2 Years Published

April 30th this year marked 2 years since I decided to try self-publishing and released Crimes Against Magic on an unsuspecting world.  A lot has happened in 2 years. So, I thought I’d go through some of the highlights in, sort of, chronological order.

Selling a copy.

On the opening day of release in 2012, I sold 28 copies of Crimes Against Magic and was, frankly, astonished. I wasn’t really to know how things would change over the next year, but it was a hell of a start.

 

Getting e-mails from people.

This never gets old. Not once. I always love to hear from people who have enjoyed my work. I’d be crazy not to.

 

Breaking the top 10 in my genre

A great moment for me. I think the first time it happened, in July 2012, I got to #8 in urban fantasy in the US.

Publishing my second book

Born of Hatred was also self-published in Dec 2012.

 

Getting to the top 10 in my genre the UK.

Jan 2013, I had both books in the top 10 Urban Fantasy in the UK. It’s always nice to do well anywhere, but it was pretty special to get it that high up in my own country.

 

The offer.

Feb 2013 I got a call from my now publisher, 47North who offered me the chance to work with them. I said yes. Turns out that was a pretty good call on my part.

 

The re-release

September 2013, both Born of Hatred and Crimes Against Magic are re-released by 47North with edited content and new covers.

 

Top 100 part 1

Oct 2013 was the first time I broke the top 100 in the US and Canada.

Dec 2013

I release my first novella, Infamous Reign. I’m quite proud of that little story, even if it did take me longer to write than Born of Hatred.

 

Top 100 part 2

By Feb 2014, Crimes Against Magic was in the kindle top 100 in US, Canada, UK, Germany and Australia. Born of Hatred was in UK, US and Canada.

With Silent Screams

Feb 14th was the release of Book 3, With Silent Screams. It went in the top 100 in several countries, as well as hitting the number 1 spot in 7 genres, and appears to have gone down well.

 

Waterstones

Getting a phone call from Waterstones to be asked if they can stock my books because people are asking for them was a massive moment for me.

 

Agent

April 2014, I got myself an agent in the form of Paul Lucas from Janklow and Nesbit.

Future

It’s been a crazy 2 years, and I’ve met some awesome people, specifically my 47North brethren who have both incredibly fun to get to know and more help than I could possibly hope for. If there’s a closer group of writers working for any other publisher, I’d be astonished.

I’m writing Book 4, Prison of Hope, and should have a release date for you about both that and book 5 soon enough. I’ve got other things I want to write too, so I’m hoping to start the first book in a new series at the end of the year. Other than that, I have no idea what the future holds, but so long as I continue to enjoy writing and people enjoy reading my ramblings, I’ll be pretty happy.

The Hellequin Chronicles seems to have struck a chord with readers. People tell me they enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them, and I can’t ask for anymore than that.