I’ve been counting down the days and it’s finally here. I am no longer employed by the School District of Palm Beach County. I finished up my duties, cleaned out my room, brought WAY too much stuff home, and said goodbye to folks who’ve been my colleagues for the last thirteen years. Okay, maybe not ‘goodbye’, we’ll be getting together over adult beverages on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. But we won’t be working together.
Lots of people have asked the question, “What are you going to do now?” Having left the District, I’m finally free to answer.
Two years ago, June 7, I (accidentally) published my first novel. How I did that accidentally is a long story. Suffice it to say, there has been a steep learning curve. And had I understood the depth of my ignorance about marketing, promotion, SEO, graphic design, formatting, etc., I would never have had the courage to try. Ignorance can be a huge asset, it turns out.
Let me put in a plug for self publishing. Indie publishing is a growing industry. In the past, the large publishing houses have been the “gatekeepers,” determining what literature the reading public has access to. That meant little variety–they’re only interested in a return on their investment. But like iTunes and YouTube did for Indie music, and Sundance did for Indie films, Kindle Direct Publishing and Draft2Digital are allowing authors to get their work out in front of the reading public. Buying an Indie book is the literary equivalent of ‘buying local.’
A few years ago, under the pen name Pandora Spocks, I started writing literary steamy romance just as a hobby, really, a creative outlet. After a while, I began publishing chapters online, and I discovered that people liked what they read. Eventually, I published the entire book, chapter by chapter, on a blog. Along the way, I met other writers who independently publish their work and I began to wonder about doing it myself.
My books are spicy, y’all. I promote them as ‘Smart, Sexy Romance’. They’re heartfelt, deeply character-driven stories punctuated by the occasional steamy love scene. Think of them as the thinking-girl’s romance. Like Fifty Shades, but more literary.
Today, I have seven books available on Amazon, iTunes, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, and several other outlets you probably never heard of. My goal by the end of August is to publish my next steamy novel, and to write a nonfiction book about classroom management, to be published under my own name.
I mentioned marketing. I’m active on social media every day as Pandora. You can find me in these places:
Website: PandoraSpocksAuthor.com
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2rwR5Lv
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PandoraSpocksAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PandoraSpocksWP
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+PandoraSpocksAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14080322.Pandora_Spocks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pandora.spocks.author/
Steamy romance isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if you enjoy a nice hot love story, I hope you’ll check it out.
Adventures in Date Night 
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