Excitment in the Air-

Just a little over an hour ago my son and I got home from several errands. One was taking care of his financial aid forms for college. The other- was for me-sorta. It was actually for my books.
I self-published both of my books: Blessed- a collection of inspirational poetry and The Legend of Dragon's Doom: a young warrior's vow- a young adult fantasy novel. I chose to do this for several reasons. Blessed because it is poetry and poetry is very difficult to find a traditional publisher interested in poetry. The Legend of Dragon's Doom because in all honesty I got a bit paranoid over it. I had published a little over half of it in an open blog. I never thought this book was turn out as it did. It was originally meant to be a short poem for a writing prompt. It simply took on a life of its own and became the novel that it is.
I did not simply write the books, create the file and upload these books without forethought. They were proofed for me by many people of various backgrounds. This was and is my dream and I was not about to mess it up by being lazy and careless.
Still, self-published books have a bad reputation and I had to fight that.
I was told time and again that it is nearly impossible to get a self-published book into a brick and mortar store. But, that was my dream, to see my books on the shelves of a store.
I send articles to a local weekly magazine. A couple of weeks ago I was reading this magazine and saw an article about a new book boutique and coffee bar opening up and I decided to take a chance. I fired off an email asking if they would be interested in carrying my books and a possible book signing. I honestly did not expect a response any time soon. I had one waiting the next morning. My husband who works out of town a lot was in that weekend so I replied telling them I would be up there the following weekend.
When I arrived she was incredibly friendly and just plain nice. She liked the books and kept a copy of each. She talked about her grand opening and the possibility of a book signing maybe around Easter. She asked if I had anything I would like to contribute for her giveaway goodie bags- I told her I did and would get them to her as quickly as I could. That was today.
I had handmade bookmarks and fridge magnets and some bags I had decorated for my books that were leftover from the craft shows. She kept a couple more of the books and told me she would get in touch with me when they sold. I still plan on going by there for the Grand Opening- there's going to be live music- who can pass that up? And the chance to see my books on the shelves of an honest to goodness brick and mortar store-