Category: self-publishing


Jan
2017

Lucky?

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, self-publishing, writing, YA

First post of 2017 :).

Hope the year has been good to you so far.

A lot of thoughts have been running through my mind lately.  For Ash’s book, the cover is being created as I type, and I’m SO excited.  My cover designer said that I should have options to look at next week.  Yay!!!  Like ADORKABLE, this manuscript/book has been complete for a while, and I love it.  No really, I love this book.  I love the characters–Ash obviously, but the female MC is awesome.  I relate to her on so many levels, and I really hope readers will love them like they did Sally and Becks.

And here’s where the self-doubt comes in.

See whenever I post about how ADORKABLE is doing on Goodreads or Amazon, I’m seriously not bragging.  It’s because I still have trouble wrapping my mind around it.  Why did all those people read, review, rate the book?  I have no idea.

How did they find it?

What made them want to read?

Why did they give it a good rating/review?

Again…how did they even find the book???

My answer to all of these questions is the same: I got lucky.

Or at least that was part of it.  As much as I love the book, as much time and effort I put into writing, editing, re-editing, researching, I’m pretty crap at marketing.  I have no idea what I’m doing.  Even with this post, I don’t know if it’s okay to tell people these things or if I should just keep my fears to myself.  But here it goes:

I am afraid that my next book won’t do as well as ADORKABLE.  There I said it.  I’m afraid that readers who loved my debut won’t like this one–again, a book that I really do love so much.  I’m afraid that the people who didn’t like ADORKABLE will read this one, and realize that yep, this is still the same writer whose work I hated the first time–which will undoubtedly be followed by a scathing review.

But I also know that I’m a tough cookie :).

I won’t let these fears hold me back.  As I stumble/fumble my way through everything it means to be a self-published author, the one thing I will do is keep trying.

Anyway, I know ADORKABLE‘s success had something to do with luck (maybe everything).  But I also know this (and if the majority the post was lemons, here is your lemonade): I worked hard, wrote a book that I loved and somehow, some way, it found its way into the hands and hearts of readers who loved it.

If that’s luck, I’ll take it.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Dec
2016

Just For You

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, debut, doing what you love, fun, giveaway, Kindle Countdown Deal, self-publishing, YA

adork3

Isn’t that the most adorkable book tree you’ve ever seen???

adork4

Mister Potter seems to think so :).

Okay, ADORKABLE readers, I have something just for you.

Since this is the first book I’ve ever published–and it will always be my first, my book baby, sigh–I wanted to do something special to celebrate this Christmas.  And what better way than to give back to the ADORKABLE readers?

Tomorrow, December 21, 2016 at 12:00 pm EST I’m going to do a few quick giveaways on Facebook.  I’ll be giving away three $5 Amazon gift cards and one ADORKABLE paperback.  Signed or unsigned, if you win, you decide!

All you have to do to win is be first to correctly answer a few questions (one per giveaway) about ADORKABLE.

Easy, right?

Like I said, I really wanted this one to be for the readers, and it may completely flop.  My fear is that no one will show up or even attempt the questions lol.  But you never know until you try, right?

If you want to participate, I’ll see you at 12:00 pm EST on the Cookie O’Gorman Facebook page!

Good luck, and I hope you’re having a great week.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. The ADORKABLE e-book is only $0.99 on Amazon and Amazon UK for a limited time!  The Kindle Countdown Deal will last until December 25, 2016.  If you have any friends who’d be interested, please let them know and spread the word so they can get the deal before it ends.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

 


Dec
2016

ADORKABLE Christmas Giveaway

categories: Adorkable, ADORKABLE Christmas Giveaway, Amazon, debut, doing what you love, giveaway, promotion, self-publishing, YA

It’s giveaway time again!

This is supposed to be the season for giving and good cheer and all that good stuff.  I really do love giving–even though I don’t have a whole lot to give.  Ugh.

But like I said, I love giving especially to you ADORKABLE readers :).  I’m calling this one the ADORKABLE Christmas Giveaway, and it will be open from midnight on December 15 until December 25th.  You can enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card using the widget below, my Christmas present to you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I wish you so much luck.  May the odds be ever in your favor.  May your days be merry and bright.  And as always: May the Force be with you.

I hope you have a great week.

Happy Reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Nov
2016

Goodreads Giveaway!

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, giveaway, Goodreads, self-publishing, Star Wars, writing, YA

I’m very excited to announce my first ever Goodreads Giveaway!

