Romance By Catherine: Goodbye 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Goodbye 2012

What a year!

There are many people who can't wait to for the year to end. Let me go on the record and say this... I'm NOT one of them.

I think the best way for me to describe this year is like this...

JANUARY: To date... Wife by Wednesday was still topping the charts on Amazon selling over 230,000 copies since it's release in October of 2011.

I had email after email from the likes of Amazon, Google, Foreign Rights agencies... and the most important one, Jane, my agent...offering to represent me.

FEBRUARY: On the 12th of this month Wife by Wednesday made me a New York Times Bestselling Author. My debut on the list was at #18. I'll make the top 10 on the NYT's List before I was done. Over the course of the next two months I will sell over 70,000 more copies of Wife by Wednesday.

I released Highland Shifter, the 4th book in my Time Travel Series...and I do it solo. No publisher? No Problem.

MARCH: Espanol? I'm offered a contract for the translation of Wife by Wednesday in Spanish. With prodding from my agent, Jane, I put together a proposal for a three book series and she went off to pitch it.

APRIL: Portugal? Here we go again... Wife by Wednesday is going to be published in Portuguese. How does one proof read a book in a foreign language? My advance is in Euros. How figgin' cool is that?

Romantic Times Convention 2012, Chicago. I met a couple of editors that were considering my new three book series, "Not Quite". For the first time since I became a writer I feel like someone. I had actual fans wanting to talk to me and have me sign their books. And yeah... I heard from my agent about a three book deal. Not Quite Dating, Not Quite Mine and Not Quite Enough have a home with Montlake Romance.

MAY: Married by Monday is released. I hit the Barnes & Noble top ten bestsellers list and several sub categories on Amazon. My head is spinning. My agent is working her tail off and I'm trying to be an author, a publisher... not to mention a wife and mother.

JUNE: I consider finding a home for my Time Travel's. I have publishers that are interested...it's a matter of if the offer is enough and will I have the artistic license to do what I want with the rest of this series.

JULY: My first RWA and I'm went with the words "First Timer" and "Honor Roll" on my badge. So friggin' cool! I meet several of my author crushes. Nora Roberts, Christina Dodd to name a couple. I had an amazing time with my editor Kelli Martin and the entire Montlake team. Such a great group. At the same time I have offers for my Bride books. Stress and Excitement...all rolled into one amazing week.

AUGUST: Montlake buys the rights to my Bride Books. I have four slated for the series...but last time I looked, there are seven days in a week. *wink* Damn...now I'm looking at the calender and realizing how many books I have to write.

SEPTEMBER: WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! Holy cow do I have a serious amount of writing to do. I have deadlines for the first time ever. Oh, yeah...and I had surgery on my shoulder which knocked me off track for a little while, too.

OCTOBER: Still writing. Like a mad woman! I'm also gearing up for the release of Not Quite Dating...

NOVEMBER: Not Quite Dating is released. I reached the top 100 in the Kindle store on day flippin' one! I couldn't be happier with the reception of Jack and Jessie's story. As the tide rises, so does the sales of Married by Monday and Wife by Wednesday. Both moving back into the bestseller charts on Amazon.

DECEMBER: A month of reflection and writing. Cuz I still have two contracted books to get to my publisher this spring. Not to mention the long-awaited 5th book in my Time Travel Series that I decided to Self Publish after all.

And then there is that surviving the End of The World thing...

Yeah. 2012 was an amazing year.
C'mon 2013. Show me what you got!


3 comments:

Tricia Schneider said...

OMG!! What a truly amazing year! Talk about dreams coming true!! Congratulations, Catherine! I'm so happy for you! May 2013 be even better! Happy New Year! :)

Catherine Bybee said...

It's been a great year, Tricia. Dreams do come true!

Happy 2013

squiresj said...

For a year to end means I am creaping toward another year old. Years are passing me by too quick now.
jrs362 at hotmail dot com