Saturday, February 3, 2018

Martin Hospitality Turns 1 :')

My firstborn little book baby is one today! *sniff* Cue all the reminiscing, Q+A, giveaway, sneak peeks, and just about everything else!

WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY:

I swear I'm not doing this to be vain xD Those of you who are published will understand just how lovely it is to hear people love your book (especially people whose opinion you value), and I am being choosy and sharing only a few tearjerkers, I promise. ;)

You know, the Martins are my newest favorite fictional family :D ~ Lisa on page 200
How can a person switch favorite characters so many times in a single book?! ~ Kaitlyn K on page 365
 There is something so wonderful about this book. I can't even put my finger on it- it's just so pleasing and peaceful. I loved it! ~ Rachel's Bookish World
Miss Abigayle’s writing style has an old-fashioned feel to it that absolutely sucks you into the story while giving you the warm fuzzies. ... This is the kind of story that you want to curl up with and forget life’s problems for a few hours. ~ Ivy Rose
This book is so happy. I just felt bright and uplifted after finishing it. ~ Olivia Rollins 
I'm so thankful for all of my readers and reviewers *sniff*

Have you reviewed Martin Hospitality yet? I'm just going to remind you that some of you who "reviewed" on Goodreads have actually only gotten as far as "review to come once published." Which is totally fine! Just a little reminder there ;) I'm also going to throw out there that Amazon is the place to post reviews. As in it helps me a LOT. Even more than Goodreads. So if all of you would copy and past your Goodreads reviews, I would get +30 reviews before the day is over. What are you waiting for?!

THE AWARDS:

Again, I'm not vain ... just insanely proud of this accomplishment! Mainly because I know for a fact there is no. freaking. way my book would have ever done this one its own. Nope. Not even with my help. Soak it in, my friends. You're looking at a supernatural act of God.


On the note of awards, I've been considering putting the award on the cover of my book. There's space, the color is decent, and I feel like it might help catch people's eye?? But I want your thoughts on this! Vote in the poll for me? Pretty please???

THE STATS:

In case you've forgotten I'm a statistics fanatic queen B)

Goodreads:


How many copies printed: 159
(I'm guessing I easily sold 100 if not more of these)


How many Amazon copies sold: 51



Grand total copies in existence: 210


Gracious, that feels like a lot to me. It'll be a while before I can put "Over 1 million copies in print" on the front but that's okay. Maybe my goal for its second birthday? (Kidding, I kid.) xD

I'm pretty sure I remember telling my brother that I'd be really happy if I sold 100 copies in its first year, and I definitely surpassed that thanks to promoting family and friends and some successful book signings. ^.^

The Martin Hospitality e-book will be FREE for the first time ONLY tomorrow Sunday, February 4 in celebration. Spread the word and grab a copy while you can!!

Sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar before the afternoon of Sunday, February 4 to get an exclusive sneak peek at Martin Crossroads (the sequel)! Hint: it involves Farris's siblings ;)

If you enjoy baking, check out this Pumpkin Chiffon Pie recipe and see if yours can be as yummy as Ginger Martin's. ;)

3 GIVEAWAYS:

#1 - signed paperback + 4 signed bookmarks + 3-pack of my favorite pens
#2 - e-book + 4 signed bookmarks
#3 - 4 signed bookmarks

The giveaway goes through Saturday, February 17.

Okay, so I tried to do a spoiler warning for those who haven't read Martin Hospitality, but if you stop listening when I say to you won't be able to hear me end the spoiler warning haha xD SO. Maybe skip around when I say spoiler warning if you're really that concerned? Sorry xP

These questions were so good. SO GOOD! Think I'm exaggerating?



I hope you all enjoyed that! I still don't know how to edit a video so ... yeah. Instead of a blooper reel at the end you get it sprinkled all throughout lest I bore you with perfection xP Thanks again for the terrific questions; I hope my answers met the challenge.

MERCHANDISE:

To say I'm obsessed with the idea of bookish merchandise would be an ... understatement. To say the least. I'm still greatly brainstorming quality, inexpensive things I can offer, so I'd love to hear what you would like to buy. But for now, I can promise you these:

12 different cardstock bookmark - available NOW on my Etsy shop (why yes I did design all of this week ... o__o)
Themed candle - coming summer 2018, courtesy of BookBurn Candles
Magnetic bookmarks - coming ASAP  (I've ordered the supplies for these and just have to make sure my plan to make them actually works)

What else? As I said, ideas are welcome! T-shirts, frameable quotes, mugs, decks of cards ...

SEQUEL TIMELINE:

Initially, my hope was this spring. Due to the amount of planning this novel is taking and the fact that I've devoted some of my time to other writing endeavors ... that's obviously not happening. While I would love to have Martin Crossroads out in 2018, I'm not sure how feasible that is ... I probably won't know until I attempt to draft it yet again (which will be soon). At all costs I would absolutely like it to be out by spring 2019 -- 2 years after Martin Hospitality. I'll keep you all posted! And as I said above, you can get an additional sneak peek if you sign up for my newsletter before tomorrow afternoon!

