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‘Joy’ : Exhausted, but *happy* published writer!

Wow, what a week! Never had a week like this in my whole life.

Hands down, formatting Gunshot Glitter for Amazon Kindle and getting it out,  has to have been *the* most white knuckle ride experience of my life. I’ve been nervous about the formatting for months to be honest. It all took longer than I thought. On top of that, I had two guest blog posts due for fellow writers Nicky Wells and Rebecca Bradley.  What an experience!  But I have learned so much I swear and that is brilliant.

It’s been nerve-wracking, but so educational. And I want to thank Jo Harrison for tips and advice, because at times I was an inch away from losing it completely, thinking I would never get it right.  And the novel cover in Kindle preview looked so dodgy I panicked and emailed Celene in America, the Scorpio and my friend Lydia, thinking I might need to change the colours in the title.  I wanted the book to be perfect. But it was all fine, absolutely fine, so take heart if you are a prospective self-publisher,  if I can do it, anyone else can too.

I sent Gunshot Glitter off in a MSWord document, all formatted, looking slightly insane, but absolutely correct for conversion purposes. Wednesday night I hit the publish button. I must have previewed the novel a dozen times on Kindle. I’d had 11 hours sleep in three days. I’d missed a lot of meals. Want to lose weight, publish an eBook, best diet ever!

When I woke up yesterday at 6am and saw it on sale.  My first words aloud were ‘ Oh DEAR GOD!’

I was delighted, bemused, excited and mildly terrified all at the same time.  It was quite a feeling!  If I could have had someone else look at the Kindle sample to check it was alright, I would have delegated that responsibility in a heartbeat. It was 99.9% perfect. The beauty of Kindle publishing is that you can tweak it offline while the last version remains on sale.  It’s now out there. I’ve done the best I could, sometimes you just have to let go.

Gunshot Glitter is now officially OUT THERE, worldwide on Amazon Kindle

God it feels good to write that

You can read it on any Amazon Kindle App on iPad, smartphone and iPod, PC as well of course the Kindle.  But, if like me you love the sensuality of print, you are most welcome to email me here: GunshotGlitter2012@yahoo.co.uk and request a gorgeous, printed colour cover copy.

I will be sorting them out soon. I love that people are asking for print, because I love print too.  Printed books are sexy and smell nice.

So, I’d looked at the sample, re-published it, feeling pretty chuffed.  But once it was out there I knew I had to tell people it was out there, I know that sounds obvious, but remember there is just little old me. No swish PR team in a London office, just me. That felt a bit intimidating, despite the fact I’ve worked in Marketing/PR promoting brands, because this time I was promoting me.  Eeep.

Yesterday, I created a Facebook launch event, very last minute, I had no idea how it would be received so close to the impending August Bank Holiday.  But I really wanted the novel out so people could read it over the break and also I’d stated in Psychologies magazine it was out in August, so dammit I had to make that true!

I asked my friend Jan if I should do it, create a launch invite.  She said do it, but do it right now. So I did. I called the event:  *The Most Short Notice Invite to the BIGGEST Event of My Life* – because its true, it was! It took me three attempts to get it right.

Who launches their novel with 24 hours notice? Erm me.

But the response from some my friends who’ve heard about Gunshot Glitter, some of them for several years has been AMAZING, immediate and generous. My Facebook account went into hyper-drive with notifications, I was so relieved, the start of my novel’s life felt blessed. And this is just the start, the tiny baby step.

I would love you to spread the word too.  Please. Go to Amazon, whichever one you use and put in ‘Gunshot Glitter’ and you’ll be able to download and enjoy a free sample. If you like what you read, then please buy it and if you think, ‘no I want to curl up and hold this’ then mail me for a print copy and I will make that wish come true.

Gunshot Glitter is now also on Goodreads. You can class it as a book you’d like to read if the premise tickles your fancy.  If you can leave a review on there and/or Amazon that would be brilliant.  You are my eyes, ears, fingers and lips where my novel is concerned.

I recorded a reading of Gunshot Glitter in my flat. This is the opening chapter. Oh for an auto-cue.

Yasmin Is Going To Read To You

Relax and have a listen or a mooch while you get on with something as I read to you.  Share the clip around, and yes the battery did run out before the end!! I recorded this on the opening night of the Olympic Games there wasn’t time to do it again.  Except just a wee clip. Grrr.

Enjoy the reading from yours truly. Admire the wallpaper of my bedroom!  But if you’d prefer to have a read of Chapter One right this second or indulge in both, please read this post

And if you are reading this and you are one of the kind souls who sent a #gunshotglitter tweet, posted a wall-post, bought a copy, then thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ve had quite the day!

Please spread the word, the really hard part starts when the launch and hoopla are over.  But with such a wonderful, positive reception in the first 24 hours, I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter to start to the life of my novel.

Thank you and keep going, you rock!

Yasmin Selena Butt x