Three Weeks Post Release of SOMEONE ELSE'S SOUL

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

Today marks three weeks post release and I thought I'd chat here a little bit about what that's been like :) Honestly, it's been a whirlwind in many respects, both a bit amazing and a bit difficult.

Awkward photo of me at the signing.

Starting with the awesome: I had such a wonderful time at my book signing! So many lovely people came, listened to me, and snagged copies of my book. It was utterly lovely. My mom even joined in, which was icing on the cake.

I also participated at MisCon, our local sci-fi and fantasy convention, over Memorial Day weekend. This was super fun, as always, and I had a good time discussing all the ins and outs of writing with people, along with how to use science and anthropology to be better world builders and writers. While I am certainly not any kind of expert, I had a wonderful time and learned just as much from listening to the other lovely authors in attendance as anyone else there.

On this kind of note, I have another book signing coming up at the end of June at our local Barnes and Noble, if you're in the area! Details will be in my Facebook page. Hopefully I won't end up there by myself, lol! This is definitely one of my weird fears.

Now for the more honest part of things, because I tend to do that kind of thing. It's been a rough couple of weeks, both for family health reasons that I won't go into here, but also because I wish sales were better, I wish reviews were better, and I wish I knew how to work with both. Marketing has never been my strong suit, but right now I feel a bit like I'm spinning my wheels and unable to see a good way forward. I probably ought to do some reading and figure out a few things, but I keep feeling a bit:

The other thing that I've been dealing with is a few reviews that have, well...sucked. While the vast majority of the reviews have been lovely, I have had a few from people that clearly did not like the book. Fine, I know that every book is not for every reader, but it has certainly stung. I know that I've read books that I flat-out did not care for, but I often am mindful of that in a review (and won't leave ones that are utterly scathing on public places if it comes down to it). Anyhow, that's been a little hard to work past and something I need to work on.

So, where am I really? Dealing :) Working on my next novel. Really looking forward to the release of THE COINCIDENCE MAKERS. Marketing where I can. And generally being the kind of author that's working toward a bigger, better future!