Category: self-publishing


Feb
2020

Happy V-Day!!!

categories: cover love, Romance, self-publishing, The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad, YA

Hi everyone, and Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

I know it’s all about the candy, cards and cute stuffed animals…but I got some awesome bookmail this week and wanted to share! See pic below, and prepare yourself for the pretty *__*.

That’s right, you guys!

The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad is coming to paperback next Monday (February 17th)!!!

Hooray! And it’s just in time (almost lol) for Valentine’s Day! <3

Love and romance are in the air, and I’m thinking of watching one of my favorite romcoms (speaking of which, check out this cool post I did a while ago for the Entangled blog on my Top 5 Teen Romance Movies <3). Also, maybe it’s because I’m a self-confessed bookworm, but it just seems like the perfect time to pick up a swoon-worthy romance :).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. Sadie & Colton’s story is going to be in paperback, yayyy!!!! I can’t wait! <333


Jan
2019

Hello 2019

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, Happy Holidays, Nindzsalany, Ninja Girl, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, writing, YA, YA mystery

Hello 2019, how are you doing? 🙂

It’s a new year, you guys, and I’m hoping for good things. For you, for myself and for every bookworm in the universe!

2018 brought some hard times, some difficult, sad times, and I’m still so thankful to all of you for being kind and awesome throughout everything <3. The lemons were definitely there but so was the lemonade. Case in point…

2018 also brought a whole bunch of bookish awesomeness: ADORKABLE was included as a Bookbub Featured Deal; I published book baby #3 The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder (in ebook & paperback); the Hungarian version of NINJA GIRL was released; I got to attend a royal wedding (okay, so I watched from home, but Harry & Meghan looked just as beautiful on screen, and the tea was still wonderful!); I got to write the foreword for a YA romance anthology (thanks, Kelsie!); ADORKABLE came out as an audiobook; I participated in KM Shea’s summer reading event (thanks, Kitty!); ADORKABLE was included in a Top Ten list on Bustle; ADORKABLE was in The Bookworm Box for November; and I did my first Facebook Live video ever for an author takeover of The Bookworm Box FB page.

Some writing goals I hope to accomplish in 2019 are: Publish a book. Figure out how to market/promote better. Create a newsletter, and grow a mailing list. Increase social media presence (possibly start an Instagram account). Write a book. Write more. Write better. Attend a conference and/or event.

My #1 goal from the beginning to now remains the same: To get my books into the hands and hearts of the readers who will love them <3.

I also have some personal goals, but those are the same every year. I hope to help others, make someone’s life better, spread kindness and love, be a better person, renew/restore my faith, and figure out what I should do with my life.

On December 31st, I completed my latest book, yayyy, and I hope to release it this year!!! I am absolutely in love with this story, and I hope you will love it, too! So so excited about this!

Thank you so much for all of your support in the ups and downs of this writing/publishing journey! Happy New Year, readers, and I hope 2019 is awesome for you!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman



Dec
2018

Ethan Wilder in Paperback!!!

categories: Amazon, doing what you love, giveaway, Happy Holidays Giveaway, Release Day, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

It’s here, it’s here (and just in time for Christmas)!

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder is available in paperback.  Hooray!!! 😀

Honestly, it was kind of a crap day yesterday because I kept waiting…and waiting…and waiting for the book to publish.  Amazon does say it can take up to “72 hours for your book to be available,” but I’d never experienced this before.  It’s only taken 3-5 hours tops for my previous books.  But thankfully, after all the worry that I’d done something wrong, that KDP Publishing might come back and say nope, please resend, Book Baby #3 went live about 21 hours after I hit publish.

Delilah & Ethan’s story is now out there in physical form, a book that you can hold in your hands, flip through the pages and add to your shelves.  Gah, I’m so excited to add this one :).

I hope my little YA romance murder mystery 1) makes you fall in love with Ethan, Delilah, George, Aunt B and all the quirky characters of Bowie, 2) makes you swoon, and 3) keeps you guessing until the end.  Oh, and I truly hope you enjoy the heck out of it!

If you do, please let me know!  Hearing from readers is one of my most favorite things <3.  Ahhh, Ethan Wilder in paperback.

Inconceivable :).

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. You can still enter the Happy Holidays Giveaway!  There are a bunch of prizes and several ways to enter (using the rafflecopter near the end of the post linked above).  Good luck, everyone!


