Heather Day Gilbert's Blog, page 19
December 9, 2013
When it’s not Personal
I’m just pondering how paralyzing it is to spend time worrying about our online stats.
When I first got on Facebook, I remember being shocked when someone would unfriend me. Had I come across the wrong way? Offended someone?
Then twitter. As I was building my numbers, I noticed when people dropped me. Was it personal? (Answer–almost never! Twitter is one big marketing, self-promotional machine, and if you’re not backing people up or reaching them in some way, they might justunfollow you).
These days, it’s easier. As followers come and go, I don’t ask them why. It’s their life, and if they don’t like me or find me interesting, c’est la vie. I can’t confuse these casual online friends, who barely know me, for real friends (some of whom are online friends, but who know me and care about me as I do them).
I was recently struck by the verse in Jeremiah about the two evils the Israelites did–they had forsaken the living water and hewed out broken cisterns that could hold no water.
I know this is a loose analogy, but it struck me that focusing so much on online statistics can be the same thing–filling our need for approval with nothing but empty gestures of friendship.
“Friends” who aren’t really our friends, and “followers” who wouldn’t follow us into a dark room, much less into true hardships.
Book sales numbers and Amazon rankings, which slip and slide all the day long.
Awards and badges that make us feel more official somehow, but don’t mean much by way of eternity.
I’ve decided I’m going to try to spend less time looking for that immediate online verification of validity. In a way, as authors, we’re trained to do that these days–to check our numbers and brainstorm how to improve them.
But it’s time for me to embrace the freedom of self-publishing. Although I want to get another book out as soon as possible, I can do it on my own timetable. Yes, I’d love to get awards. But I’m not going to let those define me.
I’m not saying I won’t check my Amazon stats and try to continue to market. But I do want to spend more time doing what I love as an author–writing books. For me, that’s a real cistern that brims over every time I reach the end of the novel. Every time a reader relates to my characters or delights in a turn of phrase. Every time I feel I’m plugged in right where God wants me.
And if you notice I’m not commenting as much online or posting as often here, please know it’s not personal! Just filling up my cistern.
–Heather
November 28, 2013
Softcover Release and a Giveaway!
Yes! I know many of you have been waiting for the hard copy of God’s Daughter. Please know that my critique partner (Becky Doughty), my brother (Jon Day), and I have thrown ourselves into getting the best possible finished product out to you. I wanted something that looked as professional and “real-book” like as possible.
The books are priced at $12 and are 325 pages long. I’ve been thrilled with the way they look. You can check the photo at the top of the page for a close-up of the novel spine. You can buy it HERE on Amazon now! YAY!!!
To celebrate, I want to do a giveaway of one signed proof copy below! I’m also throwing in your choice of tea or coffee from my local coffee shop in West Virginia. I’ll do a two-week sign-up, since many of us have Thanksgiving coming up (I know you Canadian peeps have already celebrated!).
Here’s a front view of the novel…please ignore the crazy hair and bitten fingernails in these pics…
Alrighty! Sign up below! The more stuff you follow, the more chances to win! And tell me if the Rafflecopter isn’t working right–my first time using it!
–Heather
November 13, 2013
Working on the Soft Cover!
This is me when I finished writing God’s Daughter:
This is me the first time I held God’s Daughter in my hands–TODAY!:
Dude, I’ve aged! Okay, aside from that. HOW exciting! I already shared the next on my FB Author page–if you haven’t followed, it’s on the left hand side of your screen in a little click-out box. But I wanted to update you all over here.
Still editing the interior/exterior a bit. But all in all, it’s going to look great, I believe. Huge massive shout-outs to my bro, Jon Day, for doing the cover art and map and for my crit partner, Becky Doughty, for walking me through formatting until my brain spun.
I will let you all know the minute it hits Amazon–but it’ll be under the same link as my e-book. And then we shall see what fun stuff we can do–like get your pictures w/the book, etc.
Oh, and tomorrow I will be visiting Unusual Historicals! And there are a couple more historical blogposts coming up this month. I’ll be updating on that author page mentioned above.
I’m not double-checking this post as I have a mountain of dishes to do. BUT I wanted to show you the pic! Yay!
November 3, 2013
A Little Update on the Book Launch…
First off, let’s celebrate with fireworks:
And then something chocolate (I don’t like cherries but I’d give them to you if you do):
And finally, we’ll chill in a cafe with some cappuccino or tea:
Some mega thanks are in order for all of you all who tweeted, FBed, interviewed, reviewed, and BOUGHT God’s Daughter this weekend. Guess what? It did really well. On launch day, God’s Daughter rocked right on up the Amazon lists –it’s still sitting at #2 on the Amazon Norse/Icelandic bestseller list here.
It’s fallen a bit on the Christian and Religious Historical Bestseller lists, but it made it up to number 12 on those, as well! And it was a hot new Christian release (which seems a bit incongruous!).
So there’s much to celebrate. I hope you all are able to use the Glossary above for those Norse word explanations, and to check the family tree if you get confused in the relationships. You can actually see a lot more details on the book on Shelfari, here. This is a really fun area of Amazon, kind of like Goodreads, only more in-depth on the book itself.
The main thing I wanted to share is that there IS a hard copy of this novel (soft-cover) coming soon! So do NOT despair if you like to hold a book in your hands! It will be on the Amazon link, but I will definitely update you when that releases.
