My Book Odyssey.
Every book ever written has its own journey. A unique birth story.
Return to Enchantment: Your Guide to Creating a Magical Livelihood is no different.
I’ll refer to the book, lovingly, as “RTE” throughout the rest of this post.
The material came out of my courses and blogs from 2012 through 2014. Much of it was tried and tested. Not all of it. Some of the exercises are getting an overhaul now that I’m teaching the companion course, Enchant Your Brand.
Once upon a time …
I became acquainted with Rheba Estante over Facebook, who invited me into her beta mastermind for first time self-publishing authors. Best decision EVER.
During the mastermind she helped me to outline the book, create table of contents and write the entire first rough draft – all in 30 days. Phew. That was some serious focus. If you want to get anywhere with a major project I advise setting aside time to finish one aspect of it. For example, giving yourself 30 days to write a first rough draft so you have something to work with and refine into gold.
Rheba is inviting everyone on my list to partake of her writing mastermind, Voice it Write, in 2016 for 50% off the regular fee of $850! Check out her generous offer HERE.
The plot thickens …
To help pay for the editing, book design + layout and marketing strategist I raised $1,980 on Indiegogo in October of 2014.
I asked 5 people to beta read RTE. Only 2 gave me feedback, and I’m forever grateful.
Lesson learned: ASK a lot more people to be beta readers next time around, at least 20!
After 6 months of rewrites, research and planning, RTE made it into the hands of my Editor, Nancy Oster (Highly recommend her. Yes, I know she’s my mother-in-law. But really, she’s that good!)
I luckily snagged one of the most skilled book cover + text layout artists and marketing strategists, Angie Mroczka shortly after. Angie is a miracle worker; she was able to recreate my manuscript from an older version of the book after I deleted the FINAL from my Dropbox accidentally. Horrible. But because of Angie catastrophe averted!
In December of 2015 I made another smarty-pants move by hiring PR and marketing expert Melissa Cassera. Known for creating insatiable OBSESSION for her offerings, Melissa helps her clients do the same. (You’re obsessed with me in the best ways, right?)
Melissa helped me strategize a book launch for RTE that was “slowwww like honey.” And just as sweet.
Anything pleasure-soaked turns us both on; her coaching during the creation of my fave playshop Pleasure Yourself helped me become more, well, ME.
The saga continues …
RTE was ready for her unveiling by May 9, 2015 when I did my first book signing at Paradise Found in Santa Barbara. I popped champagne with the 25 or so friends and family who came to commemorate the moment I began to call myself “Author.”
I had a blog tour from June through October 2015 and the bulk of my book sales came from other people blogging about their Fetching Fairytales and letting their email lists know. My sales would have been much higher if I had asked more people to participate. I asked about 20 and I think 10 participated. Next time around I’ll ask 50+ people. I hand picked everyone that participated, which I really loved. It felt close to home and genuine.
Promotions I ran during the tour:
1. 99 cents for the eBook
2. Free spot in my new course Enchant Your Brand for anyone who purchased the print version of the book
Both helped to get my book on the Amazon Best Sellers list for the Women in Business category! Yippeeeee!
The cherry to top this long + luscious book release … a masquerade party with a Dia de Los Muertos flair! I felt like Diana Ross! I had 4 costume changes and danced, played drums, chanted, sang for the 60 enchanted souls who came to celebrate RTE.
Everyone who came received a copy of the book too. It was a night to remember. (I still need to sift through the video footage, but I promise to share the gems when I’m done.)
Here are the numbers so far …
Total Print Sales: 141
Total eBook Sales: 31
How many people read from the Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library: 341
I know. At first it just seems like depressingly low numbers. After all the years of work and promotion.
As I get more into teaching RTE’s material, I believe in the Angel of my ideas even more. I will continue to promote my book and get it and my body in front of as many people as I can.
I believe that the stories, exercises, case studies and meditations can change lives. I see it happening in front of my eyes each day.
I believe the truth of these words by fellow author Seth Godin.
I’m so glad to be an author and am working on two books in 2016:
Eros Unbound: Bringing Soul Back into the Boardroom + the Bedroom,
Little Mermaid for Grown Ups (the Little Mermaid that Disney would never show. Sacred erotica!)
What are you writing these days?
With deep devotion and gratitude,
P.S. If you’re new around here, this may be the first time you heard about my book. You can grab the eBook version of for just $1.99 on for one week!
[button url=”http://bit.ly/RTEbook”]GET the eBook for $1.99 on Amazon until December 9th.[/button]