I’ve seen giveaways around for other books, always hoped I might get to do one.  And now that the paperback version of ADORKABLE is out, I can :).

FYI, for any first-time self-pubbing authors out there, you have to set the giveaway date 7 days before the actual day (who knew?). So I set it all up last week, and it just went live today.  Anyone with a Goodreads account can enter and it is open to users in the United States.

What can you win, you say?

If you enter, you can win one of two signed copies of ADORKABLE!  That means there will be 2 winners!!  Again, I can’t wait.  When I looked just now, I saw that 9 people had already requested, and I was like “yesss!”

Here is the widget for entries.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman

Adorkable

by Cookie O’Gorman

Giveaway ends November 23, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

I hope you enter the giveaway and help me spread the word about ADORKABLE.  I hope the winners love the book–or maybe they’ll be winners who already loved the book ;).

Good luck, and may the Force be with you!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Oct
2016

Bookish Firsts

categories: Adorkable, cover love, debut, doing what you love, self-publishing, YA

adork1

Can we just take a moment to take in all that pretty? <3 <3 <3

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen so many ADORKABLE books in one place lol.  A magical moment for sure, so of course, Mister Potter had to make an appearance. 🙂  But seriously, someone in my family (here’s lookin’ at you, Colleen) decided to order and have me sign a whole bunch of copies to give as gifts, and I can’t thank her enough.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Colleen!

When I decided to publish, I didn’t know I’d get to take a picture like this.  I didn’t know I’d see one of my students reading my book, in real life (sigh…a first I will always remember).  I didn’t know my grandpa would come to visit and be spotted on multiple occasions reading the little book that I wrote.  I didn’t know I’d be using Google Translate so much thanks to book reviews from all over the world.  Definitely didn’t know there would be so many amazing ADORKABLE readers and supporters.

Anyway, just feeling really thankful today.  Hope you all have a great week, and if you’ve supported ADORKABLE, thank you so much again!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Oct
2016

A Happy Surprise

categories: #PoweredByIndie, Adorkable, Amazon, debut, doing what you love, self-publishing, writing, YA

I got an unexpected (and awesome) email from Amazon over the weekend.  They’re doing this thing in October called #PoweredByIndie to celebrate great writing with a focus on indie KDP published titles/writers.  And that’s only one part of the awesome.  The other part is…they’ve chosen ADORKABLE as one of the featured titles!!!

Like I said, so surprising and definitely very cool.

You can check it out here.

It’s all about the indie and promoting self-published work, which I think is a fantastic idea.  And it gave me the topic for this week’s post, so thank you, Amazon :).

Here are some of my favorite things about being an indie author.

One of my most favorite things is the readers.  I love it when someone contacts me to say they read and loved my book.  That is something I never take for granted.  I love that the story they read and loved is the one I wanted to put out into the world.  Going indie allowed me to safeguard the heart of my story, the characters, and I will always love it for that reason.

I also love the empowerment.  It is such an amazing feeling to take charge of your own destiny.  Going indie, taking that first step and deciding that you are going to make all the decisions about your book, it can be a scary thing.  But if you believe in your book, your story and your characters, you have the power to put the story out there.

You are the one who decides when it’s ready.  You are the one who decides what the cover should look like, how the summary should read, and when to release the book.  The power is in your hands.

Amazon, KDP and indie publishing made it possible for me to publish the books that I love so much.  #PoweredByIndie is right.  Indie publishing empowers authors and allows them to create books that they love and reach readers who may love them as well.

That’s why I’m proud to say I’m an indie author.

I hope you all are having a great week so far, and if you haven’t, I hope you give indie books like ADORKABLE a chance <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Sep
2016

And the winner is…

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, giveaway, self-publishing, YA

Today marks the end of the “I <3 ADORKABLE” Giveaway–which means it’s time to announce a winner!  The randomly selected winner of this giveaway and a $25 Amazon gift card is…

Jen!!!  Congratulations, Jen, I will be emailing your e-card shortly. 🙂

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this giveaway.  I really enjoy doing these, and this one in particular made celebrating the paperback release of ADORKABLE that much more awesome. (Ahhhh, it’s actually a paperback!)

I wanted to let you know that Amazon has already merged ADORKABLE‘s two formats (e-book and paperback) so they can be found on the same page.  I know…that was fast!  I thought it might take a week at least, but I’m new to this, so everything is a learn-as-you-go process.

