It’s been a month since Ghost Electricity went live on Amazon. And what a month it’s been.

I kept my expectations low. I know that I’m a brand new, unknown author with no established audience and a lot to learn. I knew it would be quiet in the beginning.

My goal was simply to get readers and reviews. I know that for marketing purposes, a few doors open for you once you’ve got 5 to 8 reviews with a good rating. My hope was to hit that mark by the time The Mortal Edge goes live in April. I was hoping to get a little word of mouth from people who liked the book.

And it’s been a heck of a couple of months at the day job, which meant there was a limit to how much time I could spend pushing the book. Ghost Electricity has, I think, been slightly neglected as a result. I would have liked to do more.

But the response has greatly exceeded my expectations.

The reviews I was hoping for, they were good. Really good. I’m very grateful to the people who took time to review the book on Amazon and Goodreads. Fellow authors reached out to me to offer me encouragement and to spread the word on their social media and in their newsletters. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. It was unexpected and it was a gift. And it gives me a standard of generosity to measure myself by as I continue on.

The feedback hasn’t been 100% positive, of course. You can’t write a book that will please anyone and I am still a rookie. So I’ve gone through a few ups and down, like urban fantasy author Holly Evans describes in her post Battling Self-Doubt and Over-Thinking. I expect there will be plenty more.

But for now, though I have much work ahead of me, I feel pleased with where I am. Thank you to those who read and liked Ghost Electricity. In the last month, you’ve put many a smile on my face.