Launch Day

The front and back cover of Calling Mr. Nelson Pugh. Negative skull half on the back cover, half on the front, with a negative space thumb emerging from the skull's eye holding a phone with a macabre image in red on the screen. Calling Mr. Nelson Pugh in big red letters darkened over the front cover image. Christopoher Opyr at the bottom of the front cover. The synopsis on the back cover.

Calling Mr. Nelson Pugh available now; author suffers crippling anxiety

Much like my narrator in Calling Mr. Nelson Pugh, the eponymous Mr. Nelson Pugh, I find myself in the midst of an extreme bout of anxiety. Why you ask? Or not. No matter. The answer is clear: my book launches, today.

Yes, Calling Mr. Nelson Pugh is available now for Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback.
 
Although I realize that this is only the beginning of my marketing journey, not the end, I have to admit that this has been a rough ride to get to this point. As my debut novel, I don’t have a prebuilt fan base of readers, but I’m doing my best to drawn them in. 
 
Around 3 years ago I began posting to various writing sites such as Wattpad, in an effort to get my writing out there and connect to readers. This in itself has been a wonderful journey, one in which I have met engaged readers and some truly amazing writers. In fact, much of this audience beta read my novella before its official publication.
 
Since finishing the final draft, however, marketing has shifted gears. Social media has been dominating my time for the past month now with my author presence having expanded to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Wattpad, Goodreads, Amazon Author Central, and now Bookbub (still in progress). As someone with social anxiety, that has been a real plus. Still, on the bright side (dark side, I don’t know), I have made huge inroads on twitter.
 
Outside of social, I’ve set my first advertising campaign on Amazon, am exploring different advertising options, and have been reaching out for reviews. So far, in the past two weeks, I have reached out to 30 book review sites, multiple authors, and other readers for reviews. The current winning tally comes down to 1 editorial review (Thank you Elford Alley, author of Apartment 239, and an amazing writer author that you should all check out), 1 customer review, and 4 confirmed review sites that will read the novella. 
 
The point of this rant is merely to provide you, my readers, a window into the process of the book launch, and an inside peak into the creeping anxiety that has settled over me of late. Of course, perhaps that’s why I wrote this novella in the first place: having had anxiety most of my life, I’m well equipped to write a horror book focused on just that.
 
Anyway, I hope you check it out.