Today marks the two-year anniversary of Super Center Savior’s publication. It’s been a humbling journey the last two years with a lot learned about three selfs:

1. Self-publication. I chose Crossbooks as my publisher, and they have been great to work with. If I were to self-publish again, I would have no hesitations in choosing them. The only thing I regret doing is buying 500 copies of my own book. Their sales person talked me into it, and at the time, I thought, “It will be easy to sell that many copies around town.”It wasn’t. I still have a couple of cases. Moral of the story? Don’t buy your own book! It’s good to have 50 copies available, I would say, but beyond that, unless you have opportunity to speak to various groups, I would encourage you to just buy what you think you need at the time.
2. Self-promotion. I wasn’t prepared for the amount of publicizing a book that self-publishing requires. I still have folks tease me about my promotion of it. You need a thick skin in the self-publishing market. There are very few people outside of your mom and a few friends who will continue to talk up your book after a week or so of its publication.Initial enthusiasm and early Amazon rankings are great. On its release day, it climbed to #5 under Inspiration, #86 under Spirituality, #31 Kindle Inspiration under Best Sellers. However, it’s sustained help from friends and others that help a self-published author get noticed and contribute to the success of a book.
3. Self-IE. The “IE” here stands for initiative and effort. Be prepared to work. That should be obvious from the self-promotion topic above, but I coordinated book signings with bookstores, recruited blog reviewers, set up book giveaways on GoodReads, etc. Unless you have an incredibly proactive champion in your corner, no one else will assist you or guide you through the months after the book’s release.

THANKS

I can’t thank all of you enough who have read the book, shared it with others and encouraged me personally. It’s still surreal when someone new mentions the book, leaves a review on a website, or contacts me about it. One amazing thing about a “book” is that its message sits there quietly, within its bound pages, just waiting for someone new to pick it up. It doesn’t matter when it was released. As long as it’s available, there’s content within that can impact lives.

May you discover and enjoy a love relationship with Jesus that leads you into 24/7 living for His glory and other’s blessing.

-JN