Also, I’m so happy to say that there have already been some orders for the paperback!  Like non-family member orders (and some family orders).  Anyway again…that was fast…and I am thankful (to both the family and non-family ADORKABLE readers lol!).

Hope you all have a great day!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Sep
2016

Happy Paperback Release Day!!!

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, Release Day, self-publishing, YA

Okay, I did it.  I pushed the button–it’s actually really something.  There are a lot of nerves and deep breaths involved for such a simple thing lol.  But after hitting approve, I stayed up to make sure the book actually published, and it did!

ADORKABLE is now available in paperback.  332 pages, two best friends, one beautiful cover, and all the dorki-ness and heart of the original e-book.

Siiigh…ain’t it beautiful?

paperback2

Yay, yay, yayyy!  It’s actually out there.  The paperback version of ADORKABLE can currently be found at Amazon and Createspace as well as Amazon European stores.  Eventually, the two versions should be on the same Amazon page (but tbh I have no idea how long that will take).  Other channels, like B&N, may pick it up eventually.  Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this little book of mine.  I really do love these characters, and I’m so happy that many of you have as well <3.  It’s because of you that I decided to make this leap and create the paperback version of ADORKABLE in the first place, so thank you!

Again, I have no idea how many people will actually want a physical copy.  But if you do: It’s out there! 🙂

Happy Paperback Release Day, everyone!!! I hope you have a great week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Sep
2016

ADORKABLE Updates

categories: Adorkable, debut, doing what you love, giveaway, Kindle Countdown Deal, Release Day, self-publishing, YA

Okay, so after doing a bit of homework, I have learned much–and probably still not enough lol!

Update #1: No pre-orders.

I researched pre-orders on print books.  Here is my reaction to what I found: What…the…what??? 0_o

It was so easy to set up pre-order for the e-book version of ADORKABLE.  I thought it would be just as straightforward with print books, but alas…this is not the case.  To see what I mean, here is a link to the process.  And another from the original thread on this topic.

After reading (and re-reading) these and other articles, I really think I could do it.  No, I know I could do it.  I’m good at following directions–especially when it’s for something important.

But that’s the thing: ADORKABLE is my book baby.  It’s my debut.  It’s Sally and Becks and Hooker and Ash and…it’s a piece of me.  If there was even one change in the process, something might go wrong, and…nope.  Not taking that chance.

So yeah, no pre-orders.  The book will be out really soon anyway–which brings me to my next update. 🙂

Update #2: The Official Release Date for the print edition of ADORKABLE will be September 20, 2016!!!

That’s less than 2 weeks away, you guys.  I’m sooooo excited!!!  I have no idea how many people will want the print edition.  I’ve had several people tell me they’d like a print version, and I hope there will be new readers.  Maybe they only read print books and will find ADORKABLE this way.  I hope old readers who loved the e-book will want to add the paperback to their shelves.  Again, I’m just so freakin’ excited about it!

So excited, in fact, that I have a third update.

Update #3: On Friday, there will be a Kindle Countdown Deal!  ADORKABLE, the original ebook version, will be available for just $0.99 for a limited time to celebrate the upcoming release of the print book.  I’ll do another post Friday, but yeah.  Deals are awesome, and I hope a lot of readers will benefit from this one!

And those are the ADORKABLE updates. The “I <3 ADORKABLE” giveaway is still open if you want to enter.  I hope you are all having a great week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. ADORKABLE was #1 in Germany, Canada and France this week in its categories! Woohoo!

 


Sep
2016

Big News & A Giveaway!

categories: Adorkable, debut, fun, giveaway, self-publishing, YA

Big, Huge, Awesome News: ADORKABLE is coming to print in September!!!

Yes, you read that right.  This little debut YA romance is going to be a paperback.  I’ll keep you updated on the official release date and also when the book will be available for pre-order.  I already have my proof (which is so beautiful!), but of course, I need a finished copy for my shelves.  Ahhh, I’m so excited! 🙂

So, to celebrate ADORKABLE‘s print release and to thank all of the readers, bloggers, reviewers, AMAZING people who’ve made this possible, I’m doing a giveaway!

The “I <3 Adorkable” Giveaway will run from September 1 (midnight) until September 22 (midnight), and you can enter using the Rafflecopter below to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!  Thank you again for your support, and I hope you’ll all check out ADORKABLE when it comes to print later in September!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman