Aaaand, it’s a wrap! The year that was January 2019 is but hours away from its completion here in my corner of the world. Will February be better? I damned well hope so. Having said that, my mother is still in the hospital with pneumonia. I believe it’s going to take her a while to recover from this. I just spoke to her on the phone: she can hardly breathe.

I’m not sure I have a favorite part of this month, other than you all here. All of you who helped me make Just Jot it January a success for the fifth year in a row. I appreciate everyone who linked up to the prompt, even once. And of course a special thanks goes to all of you who helped choose this year’s prompts! I couldn’t have done it without you. 🙂

I had a lot to be grateful for last year. Career-wise, I had my July Bookbub Featured Deal that had me give away 25K copies of The Magician’s Curse. I signed up for it thinking I’d have no chance whatsoever getting it. Bookbub deals are like the lottery. I was flabbergasted when I got the acceptance email!

However, it could have been a disaster: if there’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone submitting for a deal, it’s to make sure it’s not your only book, especially if you’re giving it away. Had The Magician’s Blood not been ready to publish, I’d never have made my money back. Bookbub deals are expensive! But so very worth it.

One other piece of advice for anyone thinking of having thousands of strangers read your book? When it’s free, some will pick it up and read and review it even though it’s not a genre they enjoy. Not everyone is nice, unfortunately, so make sure you’re wearing your thickest of skins when you read what people have to say. Having said that, I do appreciate (almost) all my reviews! Even the negative ones. The exception being from those who didn’t even read the whole thing before giving it one star.

I’m grateful that everyone in my family survived 2018, all of them healthy except that little bit at the end. And even that was temporary.

And that’s pretty much it.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the participation badge and an opportunity to leave links in the comments. More details about that in tomorrow’s post.

Until then, stay warm if you’re in the northern hemisphere and cool if you’re Down Under.

Cheers!

It’s never too late to participate in Just Jot it January! Click the following link to find out how, and see all the other participants’ links in the comment section. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/31/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-31st/