So, what’s it been like?

I submitted Tease to Loose Id July 2009. It came out August 2010. In between? Edits. So. Many. Edits.

Loose Id took a chance of Tease when it was still half baked, asking me to rewrite and resubmit. I did, and I got the congratulations email in April, and the ball started really rolling them. It went through three rounds of edits with Sandra (lovely, lovely editor!), then two rounds of line edits, then a post proof review, then a proofed review.

On July 29th Tease went back to Loose Id for the final time, and on August 3rd it was released. Not a bad turn around! Tease had been bumped up the schedule, making the last few reviews a speedy thing. The cover was up, the review copies were sent out, I realised I’d stuffed up the whole tax thing… And then it was for sale.

Reviews were interesting. They’re all predominantly positive, which is a relief! I only let myself be lured into commenting once (other than to say thank you, obviously!) when I realised that somewhere in the edits some details had been lost, and what readers were getting wasn’t what I’d intended. I’ve made my peace with that now, but if there’s ever a second edition I’ll go back and tweak it a little.

I had no idea what to expect in terms of sales. From anecdotal evidence, UK rooted books don’t always do as well as US based ones, so I wasn’t expecting to be a run-away success from the get go. What was interesting was watching the sales peek every time a new market opened up (Sony, Amazon, ARe, etc) and the impact reviews had on it.

Sales are tailing off now, and I know that’s mostly my fault. Real life has been kicking my arse, and I’ve not been promoting it as much as I was at the beginning. They say the best promotion you can do is to write another book, so I’ve been working on that too 🙂

(I haven’t done the maths, if you’re wondering, but off the top of my head I’d say I’ve sold 300-400 copies. I have to do the maths soon, what with taxes and all, so I’l let you know the exact count then!)

Tease was one of those stories that’s been lurking around the back of my mind for years. A young artist, living alone, doesn’t realise how lonely he’s become until on one of his daily rambles along the coast he comes across a beautiful stranger. The stranger can’t talk, but that’s for the best: the artist isn’t great with words and they’ve always gotten between him and romance before. They romp in the sea, picnic on the sand, and fall asleep as the sun sets.

It’s not quite how Tease came out (there’s not exactly a lot of tension in that version!) but the core themes are still there. Loneliness. Communication. Trust. And the Cornish seaside, of course. I was back there less than a month ago, and I’ll upload some pictures to facebook so you guys can see why it will always be my favourite summer spot.

I’m really glad Tease was the first book I had published. I’m really glad it’s still selling, a year on, and I’m really glad you guys have been around for the journey. I hope you enter the competition* and I just want you to know how much I appreciate you all.

*I bought the charm bracelet back when I was still submitting Tease to various publishers. That shows you how proud I was off this book. I’ve actually got two, but I’m keeping one 🙂 Also, even if no one enters, I’m still paying to adopt that pup. It’d be mean not to!