Also, Nook owners can load it up at Smashwords now, but hopefully it will show up in your Nook store in a couple of weeks.
Finally, I’m guest blogging and doing interviews literally every week this month, sometimes three times a week. I can’t keep a running list here, but I will be posting every interview on my Pinterest board here. Of course I always mention them on FB, as well!
Bottom line–YOU GUYS ARE WONDERFUL! This was a book launch I will never forget–not because of parties or book signings or massive giveaways. This is unforgettable because I saw a group of readers (and soon-to-be readers!) come together and promote a novel like there’s no tomorrow. You believed in me and my writing, and for that, I can NEVER thank you enough.
BLESSINGS!!!
–Heather
November 1, 2013
October 31, 2013
YOWZA! GOD’S DAUGHTER IS HERE!!!
Forgive the shouting, but I’ve waited such a long time to say that!
All kinds of cool kickoff stuff going on today (or tonight, if you stayed up till 12:01 am to read this!). But FIRST I want to share the link with you, so you can order your copy of God’s Daughter on Amazon, if you’re thus inclined. Just click on the book below!
God’s Daughter is also available on Smashwords (and in a couple weeks on Nook, Kobo, ipad, SonyReader) here. I’m also hoping to get hard copies ready before Thanksgiving, but no promises, peeps! Ha.
Okay. So…look up to the top of the page here–do you see the new pages? We now have a God’s Daughter Glossary, chock-full of Norse terms from the novel (and links to some visuals–check out the seax!!! Yeah, that’s my Gudrid’s weapon of choice…). Also, we have Gudrid’s Family Tree, so you can hopefully follow Gudrid’s parentage and husband trail…after all, she did have three husbands. Hoping this will make it easier for you as you read the novel. There IS a map at the start of the novel, so please check that so you have an idea of where these Vikings were sailing.
And in honor of kickoff day, we have five posts going up! I will plug these links, and if they’re not up tonight, you’ll see them tomorrow!
You can find me here on Southern Writers’ Suite T.
Becky Doughty’s riveting review of God’s Daughter is up here.
On Gabrielle Meyer’s blog, you can find my guest post on Viking research and there’s a chance to win an e-copy of God’s Daughter, as well as a six-author giveaway here.
AND the only other CBA Viking-writer I know, the inimitable Michelle Griep, is sharing her smashing review here.
I’m also visiting my homeschooling, homesteading friend Heather Harris here, talking about homeschooling and writing novels.
And to really spread the contagious excitement, I’m sharing a vlog below that Becky Doughty (my crit partner extraordinaire) and I made when she came to visit West Virginia (READ: spend over half her visit formatting my book, bless her). I know it’s choppy–we didn’t realize how lousy my new webcam was. But Becky had some great questions and kept me laughing, as well. Check it out!
And thank you ALL for checking out this book. So many of you have followed me all over the place, encouraging me every step of the way. VIRTUAL GROUP HUG!
Finally, would love it if you’d tweet that you’re buying the book today/tonight, if you do. You can hashtag it #GODSDAUGHTER or #Vikings, if you want. Once you read it, please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads if it makes an impression on you, and most importantly, please tell your friends about it! Word of mouth is the best thing ever, especially for a self-pubbed author!
All I can say is YOWZA and I cannot WAIT to get your feedback on God’s Daughter!
October 26, 2013
Our LAST Pinnable for GOD’S DAUGHTER!
Oh goodness, everyone. GOD’S DAUGHTER is releasing this Friday. THIS VERY FRIDAY! I’m so excited and scared and amazed I can’t articulate things properly. Anyway. Here’s my last pinnable for it. As you can read in my sample chapters, it’s a quote directly out of the Icelandic sagas about Gudrid. I think it sums her up as only the sagas can–short and sweet.
Please share, and see you here Friday! Will give you some links to the book on Amazon and Smashwords then, as well as a couple guest post-y review-y things going on that day. YAY!
–Heather
October 23, 2013
Where to Find Me the Next Few Weeks…
Just wanted to make sure you lovely blog readers know where to find me in the upcoming weeks…I won’t be posting here too often as God’s Daughter gears up for release. I’d love you to check out my guest posts, though–I tried to bring a different angle to each one. I’ll post links to them in my About Me section on this site, but if you want to catch them as they go live, just follow my FB Author Page. I post everything *and the kitchen sink* over there! Here’s the link: Heather Day Gilbert, Author. Today I’m on Married…with Fiction and Lisa Bartelt has reviewed God’s Daughter here. Excited about some upcoming interviews! So fun to answer questions about this novel. Thank you all for ALL your encouragement!!!
–Heather
October 20, 2013
October 17, 2013
Guest Interviews for GOD’S DAUGHTER!
Today, I just wanted to link you up to a couple of excellent interviews I was blessed to do. The first is up today on deCompose–Mike Duran’s always thought-provoking blog: http://mikeduran.com/2013/10/interview-w-debut-novelist-heather-gilbert/. All kinds of probing questions…hope you can check it out!
And tomorrow, I’ll be visiting Elaine Stock’s Everyone’s Story blog. Elaine always brings such awesome author stories to us, and I’m thrilled to be her guest! Check that out around 6:30 tomorrow night here: http://elainestock.blogspot.com. I’ll update the link here tomorrow.
Hope you can check these out and learn more and more about my motivations behind God’s Daughter and why I’ve taken the route I have in publishing!
–Heather
