Kicking off a Great Year!

As 2012 draws to its close and the new year is about to begin, I have to confess to being blown away by the reaction I’ve received thus far to my writing.

My life hasn’t always been the easiest – if you read my profile you’ll most likely infer that I didn’t have the most stable of backgrounds, and you’ll be correct. But I’ve done okay for myself, getting out of a home that was no good, keeping myself alive and moving on, working hard but glad to have a job, and all the while letting my imagination run wild.

I started putting some of that imagination down on paper, then when I settled down a bit and finally got my tiny hands on a computer I started writing some of those stories in electronic form. A couple of friends suggested I try sending them off to magazines, or e-publishing them, and while I was never quite able to bring myself to submit to publications I began e-publishing just a few short weeks ago.

My first two stories, PRIVATE DINING and ROOM SERVICE (part of The Tides Inn Erotic Tales series), went live on Nov. 24, and after a few days of checking them out, making sure all was okay, I began doing a little marketing.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect, and I felt if just a handful of people bought the stories I’d be ecstatic.

More than a handful bought.

When I did a free give-away for PRIVATE DINING, I found thousands of people willing to download the work, moving it well into the top 50 Amazon erotica category. Even after the free promo ended, people kept buying both PRIVATE DINING and ROOM SERVICE, which is a continuation of the PRIVATE DINING.

This past week I uploaded two new stories in a different series, JENNIFER LOST and JENNIFER BOUND, part of the Ville D’Esclavage series. A few of those were bought and downloaded even before I announced their availability! (And if you’re wondering, Ville D’Esclavage is roughly translated “bondage city” or “town of bondage” if that gives you any idea of which way those stories might lean).

This weekend (Dec. 29-Dec. 30) I’m doing another free promo, this time for JENNIFER LOST, and while the first day of the promo wasn’t quite as strong as the one for PRIVATE DINING, I’m still pleased.

Just a few short weeks ago the idea that people would buy my work – well, it was little more than a dream. 

Now it’s happening, and it’s quite exciting!

More importantly, though, through Twitter and Facebook I’ve come across some really great people. Some have bought my work, some haven’t, but it’s been great fun to chat with others – some writers, some not – and I think the best benefit of the self-publishing has been meeting others, even if the meetings have been of the electronic variety.

I have more writing coming this year – a third tale in The Tides Inn series to wrap up the story arc begun in PRIVATE DINING and a third tale in the Ville D’Esclavage series to tie up that story line, as well as a full-length murder mystery/romance/bondage-related novel (that’s some combination, huh?).

Most of all I hope to meet more people in the upcoming year – maybe even you. Go ahead and drop a comment here, or look me up on Facebook (shandramillerwriter) or Twitter (@shandramillerwr).

I hope you buy one of my works, maybe more, but most of all I hope we can maybe share a hello or two.