An Orange Banner Day for SILVER LAKE! #1 #Kindle Bestseller #Ghost Mystery + Reunion Romance

Silver Lake was my debut novel, and because of that, it has a very special place in my heart.  For years, I had the plot of this reunion romance/ghost mystery spinning through my mind.  I knew the story arc.  I knew the conflicts and the climax.  I knew the characters so intimately, they were like my friends.  They spoke to me, and when I pictured scenes, the dialog flowed smoothly.  They wanted me to tell their story; I wanted to tell their story.  But thinking it and writing it down are two different things.

Obviously, I decided to try.  And for three years, I experienced the satisfaction of creativity, the pain of rejections, the sleepless nights spent editing, the five major revisions based on encouraging advice from agents and acquisitions editors, and eventually, the pure joy of an offer from a small traditional publisher with an excellent reputation.

This started my writing journey, and it's been a wild and exciting ride.  My fifth novel released in May, and I have an upcoming release that's part of the Love Under Fire Romantic Suspense Box Set releasing this fall.

Love a beautiful orange banner!

But back to Silver Lake...this novel always surprises me these days, because it's still going strong six years after publication.  And I never know when it's going to suddenly take off with a strong sales surge and hit #1 on Amazon.  That's because Amazon's traditional publishing house acquired the rights to the electronic version of Silver Lake for their Encore imprint a few years back.  This was my first introduction to rights acquisition deals, and I am so glad I saw this for the opportunity it was and signed the contract.  Every once and a while, I get the pleasant shock of seeing Jason and Rain's story recommended by Amazon as one of their Kindle deals, with all the promotion that goes with that.  Which is...huge, to say the least! 

I'm not usually able to discern exactly what happened, but something happened on Thursday night that made my week, or maybe my month!  I noticed Silver Lake was wearing a beautiful orange #1 Bestseller banner, and it was #1 in two categories, Ghost Fiction and Ghost Mysteries.  It was #3 in Mystery and Suspense Romance.

The book was also selling enough to place me into 5 Amazon Author Rank categories, which only happens when you're in a Top 100 seller in your category.  So exciting!

This business can be incredibly painful at times.  Bad reviews can cut to the bone, even when you remind yourself that everyone likes different things and there's no pleasing everyone with a story meant to entertain.  Time spent holed up in your writing cave is time away from family and friends.  Releasing a new book to mediocre sales is depressing. 

Was exciting while it lasted, but
the universe eventually
corrected itself!

So, when something great happens, you celebrate!  I'm raising a wine glass to Silver Lake, the story that launched my career, and the story that still seems to resonate with a lot of readers.


(As a postscript, I couldn't believe Silver Lake was ranking above two amazing Stephen King ghost novels, which are masterpieces.  Bag of Bones is in my list of favorite ghost stories, you can find that here)  (And for another strange connection I have to Mr. King, check out this story: Granny Griffin and the farm in 'Salem's Lot)