Rebecca Donovan's Blog - Posts Tagged "amazon-publishing"

JUNE 2013!!

I'm not going to torture you and make you read this entire blog for that single piece of information, so I might as well start with it.

Don't be sad! There's no reason to groan!

I'm not playing wiffle ball on the street of my neighborhood anymore. I'm in the "Bigs" now; with that comes a new set of rules, and we need to play nice!

I loved being an Indie Author!

I am a control freak (go figure), and it allowed me to feed the beast by having a say in every little detail - from the formatting, to the book cover, to the Emma-isms that are unique to this series.

But ever since I typed the first word of Reason to Breathe, I've envisioned this series on the shelves of bookstores all over the world for everyone to read! And now it's happening!

Penguin UK/Razorbill is in the process of prettying up the first two books in the series. They will be released as eBooks initially on November 8th, available in the UK, Australia, India and South Africa. The print versions will be available in 2013.

Amazon Publishing will be re-releasing Reason to Breathe in January 2013, Barely Breathing in March 2013 with Out of Breath to follow in June 2013.

Raise that chin; it'll be okay. I promise!

In the meantime, there is a lot to be done before June! There are deadlines, publicists, and hundreds of pages of edits to conquer! I just spent the entire night clicking "accept" edit, "reject" edit, and restructuring sentences in Reason to Breathe for Penguin's upcoming release. I have yet to go to bed, and it's now almost 1pm. I'm about to fall over, and couldn't tell you my own name, but it's worth it. We're playing with the Big Kids now...

Oh! And did I happen to mention that I have until the end of November to finish writing Out of Breath?! Yeah, I'm a little freaked by that. But I discovered last night that my body shuts down at a certain point, and my mind takes over. Who needs sleep?!

This is happening! I've stepped out onto the field, shielding my eyes from the bright lights, and I'm about to let the world know who I am. Are you going to be in the stands cheering me on?!

There is so much more I want to tell you, but I'm not sure you've read beyond the first sentence of this post - haha!

Again, in case you missed it ~ Out of Breath will be released by Amazon Publishing in JUNE 2013!!

Out of Breath is now in the hands of my editor at Amazon Publishing. After months of writing, it truly came down to the last two weeks.

I created a writing schedule. And... I didn't follow it. I couldn't do it. I cannot write on demand. I cannot produce based on a deadline. But I can write fueled by Dew and the natural adrenaline of panic. I locked myself away in a beach house in California (no, I didn't suffer) for a week, and wrote. Slept a couple of hours, drank some Dew, and wrote some more.

I strategized with my talented and brutally honest beta team. Developed some major plot changes that made me so excited I couldn't wait to add them in, restructuring the story-line until it all interconnected seamlessly. Elizabeth and I were a fabulous team in our tireless (which means sleepless) efforts to make Out of Breath that much better, and we reviewed all thirty-seven chapters until we were thrilled with the results. But... I still had the last three chapters to write with time running out.

I continued to write on the flight home, spending every minute of the five and a half hour flight hovering over my computer. And when I still wasn't done, I finished the last twelve pages at a friend's apartment in Boston so I wouldn't have to drive too far from the airport. Forty Chapters, Four Hundred Eighty-Two Double-Spaced Pages, and One Hundred Thirty-Five Thousand Seven Hundred Nineteen words later... I was done!

The last three chapters still need a little more love, but after reading them the next morning after I sent them to Amazon, I had tears in my eyes.

Out of Breath is a beautifully powerful conclusion to Emma's story, and I couldn't be happier with how it all comes to be, just as it should. Their voices still echo within me, long after typing the final words. I spent four years with these characters, and I will miss them now that I am letting them go.

Life isn't perfect, and we're all flawed. I hope you will appreciate all that makes Emma perfectly flawed in the final chapters of this book.

What now?

