Category Archives: Indie Authoring

It’s Here! It’s Here!

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Songs for Libby is out there in the world, waiting to be consumed.

Let the nervous, fluttering, heart-pounding suspense begin!

For me.

Because that’s how I feel—every time I release a book. Waiting on pins and needles to see if people will buy it. Then to see if people will review it. Then to see if people actually like my precious little book baby that I poured my heart and soul into! The characters I shaped. The words I bled for.

Dramatic much, Annette? Why yes, thank you. But it’s allowed, at least for today. I’ll be rational tomorrow. Just you wait.

Photo by Carlos Augusto on Unsplash

Because as much as this is excited, it’s also terrifying.

I’m not what you would call prolific. I write a book a year. That means I spend a lot of time with my characters. I invest a lot of time, thought, and emotional energy into their stories. So, while I’m trying to make this a business, it’s also deeply personal for me.

That’s the way I like it. It’s the way it should be. My hope is that because of that investment, my books will end up being deeply personal for those who read them. A tall order, I know, but I can dream, can’t I?

Photo by Benjamin Combs on Unsplash

So if you’ve preordered it, it should be waiting patiently on your kindle. And if you haven’t ordered it…well…there’s no time like the present!

Behind the YouTube Scenes

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As I set the Songs for Libby launch aside for a bit, I managed to record a video for my YouTube channel yesterday. I haven’t done that since COVID came on the scene. The video isn’t long, and there wasn’t much postproduction required for it, but I barely managed to finish it in the 2+ hours when all my kids were in school.

I want my videos to look nice. Of course I do. But to get all the lighting and sound dialed in, as well as a pretty background, it takes some finagling.

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Wanna See My New Book?

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Shall we have a cover reveal? I think we shall.

My approach for this cover was different than any of my others. For each of my other books I’ve been able to come up with a pretty solid concept of what I wanted the cover to be. I always had a jumping off point that I could work with and develop until I reached the point where I knew enough of what I wanted that I could convey it to my husband and he could put it together for me.

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Character Driven Plot

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I was part of an author panel hosted by Romancing the Capitol. This was their first time having a panel specifically dedicated to Clean Romance Authors and I was so happy to be a part of it. It was live-streamed on YouTube and you can go watch it here.

One of the questions asked was about how we as authors keep our stories new and fresh. That was an easy questions for me to answer because my plots are driven by my characters, and I do my best to make my characters human. There are billions of people on this earth and we all live unique lives because each day is filled with thousands of decisions to be made, both big and small. Each of those decisions will change our course, whether drastically or incrementally.

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Something a Little Different

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How are you, friends? Are you still surviving the craziness of homeschooling (or remote learning, or distance learning or WHATEVER they’re calling it in your town)? Have you found the goodness among the chaos?

I certainly hope all is well in your neck of the woods and that you are being kind to yourself.

As for me, I need to get my bootie into gear and start recording the audio/video version of Missing Lily. That’s on my to-do list for this week.

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Happy Release day!

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It has arrived! All That Stands Between Us is live and out in the world, and I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit at loose ends about it. I’m so excited. And I’m ridiculously nervous. And there’s even a healthy dose of fear thrown in there.

If I’m lucky, all of those emotions will meld into a collective “yay!” sort of feeling in the next few days. Until then, I’ll just hold myself together with tape and glue and hope it sticks.

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My Head is Spinning

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Not gonna lie, I’m shocked at how well Just Ella is being received. Granted, I really had no idea what to expect. I just wanted to get it out there in the hope that someone, anyone would appreciate it. Of course there was always the little girl in the back of my head, jumping up and down with clasped hands, saying, “Maybe LOTS of people will LOVE it and it will be the BEST thing EVER!!” But of course I tend to shush her a lot because, as you can see, she’s a little over enthusiastic.

I don’t know what the norm is for the success of a debut novel, but whatever my vague expectations were for myself, they have certainly been exceeded. I’ve been one happy lady the past week, often resembling that little girl in the back of my head, doing an embarrassing amount of smiling and jumping.

So I wanted to give a big THANK YOU with bits of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups on top (b/c that’s the best topping in my opinion) to all who have bought and read my book. You have my sincere appreciation.

This Is The Life

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This is The Life

Firstly, two orders of business.

#1. Just Ella has been published!! Hopefully this is old news, but I thought I should do an official post about it, because I never really get tired of saying it. So if you would like a digital copy, go here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EK7R5ZW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EK7R5ZW&linkCode=as2&tag=annklar-20

It’s available only for kindle right now. If you don’t have a kindle and still want the digital copy, there are all sorts of kindle reading apps that go on phones or tablets, etc… Or you could wait until it’s available for Nook, on smashwords, etc… That will happen in about 3 months.

#2. Print copies. If you prefer your books to be printed with real ink on real paper, then good news! Paperback copies of Just Ella should be available next week. I’m not sure the exact date, but I will let you know.

Now on to the sentimental stuff.

Just Ella was published on Thursday, so I spent the whole day trying to get the word out and making sure that everything was squared away and going smoothly. In the midst of my launch day, I was also taking care of my kids, just like every day. Around noon, I was sitting at my computer, still in my PJs, bouncing my littlest on my knee (he’s only 2 months old) and trying to type one handed. At that point I thought to myself, rather sarcastically, “This is the life”. But then I thought about it a little more and realized, this really IS the life. This is the life I want. It’s beautiful and hard. I get to stay home with my babies AND write books. How wonderful is that? I get to rock my baby to sleep while checking sales stats on my phone. I get to work with my husband on images and marketing strategy. Live the American Dream? Check.

This is the life.