What to do when you find your book on Amazon... (a 12-step program)

I was perusing my e-mails one day a few weeks ago, when a new message came into my inbox.

"Krista... Have you seen this?"

Then a link.

To Amazon.

TO MY BOOK!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

That was my response after I clicked on said link and it went to amazon.com to the page that had my debut novel listed with price and everything! HOLY CANOLY!

So... for all you aspiring writers out there... WHEN you get your contract... and WHEN you find your book on Amazon... this is what you do!

1. Scream.
2. Pinch Yourself.
3. Scream Again.
4. Call everyone on your speed dial of your phone and tell them to go to amazon and enter your name and a keyword for your book so they can see something super cool.
5. Scream again.
6. Go look at all the other "sites" and find your book there too! If you are CBA... Christianbook.com. For everyone, BN.com... booksamillion.com... You can also check to see if your publisher has updated their website to include your book info as well! 
7. Scream, yet again. (might want to buy your family ear plugs while you are on amazon... overnight shipping... better yet run to Target before #8...)
8. E-mail every e-mail loop you have announcing this fun news. In all caps. Bold. Italics. Size 50 font. Color Red.
9. Blog about it and beg everyone you know to pre-order your book so you can get an amazon ranking (FYI: I did not know this, but once you have pre-orders... you'll get a "ranking" in Amazon on your books page! Currently as I type, mine is around 30k. However... I'm typing this a week early, so it's probably currently like 2,438,234 or something to that affect. I realize the initial hype that I created by my #6 will wear off pretty quickly....)
10. Scream again.
11. Go to www.authorcentral.com and set up your author page. You will be able to link your author page to your book, enter your bio, add your profile picture (you do have a profile picture at this point, right?!?), and even link your twitter feed and potentially your blog feed as well. Later, this will be a great holding place that people can go to and view ALL your millions of books you have in print... in one place! Once your book is released, you'll be able to view (limited) sales numbers here as well!
12. Check your Amazon ranking every 5 minutes for the first 48 hours. Then give yourself a once a week limit otherwise you MIGHT go completely insane. Plus, you need to get writing that next book!!!!

And of course, this post wouldn't be complete without including...

A link to my book on Amazon.... CLICK HERE
A link to my book on Christianbooks.... CLICK HERE
A link to my book on Booksamillion.... CLICK HERE




Link to my blog where I announced my book cover/back cover copy...

What? You think I'm excited??? Really???? You could TELL THAT BY THIS POST????????


Discussion: What was your first reaction or what do you think your first reaction will be when on that glorious day you see your name and book title on Amazon??

*************************************************

Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and a contemporary romance author. She recognizes that life can be frustrating and just plain not fun sometimes, but believes that laughter and smiles can make the not-so-fun a little better! She blogs about the amazing things God has been doing and her journey as a busy momma of 4 and caregiver to a daughter with a rare congenital heart defect at http://reflectionsbykrista.blogspot.com. She is represented by the fab agent, Rachelle Gardner, and her debut novel, Sandwich, With a Side of Romance, releases in September 2012.