Nov
2018

So Thankful

categories: Adorkable, Happy Holidays, Ninja Girl, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, writing, YA

Does anyone else feel slightly discombobulated lol?   I can’t believe Thanksgiving is this week!  It’s super early this year, and in addition to that, Christmas is going up everywhere I turn.  Not that I’m complaining, ha!  It’s all good :).

I love the changing leaves, the beautiful weather (when it stays cool here in the south), the time spent with family.

Just a look around reminds me: There’s so much to be thankful for.

And I am.

There are too many to name them all, but here are a few things I’m feeling extra thankful for this Thanksgiving:

  1.  My family and friends.  They are always first in my heart, and though their numbers are few, I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the good times, good laughs, and good memories with my people.  They are the best of the best.  I love them the most, and I hope they all know that.
  2.  Good health.  Currently fighting off a cold, but I’m so grateful for my health and that of the people I love.  The breath in my lungs, the ability to move freely, I’m truly grateful for all of it.
  3.  Good food.  Green bean casserole tomorrow, whoop!  I basically wait all year for this lol.
  4.  Good music.  Music just makes life better.
  5.  Dogs.  Dogs make life better, too.
  6.  Dance.  Dance is one of the great loves of my life, and I’m so thankful for my job, my students that inspire me and the ability to create to music that moves my soul.
  7.  Books, Readers, and the ability to Write.  Books are magic.  Readers rock (especially all of the lovely people I’ve met through this journey <3).  Writing is a gift.  I still can’t believe I have three books out there: ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, and The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder.  I’m thankful every day when I think about how I almost never published a word.  So very thankful.

So yeah, there is a lot to be thankful for :).

If you’re curious about my writing, yesterday, I finally reached 50,000+ words on my current WIP! *__*  Yayyy, hooray, woohoo!!!!  My goal is and has been to finish this book before the end of the year (which is coming soon, eep…).  I’m hoping to publish it in 2019.  I’m truly enjoying writing this book, and what’s even better?  I love the story and am SO excited to share it with readers once it’s finished!

If you’re reading this, just know I’m thankful for you, too.  So thankful.  I wish you all the best books, the best times with your family and those you love, and of course, a great heaping portion of super-delicious green bean casserole :).

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. I’m also thankful that ADORKABLE is #1 on Amazon for one of its categories!  How awesome is that?  Thank you so much again, bookworms!


Aug
2018

Inconceivable!

categories: Amazon, Kindle Countdown Deal, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

Awesome deal alert: You can now read The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder for just $0.99!!!!

Inconceivable!

You have to picture this said in Vizzini’s voice from The Princess Bride lol–but seriously, it’s true.  The deal will only last for a limited time, so if you’ve had your eye on the book or if you want to read my latest release, what are you waiting for?  Delilah and Ethan are totally awesome, and this is one YA romance murder mystery I think/hope you’ll enjoy!

And again, for the first time ever, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder is available for just $0.99!

I hope you’ll check it out <3.  If you’d help me spread the word, as always, I would be so grateful.  Book deals are awesome, and with this one, I hope more readers will find (and love) Delilah and Ethan’s story.  Have a great day, everyone!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


May
2018

Disappearing Reviews

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, self-publishing, writing, YA

Warning: This post may get a little mopey (though I’ll try to stay upbeat and end on a positive note :)).

My Amazon reviews have been disappearing.  Not reviews that I’ve written, but ones that were written about my books by readers.  *Sigh.*  I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m very OCD when it comes to checking up on my book babies.  Seriously, I check their pages almost daily.  The “almost” is because I’d actually gotten better about this, sometimes checking every other day instead of every. single. day.  But the “almost” is no more after what’s been happening.

Most recently, the reviews I noticed have gone missing were from ADORKABLE.

The screenshots are from 2018 (this year) on May 8, 9, 11, and 13.  As you can see the numbers go from 469…to 467…then back up to 468.  Now this may not seem like much, right?  But at one point, ADORKABLE had 470 reviews.  Unfortunately, I have no screenshot of this, but when I noticed it dropping I started to pay closer attention.  OCD, remember?

Anyway, I noticed the drop from 470 to 469 but didn’t freak out.  Then I actually got two new reviews–and the total went down a few days later to 468.  Then down again to 467.  Annnd commence freak out lol!  That means I actually lost 4-5 reviews all around the same period of time.  Strange, right?  Something had to be wrong.  All I needed to do was contact Amazon, tell them what was happening, and they would fix it.  Right???

