Five things I’ve learned in the last week

It’s been one week since Marine for Hire was released, and I’ve had seven days of unexpectedly high sales, toe-curlingly wonderful reviews, and important learning experiences. Not all of the lessons are related to writing, but they all make blood rush to tingly places in my body.

• After six years of practicing yoga, I attempted a headstand without propping myself against a wall and discovered I’m able to do it. I’m not able to do it without flashing the entire class as my shirt flips over my face.
• Despite knowing Amazon and Barnes & Noble update their sales stats only once an hour, I cannot stop myself from hitting “refresh” every three minutes to see if my ranking has changed. Incidentally, thank you to all of you who’ve kept this book selling steadily for the first week. I’ve never had a book rank this high in overall sales—in the low 40s among all paid books on Barnes & Noble and in the 130s on Amazon—and numbers continue to be strong after a week. It might have something to do with the 99-cent promo price, which is still going right now.

  

  Proof my doctor has a good sense of humor.

• Two weeks is a long time for a romantic comedy author to abstain from amorous congress. When my ladybits doctor suggested a minor medical procedure, I failed to read the fine print requiring two weeks of post-surgery celibacy. I had little success with wheedling calls to my doctor’s office inquiring how hard and fast the rule was (the humorless receptionist’s response: “Very, VERY hard. And very fast.”) The fact that this two week period coincided with my editor’s command to pack my next book with as much sex as possible made this the longest 20,160 minutes of my life.
• Reader reviews actually matter. A lot. Confession time: Before last week, I rarely hopped on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Goodreads to review a book I’d purchased. I certainly read reviews, but I always figured adding my two-cents didn’t make much difference. In the last week, I’ve learned how crucial those reviews are to the algorithms that determine whether a book pops up on someone’s Amazon screen as a suggested read, or fades into oblivion like a vibrator with a cracked battery case. If you’ve read Marine for Hire by now, I’ll love you forever if go here to Amazon or here to Barnes & Noble to leave a short review.
• In the midst of snowpocalypse, seeing someone post about how many inches they got last night never stops being funny.

What lessons have you learned this week? Please share! 

And if you haven’t nabbed a copy of Marine for Hire during the 99-cent sale, do it now while I’m still cheap and easy. 

Oh, and I almost forgot—if you’re free tonight (that’s February 10) between 7-10 p.m. EST, stop by the Boys of Brazen Military Bash on Facebook. We’ll be giving away tons of prizes, plus authors Tessa Dare, Katee Robert, Diane Alberts and I will post hilarious videos of ourselves and our menfolk reading each other’s sex scenes. My gentleman friend may or may not appear shirtless in our video.

Join us Monday on Facebook for tons of great prizes, dirty talk, and hilarious videos.