Articles

A new part to my website, where I will share a motley collection of thoughts and events which I hope will interest you. Beginning with this insight into the publication week of the first book in the Aucourte Chronicles:

The Truth Behind the Curtain

Publication week is supposed to feel like a firework party. In reality, it feels more like weather: unpredictable, changeable, occasionally glorious, sometimes stormy, and always a little out of your control.

This week, after launching The Earl's Daughter, has been full of emotional turbulence hidden behind the polished “New Release!” posts we authors share online.

The Highs

The first bright moment came early: pre‑orders were in, reviews from ARC readers were starting to arrive, and the book was officially out in the world. Watching those first sales appear on Amazon and Kobo felt like a quiet, private victory. The kind you don’t shout about, but hold close.

Then came the trickle of D2D sales. Five so far, each one a small confirmation that the book was reaching corners of the world I couldn’t see.

And then, finally, four days after publication, the US Amazon pre‑orders began to appear in the sales dashboard. Better late than never.

The Lows

If publication week has a villain, it was Meta Ads Manager.

What began as a simple plan to refine my sales campaign turned into a two‑day labyrinth of toggles, hidden menus, contradictory tooltips, and a UI that seemed determined to gaslight me. Every time I thought I’d found the right panel, it dissolved into another layer of “Advantage+” automation I couldn’t override.

By the end, I felt bruised. Not by the work itself, but by the sense of being outmatched by a system that should have been helping me, not hindering me.

IN BETWEEN

By Thursday, I found myself in a 30‑minute chat with Amazon support, trying to understand why US pre‑orders weren’t appearing as 'Sales'. The official explanation was “the US banking system can take 5–7 working days to process digital orders.”

And yet… hours after that chat, the first missing pre‑order began to trickle into the sales data.

Coincidence? Possibly. A quiet system glitch? Maybe.

Either way, the relief was real.

The Lesson

Marketing is essential, but it cannot be allowed to consume the writer. The Earl's Daughter is a landmark in my writing career. It represents the change of direction I took nearly five years ago and it is the beginning of a long journey into the lives of my characters which will take me and my readers from the late Victorian period through to the early twenthieth century and maybe beyond. It represents the biggest writing project I have undertaken. Quite something for a writer who began her professional writing with short stories for women's magazines, eh? And it is why I've found this particular book launch so emotionally taxing and why, today, I’m returning to the parts of authorship that feel like home:

editing The Sixteenth Earl's Only Love
writing for my website
reconnecting with readers on my own terms
rebuilding my confidence after the Meta ordeal

Publication week isn’t glamorous. It’s human. It’s messy. It’s a strange mix of pride, exhaustion, and stubborn hope.

And I wouldn’t trade it for something else, because every order, every new reader, and every small triumph is worth the chaos behind the curtain.

[This article was written on 05-06-2026, four days after the publication of The Earl's Daughter]