I have some crazy editing to do with Amazon on Out of Breath. I'll be working with their editing team to smooth out the edges, and make this story as phenomenal as is intended. I'll admit, the thought of editing makes my stomach twist into incy little knots. It's my least favorite part. But it will all be worth it when you read it in JUNE 2013!!

And I'll be making quite a few public appearances in 2013! I have a new addition to my team, although she isn't technically new. Emily has been one of my closest friends for years (more like a sister honestly)! Along with being a beta reader for all three books, she is now my marketing manager. She is going to make certain I get to see all of you in some way or another because she knows just how much my readers mean to me!

We have so much planned for 2013, I can't wait to share it with you as it happens!!

And... I'm already starting to write again! I have to listen to the voices in my head or else I'll go crazy! Uh... I may already be there. But you love me anyway, right?!

Today is the luckiest day of the year! Did you make a wish at 12:12 on 12.12.12?! I'm quite certain your wish will come true! Mine definitely is!

Did you know who I was at this time last year? Most of you will say, "No." That answer alone will tell you how much 2012 has meant to me. Because now you're a part of my world, and I am so grateful you found me!

Do you know who else I am grateful to have found me? Colleen Hoover. She sent me an email this past summer and basically said, "We should be friends." And guess what? We Are! And because of that email, I have been introduced to many more authors I adore and respect, who have now also become my friends. So, thank you, Colleen. You made my 2012 that much better!

Within two weeks of self-publishing Barely Breathing, I was contacted by Erica Silverman at Trident Media Group, and found myself an amazing agent who believes in me! I can't even begin to express how that feels. Thank you, Erica! And within a couple weeks after that, I was contacted by Tim Ditlow at Amazon Publishing informing me he was up all night reading Reason to Breathe, unable to put it down. And just like that, I have a publisher. Thank you for taking a chance on my book, Tim!!

I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the friends that I do, and the son who continues to inspire me. Being loved is the best gift in the world, and I am surrounded by a mountain of glittery packages, I can't even see over the top! Thank you to my girls, my beta team, my writing partner and all who get just as excited as I do by all that has happened for me this past year. Being able to share it with you makes it real!

And then there are All of You!! You downloaded The Breathing Series and then couldn't stop talking about it with anyone who would listen. You shared your feelings, all of them, and let me know just how invested and passionate you are about Emma's story. I could never Thank You enough! But I will try!

2012 Blew My Mind!! I am touched every time I receive an email. I do read every single one, even if I'm 500 emails behind in responding. I read every single comment on the Facebook pages, and every Tweet that flashes on my phone. I love the virtual hugs received by each blogger who reviewed the books and then put them on their "Favorites of 2012" lists! LOVE the Love!!

And if I thought 2012 was life altering... wait until you see what's in store for 2013!!! Thank you for your encouragement - I can hear you all cheering me on! Thank you for your passion - I know what those sleepless night have done to you (and your families)! Thank you for being a part of my world - it is more beautiful with you in it!!

Ready for 2013?! I AM!!!

July 2nd...

That's the day Out of Breath will be on your Kindles or in your hands!

What's even better, you can Pre-Order it now!!

http://www.amazon.com/Out-Of-Breath-B...

In the meantime, I need to finish editing it... selecting the new cover... and then edit it some more. It's so close to being perfect.

There's a lot to be done before July 2nd, but instead of drowning in the anxiety of that list, I AM SMILING! And you should be too!

I LOVE THIS STORY!!

It's coming... and I can't wait to see your faces once you've read it!!

Two years ago today, I clicked on a button that changed my life.

Publish

I became an Indie Author with that single click.

I watched the world react to Emma's story. I heard every single cry of anguish. I read every single word questioning why I would end a book that way. I received every single email thanking me for exposing you to a story that made you feel .

I celebrated the positive reviews. And I cried over a few harsh ones. I typed my soul onto the screen, but wasn't prepared for the vulnerability of having others judge a piece of me. It made me question if I could truly do this, be an author.

