I’ve been writing creatively since I was about 10 years old. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Vicky Richardson, encouraged me to write during my free time and got two of my poems submitted to a journal for military kids living in the Pacific. They were published!
Writing led me to getting a degree in journalism and working for newspapers and as a civilian for the Air Force. All my jobs dealt with writing in one way or another. When my children were little, I did freelance reporting when time allowed and started to get ideas for books. I once met Heather Lende at a book signing in Alaska and she encouraged me to enjoy motherhood, but keep pursuing my dreams of writing, even if it takes a while. She was a reporter who was finally publishing a book when her children were about out of the house.
I wrote when I had the time and eventually I had two young adult novels and a series of three children’s books. I started querying agents (for traditional publishing you have to have an agent who will then pitch your book to the big publishing companies). I got a lot of rejections. In November 2018, I took on the National Novel Writing Month challenge and finished a contemporary fiction/clean military romance novel. It was a novel idea I had in my head for almost 10 years. I started querying agents on that novel, too, but only got rejections.
Then, I started looking at some independent (smaller) publishers where you didn’t need an agent. After a few months, I finally got an acceptance! BLKDog Publishing wanted to publish my book! Going with this indie publisher meant my book would be published, but I would need to get my own editor and do most of my own marketing. I was fine with that and in the summer of 2019, I became a published author!
The Ring is about …
Amanda knows three things about her life – she loves living in Tacoma, she wants to be a teacher and she will never marry a man in the military. Yet, when Lucas comes into the coffee shop where she works wearing a flight suit, he starts to change her mind about her future. She is determined to just be his friend, but the chemistry between them is undeniable and their relationship survives through two deployments and him being on work trips almost half of the time. After they get married, they move across the country to Charleston, S.C., and Amanda finds a job, which helps somewhat with the loneliness of Lucas being gone a lot. She thought she was prepared for life as a military wife, but then she starts finding out the true sacrifices military families make.
I did have self-publishing on my radar, but wanted to try and go with a publisher to lend credence to my book. I had only been a few months off from doing all the researching for that option, though.
It has been interesting finding the best ways to market my book. I have an established, but small, following on some social media sites due to my book review blog that has been up for several years. I can talk about my book on my blog, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I then set up an author profile on Amazon, Goodreads and BookBub. I have tried to reach out to influencers whom I have a relationship with and have done a guest blog for a parenting Web site. I have contacted magazines and set up book signings in libraries and bookstores. I try to do at least a small thing every day to help market my book. Oh, and I did have postcards made up as a marketing item through Vistaprint.
Two books that helped me quite a bit are How to Sell Books by the Truckload on Amazon and 5-Minute Book Marketing for Authors by Penny C. Sansevieri. I was given free copies of the books in exchange for a fair review. I have read through both and am using many of her tips. The books are geared toward self-publishers, but even for those who don’t have access to their own Amazon KDP, the tips can be very helpful. She goes over how to use Goodreads and Amazon to your advantage as an author. She also gives great tips on how to contact people to review your book. I would highly recommend them to any author or anyone considering publishing a book.
Coming up, I will submit a chapter to be included in a book of short dystopian stories through BLKDog Publishing. I have also signed with Histria Books to have my young adult fantasy book published in early 2021. I also have an agent interested in my other young adult novel, but would like to see certain edits made before she possibly accepts it. It’s a very exciting time for me and I’m looking forward to all the writing and editing I’ll get to do in 2020!
Thank you for being a reader of my blog and/or book. If you want more information on my book, The Ring, visit “Books by Sarah Anne Carter.” You can purchase a copy (even autographed) there or you can buy it on Amazon.