Three Months...
To all who are reading this,
Today is quite a special day for me. No, there are no blog interviews or tours, there are no giveaways or anything of that nature. It's a more personal note.
Best Served Chilled is my debut novella, the first in a series. The series follows a young woman, Hiraku Michiyo and the problems she faces when an otherworldly creature of Japanese folklore enters her life. Horrific and in some places, sexy, it has multiple five star reviews on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Goodreads.
Three months ago, it hit Amazon. And, I still do this day cannot believe it. The idea originally stemmed from an episode of the television show Supernatural (Party On Garth, episode 18 of season seven). I scrawled a note in my journal and thought no more of it until I was at university. I was due to begin drafting three ten minute script extracts (from page to screen), and I'd chosen Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton. I had already written a ten minute opening, and began playing around with character names.
One thing led to another and I had a fully formed character on a spider diagram, and she was Hiraku Michiyo. I mentioned the idea to my friend and Beta reader, Ed, and he told me to go with the idea and see where the words take me. And thus, Best Served Chilled was born.
It had taken mere days to write, maybe two weeks. And then the months of painful redrafting. I had sent it to a friend and author Shaun Allan (who has previously appeared on this blog in an interview). He liked it - told me the sex scenes were great. This wasn't my tutor telling me good things - this was a published author in my local area. He told me I had talent and that he would recommend me for his publishing house.
Sadly that fell through, but I didn't lose my confidence. I enquired to various publishing houses, entered competitions and went back to a publishing house that had previously taken on two of my short stories (Pawprints on a Heart and Darkest Dreams). Unfortunately, due to their regulations, my novella didn't fit, but they wished me well.
I was, by this point, in over my head. I didn't think it would amount to something, and that I would seem my dreams tremble and turn into dust before my eyes, like the vampires I read about almost daily. I was even looking into self-publishing it, until I decided to try Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, who had taken on two short stories previously ("I Believe in Mary Worth" and Fallen Angel). I ate my breakfast with my mother, took my laptop into the kitchen, set the dishes to soak and formatted my document, attached it to a well worded email, and sent it. Nothing like a cheery Christmas read...
In January of this year, it was approaching the deadline of, "If you haven't heard back..." A day before, I received an email from SJ Davis, the woman herself. To my freaking surprise, she loved it and wanted to publish it as part of the spring/summer line-up.
I was in shock. My parents were thrilled, my sister was amazed, my niece and nephew had no idea what was going on. I had an email, and a week later, I had my contract signed and sent off. I was introduced to the publishing house and made friends - and found some amazing books too. I was soon negotiating a book cover and a merchandise deal and all too soon, my release date was drawing: 31st May.
Imagine my shock when 30th May rolled around, and I had the Kindle copy in my email and so did Amazon. The book had been published - and on my dad's birthday too at silly o'clock at night. On 31st May, I officially launched the book and ranked at 16th in category.
Three months later, I'm not ranking as much, but that doesn't mean I don't try. I'm pushing the book for all I am worth, and whilst I am not as successful as some of our authors, I have a book published, and I'm incredibly proud of this fact.
I could never had got here without some amazing people:
- The tutors at university for telling me I could write and that somewhere in my brain, I had the guts to do it.
- My parents for filling my head with books and writing as a child and as a teenager.
- My brother and sister for putting up with my lunacies.
- My niece and nephew for sitting, drawing and scribbling their own words with me.
- My partner, who has believed in me since day one.
- Ed and Joshua, two Beta readers who I trust to be completely honest with me, and tell me if something is... Well, shit.
- My dear friend Shaun for reading the early draft and giving me the courage to publish, keep writing more and giving me strength.
- And last, but not least, SJ Davis and her amazing publishing company - I couldn't imagine my life without them. Not anymore.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support me in every aspect of my life. I owe you one.
Be sure to check out my Amazon page here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoe-Adams/e/B00BT1B4AO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1377872023&sr=8-2
I am on Twitter at: @ZeeZeeDreaming
And I am also at Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoe-Adams-Author/238105912892455
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Black Dawn by Rachel Caine
Today is quite a special day for me. No, there are no blog interviews or tours, there are no giveaways or anything of that nature. It's a more personal note.