But one of my closest friends reminded me why I needed to continue: Being a writer is who I am. I cannot make others love my work. All I can do it put everything I am into it.

I have grown as an author since I wrote Reason to Breathe nearly four years ago. My Indie version is still flawed, even after re-publishing it a half dozen times over the years. But the story is exactly what it should be. Honest. Real. The story of a girl who is trying to figure out where she fits in the world. And you welcomed Emma into your world with open arms.

Thank you!

Emma is as perfectly flawed as her Indie version. And not everyone understands or even likes her. She is written that way. I have learned a lot about who I am because of her. And I'm honored to have been the one to write her story.

In less than a year after releasing Reason to Breathe, I published Barely Breathing, and once again, you were there, waiting to continue experiencing this heart-wrenching trilogy. But this time, many more of you decided to take a chance on this Indie Author.

I haven't made it easy on you, forcing you to wait a year between each book. But when I write, I'm creating. And just like an artist blending shades together to portray the exact hue of blue, I immerse myself in this conceived world, revising my words until they have the intended impact. Elizabeth and I have been known to go back and forth for twenty minutes over a single sentence.

My words are my art.

And whatever impression they make upon you, all I care about is that they made an impression at all. And it seems that I have done just that because right after self publishing Barely Breathing last May, I was contacted and signed by my fabulous agent Erica Silverman at Trident Media Group, and then I was approached by Amazon Publishing/Skyscape.

All because I took a chance and clicked that one button.

Now, on June 4th, the newly edited version of Reason to Breathe will be re-released. (The story hasn't changed, I promise.) Followed by Barely Breathing on June 18th, and, of course, Out of Breath on July 2nd.

I cannot express how proud I am of Out of Breath. It is the perfect conclusion to this trilogy. That girl who was trying to find her place in the world must now discover all she has to do is believe in herself.

May is the last month I will be an Indie Author. The covers with the doors won't exist after this month. But my heart will always be Indie. I am too much of a free spirit to let that side of me go.

It has been my dream since I first began creating this story to see it on the bookshelves of a library and a bookstore. And now it will be. I will be in over 2,000 Wal-Mart stores all over North America in July! My heart swells just typing that!

To celebrate the release of the Amazon Published version of The Breathing Series, I have decided to reveal the last line of Out of Breath on my web site, www.rebeccadonovan.com, once the image on my author page, www.facebook.com/RebeccaDonovanAuthor, has been shared 3,000 times!

There are some of you who have witnessed the evolution of my career from the very beginning. Did you think this was possible? Did you know I would be an internationally published author in two years time? I could only believe...

This is the time of year when people reflect upon what has happened and what will be.

But I’d rather reflect upon the now. The moment I’m living in this very second. And this second, for me, is all about honesty.

As real and pure as honesty is, it’s also hard. It’s not always easy to give. And it can be difficult to hear. But acknowledgment of the truth can change the very seconds we’re living in.

It takes courage and strength to be honest with who you are; to look in the mirror and respect the person looking back at you. There are days that person looks like a stranger. Someone you’ve never met before. Someone you don’t want to know. But every day, that person is you. And every day, you should challenge that person to be better.

Better than the day before. Better than the hour before. Better than the second before.

Because you can… you are… better. Look. Can’t you see it?

It may take even more courage and strength to look the person you love and care about in the eye, with the risk of losing them, and want them to want more, from this life. You can’t make them. You can only want it for them.

Because the truth… the honest truth… won’t set them free. Only they can. And that realization may hurt, but the honesty you share might actually save them.

I will always strive to be better –to smile at the reflection looking back at me with acceptance. I love with all that I am. I protect with every ounce of my being. I give until there’s nothing left. And I cannot live without being honest… even if that leaves me with a loss.

I could sit here and reflect upon my amazing moments of 2013… and there have been many. Or I could be excited for what is to come in 2014, because it will be the most life-altering year yet. But I’d rather live in the moment I’m in.

I know there is no better day than the one I’m living… until tomorrow.