Authors, Timing Your Book's Release

I published The Pet Washer as an ebook in November of 2011 and as a paperback in December 2011. I wanted the book to be out in time for Christmas. From a sales perspective, this wasn't horrible timing and December remains my best month for sales, but in every other way, the timing could not have been worse.

My 2011 book was only "new" for about 45 days. As soon as 2012 hit, my book, like a racehorse, turned one year old. This has limited me.

Contests--The Pet Washer is already disqualified for most writing contests. Entries are closed for books published in 2011. Well, I double blew-it because some entries closed around March. I was so busy writing Dead Girls Don't Cry, that I didn't think about entering The Pet Washer into contests until I sent my new book off to the editor. Then it was too late.

Lists--All the lists are coming out for Books of 2011, not to mention Summer Reading lists and The Pet Washer isn't on any of them. All of this publicity is arranged months in advance. When you publish so late, you lose a lot of lead time.

The good news is that I have found a few contests I can still enter, but the prestigious ones are mostly closed to me. It's all right, I'm learning and my book stands a better chance in the smaller contests anyway. I have learned a valuable lesson for my future books--Timing is Everything!