Wrong.

Here are the responses I received from Amazon.  Basically, they include the reasons they remove Amazon reviews and say there’s nothing they can do.  I was floored.  I read through the guidelines for removing a review, and none of them apply to me.  My family is very small, and none of them have reviews for my books up on Amazon (Full disclosure: My aunt did write one back when ADORKABLE was first released in 2016, and it was removed immediately).

One of the other reasons stated is that a reviewer may choose to remove their own review.  Well, at least one of the reviews that disappeared was a 4-star.  I know how much time and thought goes into writing a review.  Heck, it takes me a couple of hours to write a post!  So, I don’t think anyone who wrote and posted an Amazon review–let alone a nice one–which means they liked the book!–would take it down.

Also, none of the reviews for my books link to other products (reason 3 for removing a review).

The people at Amazon don’t disclose what reviews were taken down or why.  Only the person who wrote the review can request to see the reason why their review was removed–even though Amazon doesn’t notify them, so the reviewer would never know it was missing in the first place.

Naturally, I wasn’t satisfied, and that’s why I got another email from Amazon.  It was a cut-and-paste of the first response.

I’ve also noticed a couple of reviews disappear from NINJA GIRL.  Le sigh.  But I’m one of the lucky ones because, so far, readers keep reading and reviewing.

Reviews mean everything to a self-published writer.

It cannot be overstated.

Reviews are what drive new readers to your books.  Reviews let people know a book is worth their time, money, effort.  And reviews let writers know there are people who love their books (outside of family), that they should keep writing, that they are providing something of value to others.

When you’re out there on your own, trying to make a name for yourself and your books, it is difficult.  No one is there to help you, no one has your back, no one is telling you to keep writing or when the deadlines are.  If you fail, it’s all on you.  If you succeed, it may be you…or just luck.  And just imagine, when you finally break through, when you find those readers who enjoy your books…Amazon decides to remove their reviews with no explanation.  No warning.  The reviews, the readers’ thoughts, are there one day, gone the next.  It is so disheartening.  For both the writer and the reviewer.

So what did I do after all this was said and done?  I saved the reviews in a Word doc then took screenshots.  Several hours, 77 pages of text reviews and 81 pages of screenshots later, everything was saved 0__0.  And that was just for ADORKABLE!!!

Yes, I did this for all of my books.  And yes, I know it sounds a bit extreme LOL, but I had to do it.  I want to be able to read those reviews over and over (the nice ones, of course :)).  And if Amazon won’t help me in this matter, well, I couldn’t just give up.

Thank you to everyone who has written a review for one (or more) of my books!  Your support means the world, and I hope you will keep writing reviews!  I will most definitely keep reading them <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 

 


May
2018

All About Ethan

categories: Amazon, doing what you love, Goodreads, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

Hi everyone!  My YA romance murder mystery, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder (aka book baby #3) was released on April 5, 2018.  As of last week, it has been out a month.  I thought you might like to hear how it’s been doing out there in the big wide world! 🙂

Every time I release a book, I watch it very closely and end up taking wayyy too many screenshots lol.  But it helps me remember the good things–and I think that’s important.

Here are the stats for Ethan Wilder’s first month:

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder was a #1 hot new release in France!!!

It was also a hot new release in the U.S. and the U.K.!

It was on this cool list with some books I greatly enjoyed (looking at you Miss Peregrine and Red Queen :)).

Annnd it was #1 in one of it’s categories in Germany!!!

So far, TUIUTAEW has: 9 reviews on Amazon, 21 reviews on Goodreads, and 301 people have added the book on Goodreads.  A lot of pages have been read on Kindle Unlimited as well (60,000+).  I hope readers will continue to find and embrace Ethan and Delilah’s story!  The category of YA mystery/romance is a bit different than YA romance.  The book has done great so far (despite my ineptness with marketing LOL), and I hope it continues to find the readers who will love it <3.

I hope you are all doing well, and if you’ve read (or are planning to read) The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, you are awesome!  You rock my socks, make the world a brighter place, and are just all-around lovely!  Have a great week, everyone! 🙂

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Apr
2018

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder Release Day!

categories: Amazon, doing what you love, Release Day, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

Yay, yay, yay, it’s finally here!