Best Served Chilled is my debut novella, the first in a series. The series follows a young woman, Hiraku Michiyo and the problems she faces when an otherworldly creature of Japanese folklore enters her life. Horrific and in some places, sexy, it has multiple five star reviews on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Goodreads. Three months ago, it hit Amazon. And, I still do this day cannot believe it. The idea originally stemmed from an episode of the television show Supernatural (Party On Garth, episode 18 of season seven). I scrawled a note in my journal and thought no more of it until I was at university. I was due to begin drafting three ten minute script extracts (from page to screen), and I'd chosen Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton. I had already written a ten minute opening, and began playing around with character names.
One thing led to another and I had a fully formed character on a spider diagram, and she was Hiraku Michiyo. I mentioned the idea to my friend and Beta reader, Ed, and he told me to go with the idea and see where the words take me. And thus, Best Served Chilled was born.
It had taken mere days to write, maybe two weeks. And then the months of painful redrafting. I had sent it to a friend and author Shaun Allan (who has previously appeared on this blog in an interview). He liked it - told me the sex scenes were great. This wasn't my tutor telling me good things - this was a published author in my local area. He told me I had talent and that he would recommend me for his publishing house.
Sadly that fell through, but I didn't lose my confidence. I enquired to various publishing houses, entered competitions and went back to a publishing house that had previously taken on two of my short stories (Pawprints on a Heart and Darkest Dreams). Unfortunately, due to their regulations, my novella didn't fit, but they wished me well.
I was, by this point, in over my head. I didn't think it would amount to something, and that I would seem my dreams tremble and turn into dust before my eyes, like the vampires I read about almost daily. I was even looking into self-publishing it, until I decided to try Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, who had taken on two short stories previously ("I Believe in Mary Worth" and Fallen Angel). I ate my breakfast with my mother, took my laptop into the kitchen, set the dishes to soak and formatted my document, attached it to a well worded email, and sent it. Nothing like a cheery Christmas read...In January of this year, it was approaching the deadline of, "If you haven't heard back..." A day before, I received an email from SJ Davis, the woman herself. To my freaking surprise, she loved it and wanted to publish it as part of the spring/summer line-up.
I was in shock. My parents were thrilled, my sister was amazed, my niece and nephew had no idea what was going on. I had an email, and a week later, I had my contract signed and sent off. I was introduced to the publishing house and made friends - and found some amazing books too. I was soon negotiating a book cover and a merchandise deal and all too soon, my release date was drawing: 31st May.
Imagine my shock when 30th May rolled around, and I had the Kindle copy in my email and so did Amazon. The book had been published - and on my dad's birthday too at silly o'clock at night. On 31st May, I officially launched the book and ranked at 16th in category.Three months later, I'm not ranking as much, but that doesn't mean I don't try. I'm pushing the book for all I am worth, and whilst I am not as successful as some of our authors, I have a book published, and I'm incredibly proud of this fact.
I could never had got here without some amazing people:
- The tutors at university for telling me I could write and that somewhere in my brain, I had the guts to do it.
- My parents for filling my head with books and writing as a child and as a teenager.
- My brother and sister for putting up with my lunacies.
- My niece and nephew for sitting, drawing and scribbling their own words with me.
- My partner, who has believed in me since day one.
- Ed and Joshua, two Beta readers who I trust to be completely honest with me, and tell me if something is... Well, shit.
- My dear friend Shaun for reading the early draft and giving me the courage to publish, keep writing more and giving me strength.
- And last, but not least, SJ Davis and her amazing publishing company - I couldn't imagine my life without them. Not anymore.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support me in every aspect of my life. I owe you one.
Be sure to check out my Amazon page here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoe-Adams/e/B00BT1B4AO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1377872023&sr=8-2
I am on Twitter at: @ZeeZeeDreaming
And I am also at Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoe-Adams-Author/238105912892455
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Black Dawn by Rachel Caine
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