How Amazon and Self-Publishing Changed my Life!

This has to be the most incredible month in the world as far as I'm concerned.  You see that book cover over there?  When I first started writing it, I had no idea it would change my life!  And honestly, if it never sells another copy, it's still changed my life!  It was one of those weeks, my kids were back in school and I had nothing but tons of time.   I was searching Google, and I ran across a search that listed the top ten sexual fantasies women have.  I admit it, I was interested so I read that and then went jumping to different searches to see if all women had similar fantasies.  They did according to about twenty different polls.

It clicked in my overactive imagination that I could write a story about those sex fantasies.  My husband and I have five kids, so there's lots of room for fantasizing when you can't get your youngest kids out of your bed to enjoy personal time with your spouse!  Back to the story though, I began writing and within two weeks I had 70,000 words of a story down. 

I was amazed that all those words came together in such a short amount of time, but I knew that I was typing so fast that it was going to take some major work to get it edited enough that an average reader would understand what I was trying to say.  This is how I came to my friend Karl Jones, from the United Kingdom.  Originally, I was going to pay Mr. Jones to edit the book for me.  He had done a great editing job for another friend, and I already considered him someone I trusted completely.  As he started his edits, he began coming up with ideas that could be improved on in 10 Nights.  I was blown away by his ideas and asked if he would consider rewriting the book and being my co-author instead of just editing the book.

By the time he had finished, the 70,000 word manuscript now had 103,000 words and was, in my opinion, polished perfection.  We honestly didn't think we'd garner the response we did.  In the first two weeks of publication we'd sold over 3,000 books.  I can say we were both shocked beyond belief.  When it started climbing the charts, we had no idea what was making it sell.  So we were into October when things really got wild.  This book didn't stop selling.  Both Mr. Jones and myself have about 6 books behind us, and we'd done nothing with this book that we hadn't done with our others, but this one was really moving up the charts.

#1 in American Drama, top 100 in Contemporary Romance and at one point #251 paid in the Kindle library.  At the end of October it's still boasting those categories and has made over $20,000 in profit this month alone.  Amazon has changed both of our lives in a months time!  I still have a hard time letting that sink in.  I've been a housewife for the last 3 years, so my husband has been the bread winner of our family, to pull in that kind of income was something I'd never dreamed of, and especially not in a month! 

In 2008 I was laid off from my part-time job at the hospital as a Respiratory Technician.  My husband and I decided it made sense for me to stay home and raise kids because daycare would have eaten up any profits I would have taken home being able to work only part time.  My husband had worked with his car company for over twenty years, and we knew we could afford the loss of what little income I'd bring in.  Our plan was for me to return to the work force when our youngest returned to school, which just happened a few months ago.  Then 10 Nights started selling. 

Thanks to Amazon, and incredible readers I'm able to stay at home, and do something I absolutely love and that's writing books.  10 Nights is not exclusive to Amazon, but 90% of profits have come from their site, so I give credit where it is due.  My kids are going to have one incredible Christmas this year, and they get to have a mom who can still volunteer at school, take them to their events, and be there when they need her.  Amazon made that possible!  So thank you Amazon, and thank you readers for making this the best year of my life!  Without you, this dream would never have been realized!