Yesterday was release day! Wow. I received so many “happy release day” comments, and it has been better than any birthday or Christmas with all the posts, shares, tweets, interviews, guest posts, and reviews going live all over the web.
All of this excitement has made it easy to reminisce on the past four years and my writing journey. I have gained a loyal following and highly-engaged audience with a current Klout score of 68, which can be attributed to my new expertise in social media.
When I was 19, I considered going the traditional publishing route, but was shot down time after time after time again, until I eventually decided to self-publish. I didn’t want to wait for someone else to make my dream a reality. It was scary, and a big risk to take out loans to fund it all, having no prior experience in the industry, no platform and no idea where to start or where to go.
Now, after hundreds of hours of hard work and dedication, I can proudly say “I Grew My Boobs in China” has gained a readership of over 35,000 since its release. It has been featured in both local and international newspapers, aired on CTV (Canada), won literary awards, ranked in Goodreads’ top #20 “Best Memoirs” category, sold at the 2014 TED conference in Vancouver, Canada and is currently a finalist in the 2014 Kindle Book Awards. I am also the founder and co-host of popular weekly Twitter travel chats #TRLT (The Road Less Travelled) and #Travelpics.
It’s hard to believe that when I started off in the whole book world, I didn’t have a Twitter account, Facebook page or Amazon account. I didn’t even know what Goodreads was! I had absolutely zero platform, which is why I never landed an agent in the beginning. What a sihpromatum. I have since had agents and publishers agree to work with me, but decided against that route in the end.
Most exciting is that I was able to pay back all the credit cards and get out of debt in the first year, but I took the gamble all over again and started on the second book, this time without using credit cards or borrowing any money.
I am still be classified as a “starving artist”, but if things keep going as well as they have been, I can have a positive expectation of the future and that one day, I may be able to support myself by doing what I love most.
After another year of writing, and nearly half a year of piecing things together (editing, formatting, interior design, cover design, printing), the second book in the series, “Backpacks and Bra Straps” released TODAY.
I have lots of exciting things lined up for the next couple of weeks, including interviews and reviews which I will be posting. If you’re interested in reading the latest articles, check out the links at the bottom of this post.
I am so grateful to all of my many fans, supporters and friends who I have met along the way. I truly couldn’t do it without them and I hope I can repay them one day. One of the good friends I was fortunate enough to meet is Jessica (@JLipowski on Twitter).
Now, with 13,000 followers, you may wonder how the heck you can make any serious connections through Twitter. How on earth are you supposed to remember them all. Well, you don’t. And I sure as heck hope you’re not expected to, because I don’t. But there are the few Tweeters who send that one extra line, starting a conversation that turns into a lasting friendship. I am so glad that Jessica came into my life! She is an American expat writer who has been living in Amsterdam for the past 3+ years. On Sunday she invited me down to meet a friend of hers who is also a writer and currently traveling around Europe. Our fun-filled sleepover was quickly dubbed a pre-release, writer-girls party!
I have been living in Holland for nearly six years now (yes, that is almost impossible for me to believe!!) and rarely use public transport. But every single time I take the train down to Amsterdam I feel the most liberated, happy and free. I feel so independent and love watching the gorgeous green fields speckled with sheep, horses and windmills, huge white clouds hanging in the blue sky above.
As soon as I got to Amsterdam Central Station, Jessica, her Dutch boyfriend Matthijs and her American friend Lanie swept me away into the city! I hopped on the back of Matthijs’ bicycle, Dutch style, and we cycled through the buzzing of trams, buses, hundreds of bicycles, pedestrians, and cobblestone streets to the most atmospheric restaurant I’ve ever set foot in.
New Posts:
BOOK #2 Review: http://travellersoul76.com/2014/09/30/book-review-backpacks-and-bra-straps-by-savannah-grace/
Interview: http://www.entrepreneurial-expat.com/100-countries/
Scuba Diving: http://www.heartofavagabond.com/worlds-best-scuba-diving-snorkeling-destinations/
Review: http://flightsandfrustration.com/get-backpacks-and-bra-straps/
Review: http://readfulthingsblog.com/2014/09/30/backpacks-and-bra-straps-by-savannah-grace/
Interview: http://longingtotravel.com/2014/10/01/featured-traveler-maggie-watkins/