If you aren't following me in all the other places, perhaps you haven't heard yet that I made a goal this year to set one of my books free into the wild, aka. I AM PUBLISHING SOMETHING!
I'm done waiting to have the guts to find an agent and a traditional publisher, and since the stigma surrounding self-published books seems to be fading, and after much research, I have decided to go ahead and learn what all that is about and use this first book as my guinea pig.
Not that I don't love this book, but I figured it is just different enough that it doesn't' stand a chance in the "normal" world of "regular" publishing anyway.
So this past month I've jumped in with both feet and am doing, or trying to do, all the things! I've started a marketing campaign on Instagram/Threads, with some cross over posts on my new author facebook page and Bluesky.
I've started a newsletter on Substack (which is a lot like blogging, but different too.)
I've created a website.
I've printed up a hard copy of my book and got it proofread.
I've created a cover and blurb.
I made bookmarks to give away as swag.
I put it up on Goodreads and made an author profile. (Still need to connect the author profile to the book, but it won't let me do it until it's official on Amazon.)
I created an Amazon KDP account, but haven't yet put the book up because it's not QUITE ready.
Once it's ready, I will make it available to pre-order. And also call for ARC readers, and also give away a prequel chapter to whoever will subscribe to the above mentioned newsletter. I hope that will include some of you!
But what is this book you ask???
It's called Always Best Buds and is a sweet YA romance set in 1982, told through the notes the two girls write to each other during their junior year in high school. It's in a sort of graphic novel format with the pages looking like actual letters with doodles and pictures and smears and lists and all the cute things 16 year old girls would do.
Here is the official blurb that will be on the back of the book:
“Physics is going to kill me, but I’ll die happy!”
Liv passes the note to her best friend, Jan, on the first day of their junior year, 1982. They are stoked to make this school year a most excellent one. And it’s starting off stupendously with a class full of totally awesome boys.
These dramatic and boy-crazy notes continue all year long, helping them to survive the emotional ups and downs of navigating their first crushes.
Jan is the brainiac.
Liv is the athlete.
Miles is the musician.
Jace is the mysterious new boy.
All of them are band geeks.
And all of them are stressed to the max.
Will their friendship survive the year or will it end in jealousy and messy break ups?
ALWAYS BEST BUDS is a sweet heart-warming romance full of friendship, fun and 80's nostalgia.
I hope it sounds fun to you all and that a few of you will be among my first readers! And if you have a young person in your life (this is YA... but I would consider it lower YA and upper MG if we want to be technical!) then please share with them!
Stay tuned for the official announcement for ARC reader sign ups and also when that teaser chapter will be ready (most likely this coming week!)
If you aren't doing so already, you can follow my bookish Instagram to keep updated: @sueyybooks, and if you want to get on the mailing list now for the teaser chapter, you can subscribe to my newsletter here: https://sueysbooks.substack.com/about. Or you can send me a message on my new website and I'll add you to the list myself: https://www.kerrisuejensen.com/connect.
Thank you for following along with this crazy journey! Be looking forward to the official release date, May 12, 206!
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