto retail sites and chewed my nails hoping people would discover it. Watched my sales figures obsessively. Threw myself out there on social media sites and chatted it up with bloggers, other authors, reviewers, a handful of readers. Gave the book away to a few of those bloggers and reviewers and hoped for the best.

Girded my loins and prepared for the worst. What if they hate it? What if the book bombs? It was a chance I had to take. I love my characters. I wanted readers to discover Drew and Fable in the hopes they’d love them too.

Within days something really cool happened. I had readers contacting me on Goodreads. Where can I find your book? Is it out? I want to read it. They said this again and again. I had bloggers contact me. I had other reviewers contact me, asking to host me on their blogs. Heck, I had a wonderful woman (hi Christine!) from the Shh Moms Reading blog offer to coordinate a blog tour for me. That she was so generous with her time and cheerily arranged the entire thing blew me away.

And then I put the book on sale and somehow, it hit the USA Today Bestseller list.

Twice.

It’s been a surreal ride, one that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. It’s hard to believe this has all happened in the span of two months. It feels like a lifetime ago that I put One Week Girlfriend out there and hoped for the best while secretly preparing for the worst.

So why did I entitle this post be grateful? Because I am eternally grateful to all the bloggers, the reviewers, the readers and how their word of mouth helped One Week Girlfriend gain traction. Without them, I would be nothing. They are so generous, so enthusiastic, telling their friends to read my book. Engaging with me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, sending me emails…

I love them. There are some really wonderful, supportive people out there and if I could hug them all, I would. I find that I smile a lot for absolutely no reason. I’ll be chilling on Twitter and a reader will tweet me they’re ready to give up a body part to read the next book and I’m stunned. They send me pictures of what they think Drew and Fable look like—and they’re spot on with my imagination. They message me to say they re-read the book (blows my mind people!). It’s amazing. I’m humbled by their support.

So don’t forget them, my fellow writers. Don’t forget the readers out there who could fall in love with your books, your characters, your writing. They are why we do this. Don’t get lost in your own little writing world. Don’t be afraid to reach out and contact someone. They are dying to read your work and fall head over heels in love with your books, your characters.

I just know it.

About the Author

Monica Murphy is a writer, a wife and a mom. She drinks too much coffee and spends too much time in front of her computer. She likes to read, she watches bad reality TV and she sometimes acts younger than she really is. Though most of the time she's sure her kids think she's a complete buzz kill.
One Week Girlfriend, a new adult/contemporary romance, is Monica's first book. 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Lets give a special thank you to Monica for sharing her Pearls of Wisdom with us. Be sure to check out her second book, Second Chance Boyfriend  available April 9^th.  

Happy writing my friends!
~Marisa