The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder is being released today, and my heart is all aflutter.  It’s been resting on my computer forever, and now…it’s out there.  It’s finally out there.  Oh goodness, my heart is with you little book!  I hope readers enjoy it, and if they could fall in love with Ethan, Delilah, and the whole quirky crew, that would be amazing.  I hope they laugh, gasp and swoon.  And of course, I hope this little YA romance murder mystery keeps people guessing.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported my books!  It means everything.  Readers, you are lovely/awesome/incredible/amazing/all the good things.  May you live long and prosper.  May the odds be ever in your favor.  And may your sweet tea always be sweet enough.

If you like small towns, best friends, southern charm and swoonworthy bad boys, I hope you’ll try The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder.  I hope you love it–and if you do, please let me know!  Here in the south we love a good piece of gossip :).

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 


Mar
2018

Now Available for Pre-Order!

categories: Amazon, doing what you love, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

Yes, you read that right.  Book Baby #3, otherwise known as THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER, is now available for pre-order!  Woohoo!!!

And here’s the proof :).

Annnd here’s another pic because it’s still kind of a big deal (at least to me) to publish a book lol!

Le sigh…there they are <333.  Now, that’s a sight I could look at all day–and I’m only partially kidding.  TUIUTAEW doesn’t actually release until April 5, 2018.  That’s only 7 days away, you guys!  Inconceivable!!!  Sorry, but I had to do it lol :).  Seriously though, I can’t believe how fast the time flew and yeah…7 days!  Wow, it’s right around the corner.

If you’d like to pre-order, like I said, THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER is now on Amazon.  I checked, and I already had one order.  It was my mom (Have I mentioned that I love her to the moon and back? <3).  The gesture is extra sweet because 1) I know she’s already read the story and 2) she one-clicked because she loves me and knew it would make my day (although she claims it’s because she loves the book–which also makes my day!).

There will be a blog tour next week, and I’m so excited–and so freaking nervous–to see how the book will be received!

I hope you’re all having a great week, and once more with feeling: Just 7 more days!!!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Mar
2018

The Romance, The Humor, The Real

categories: Adorkable, Be Yourself, doing what you love, Ninja Girl, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

Since it’s less than a month away (eep!), I thought I’d do a post about my next book release :).

If you didn’t know, my next YA is a romance murder mystery called The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder.  It’s set in the deep south.  It features a quirky cast of characters that I love, love, love to the tips of my toes.  And at it’s core, it’s the story of a girl, a boy and a mystery.

I wrote this story before ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL–which to me means, there wouldn’t be those books without this one.  The characters and story are completely unrelated, but what makes TUIUTAEW the same are the things I try to include in all my books.

The romance.  There is so much more mystery to this book than any of my others.  Still, I hope people will fall in love with Delilah and Ethan.  Their romance is slow but true.  It still makes me swoon *sigh*.  I hope readers will get to know them as real people and root for them like I did.

The humor.  I love books that make me laugh.  Real life can be so hard sometimes, and with my books, I hope to make people smile.  My side characters always end up being some of my favorites, and in this one, they are irreplaceable.  George is snarky as heck, has no filter and I LOVE her lol.  Like seriously, I wish I could be more like her :).  Aunt B and Delilah’s mom are awesome as well, and I think their family is just amazing.

The real.  This book is YA.  That means it focuses on themes that will hopefully speak to young adults.  One of the main themes in this book is about feeling left out.  I think Delilah and Ethan, George, Ronnie, Aunt B and Delilah’s mom all struggle with this.  They are quirky like I said–which really means they are odd, awkward, not normal.  And though I love and celebrate them for it, the good people of Bowie, Georgia do not.  They don’t appreciate the strange or the abnormal.  They want everyone to remain inside the box, be just like they are–but my characters defy this expectation.  They rail against it.  They are abnormal.  They are social rejects.  And imo, they are absolutely wonderful in their uniqueness, even though people give them crap for it.

I hope readers, young and old, can relate to the struggle of trying to be yourself in a town that would rather you conform, stay silent, be normal.

Embrace what makes you YOU, readers, and never let anyone make you feel bad about yourself.  Easier said than done, right lol?  But I believe in you and know you can do it!  That plus romance/murder/mystery is what The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder is all about!  I hope you’ll give it a shot!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman