Why Writer Communities Matter

For my birthday last year, I gave myself one of the weirdest presents someone can give themselves.

I published my first self-published book, “Under A Hunter’s Moon”. I so desperately wanted to get the release right that I went on a desperate hunt for a cheap cover artist, and put together my advertising. At this point, a family matter came up, that meant I had to go out of state and I’d either have to cancel my book launch, or push it back.

I went online to the writer communities to get some advice on which route to take, and was amazed by the responses I got.

Fellow Indie Writers To The Rescue

Those of you who’ve followed me for a while know that I belong to several online writer groups, and have done, since before “Under A Hunter’s Moon” was first released, as part of an anthology.

But, you might not know just how generous indie authors can be to one another.

My request for advice turned into a flurry of discussions, and out of those I got sent a cover image for “Under A Hunter’s Moon” by a paranormal romance author I’ve beta read for.

I also received a lot of advice on doing a ‘low-maintenance’ release, which would get the book launched on Amazon, and advertised on a few author blogs, newsletters, and more. Along with the advice came offers to host posts related to the launch, and promises to share the information.

I Can’t Thank My Fellow Indie Writers Enough…

I was speechless. As thanks to those involved in the launch, I sent out a few copies of the book, and set the price to free for the weekend of my birthday. It did reasonably well, but wasn’t a huge seller.

And Now We’re A Year On…

I’m planning to start ramping up the rate at which I release books, and that means being able to get book covers in place for the stories I’ve already completed.

You probably already saw last week’s “Anatomy of a Cover” post, on how I created the cover for “Evaline Trascendent”. That cover design came about, because I got a lot of feedback from fellow indie authors. I posted a draft image on several groups, and asked for comments.

Not only did I get a much better book cover as a result, but I got several ideas on how to make more of my own covers for planned releases.

But it wasn’t the new releases that concerned me, it was the lack of reviews for “Under A Hunter’s Moon”.

So, I thought I’d try something….

I touched base with some of the author groups, and asked for volunteers to read, review, and provide feedback on “Under A Hunter’s Moon”. And several volunteers stepped forward.

And Huge Thanks To Rebekah Jonesy…

I sent a free copy of “Under A Hunter’s Moon” to Rebekah Jonesy, among others, and she read it in a single sitting.

Then on Facebook chat, Rebekah sent me her feedback, which included some corrections that had somehow been missed by me, my wife, two editors, and everyone else who’d read the story.

And So It’s Time For The “Anniversary Update”

Along with the corrections from Rebekah, I decided to go ahead and update the cover too.

There were several reasons for this, but mostly, it’s so that I can use whatever images I want on future covers, and have features that unite the series.

So, go ahead, and buy your updated copy of “Under A Hunter’s Moon”, if you don’t already own one.

(If you already own a copy, Kindle should automatically update it, when the new version goes live.)

And if you enjoy reading “Under A Hunter’s Moon” check out “April Fool”, which appeared in this year’s “Book Dreams” anthology from Brain to Books.