11 months after putting my first book up on Amazon, I released a new book this week and got that awesome little orange tag. #1 new release in my category! It felt amazing to see that.
How did I do it? Well, to answer that question, let me tell you how I found out about that tag.
I wrote the book as part of a series with 2 other writer moms, and they were even more excited about the release than I was. When one of them wasn’t able to sleep that night, she took a look at my rank on Amazon, and lo and behold, there was the tag. She took a screenshot and sent it to me, knowing that I would then wake up to the news.
While I probably I would have seen it on my own, it never would have been there if not for my writing partners. They pushed me to write in a new genre, and teaming up has been the most amazing boost to my motivation and confidence over the past 6 months.
Successful writers – especially writer moms – can’t do it alone. Writer moms need those who can understand both the struggles of motherhood and how they uniquely interact with the struggles of writing. Success, whatever it looks like to you, will come faster and easier with people around you to help. How many is different for everyone. And their role is different.
Yes, you write the words, you bring the characters and the story to life. No one else can do that for you. But there are editors and beta readers and friends who do that final proofread a week before release to attempt to find all the typos (#spoileralert: there will always be typos).
Then there are the others who support you, tell you not to give up, do the laundry so you can grab 15 extra minutes of writing time, send you funny memes of typewriters on fire, or just ask how the story is going.
The Who section of the Writer Mom Life Self-Publishing Workbook has a nice little chart to keep track of these people. In an editing haze you may forget how many people are really there to help you, so keep it by your writing space to remind you of your support network.
On your writer mom journey, having some friends – in my case some “writing besties” – makes it a lot less lonely and a lot more fun. The Amazon orange tag wasn’t my success. It was our success. And it felt so much sweeter that way.
Not sure where to start looking for your own writing besties? The Writer Mom Life Facebook group is a great place to start!
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