And now for the parting photo:

Thank you all so much!!! I know this is how I end almost every post and video, but I have no words to express how much you all mean to me. If Martin Hospitality could talk, I'm sure he'd agree ;)

Q: Okay, so how much time do you think I spent preparing this blog post? o.o You'll find my estimate next week.

33 comments:

  1. ahhh, congratulations! So proud of you, Abi. This is such a huge accomplishment. And woooooow, you've sold a LOT of copies! That's so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!!! I was pretty surprised when I tallied it up. Pleased of course!!!! ;) <3

      Delete
  2. How exciting! Congratulations! I haven't read Martin Hospitality yet, but it's high on my TBR! Once I do that, I'll watch the vlog. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Woohoo! Sounds like a smart plan. I approve wholeheartedly xP <3

      Delete
  3. WHOPPEEEEE!!! *Brings you cake and cookies and chocolate* Happy birthday MH!! XD I still remember when the blog tour was going on JUST AT THE TIME THAT I STARTED EXPLORING THE BLOGOSPHERE!! yay ^.^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *eats allllll the sugar* Awww that's so neat ^.^ I'm so glad you've been a part of its journey!!

      Delete
  4. Yay, Abi! Love Martin Hospitality and can't wait for the sequel! <3 I'm going to guess you spent about two hours prepping the post? That's about how long it would have taken me to gather everything and stick it together. XD I love the idea of Tshirts for MH! By the way, don't know if I mentioned it but as my church librarian I bought a copy of MH for the library. ;) I think my family is going to read it soonish too. Congrats a thousand times!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww thank you Bethany!! Good guess *zips lips*

      Oh good to know you're interested in t-shirts. I really like that idea, so I'll have to pursue it and see what the price will be. :)

      That's so awesome!!!!! o.o Thank you SO much for doing that! And thanks for passing it onto your fam. The more readers the better! <3 <3

      Thank you x2000 ;)

      Delete
    2. I'd absolutely be interested in t-shirts with maybe a quote on them? :)

      I thought you might find it cool to say that your book is in a church library. I'll keep spreading the word on it!

      Delete
  5. Happy 1 year Abi!! I’m so proud! This is such an amazing book!!����

    ReplyDelete
  6. Does promising to review once I read it count for the giveaway, Abi? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mmmm ... sure!! Only cause I trust you though haha xD Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

      Delete
  7. Wow, thanks so much for making the e-book free! I'm so glad I have a copy now. :)

    And congratulations on one year! I'm glad the response has been so positive. Ooh, and you're releasing a themed candle?! That's so cool!

    Off to check out the giveaway! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're so welcome!! I'm so glad you snagged a copy :D

      Thank you! I am too obviously xD Tbh, I had NO idea what the reaction was going to be. But each new group I released bits to was very encouraging. I still can't believe how much it's loved, though! It makes my heart happy ^.^

      YES!!!! Ivy Rose and I are conspiring on the blends right now haha. Best of luck in the giveaway ;)

      Delete
  8. That's awesome you wrote a book. I want to one day publish one of mine. Hi, I'm new on your blog! Check out my blog if you have a chance.

    Lily @ lilymaesday.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I would love to see that happen for you. Being an author is a lot of hard work, but SO rewarding! Welcome, and I will definitely take a peek :)

      Delete
  9. Congratulations Abigayle! Just snagged a copy 😉 You're currently sitting at number 9 in Amazon free best sellers! That's huge❣

    ReplyDelete
  10. HI Abi!
    Congratulations on the first anniversary of Martin Hospitality. I can't believe it's already been a year since it's been published! I enjoyed your vlog as always, and am SO excited for the next book. Thank you for giving the opportunity to ask questions. That was fun.

    In your video, you mentioned writing novellas about some Martin characters, and I think that is a GREAT idea. I love reading about those "behind the scene" characters, or characters that the book talks a lot about, but is not the main character. And I am thrilled about your idea of making this a trilogy. :) (For the next book, I hope you start it kind of where the first one left off, and not start out the book with Josiah and Genma already married five years with those two kids. :) Does that make sense? I think if you started it out one year later, that would be fine, but I know when I read trilogy's, I don't like to get to the second book and find out that it has skipped a chunk of the character's lives.)
    About the award....I looked for the poll and couldn't find it, so I'll just write my thoughts in this comment. Your cover is so beautiful, and I know the award would probably help catch people's eye, but I don't think you should put it on the front cover. It's beautiful and catching just the way it is. However, I was wondering if maybe you could stick it on the back cover. That'd be fine. I don't know. I just love how your cover is already and don't think you should add the award. I have one book that has an award on the front, and I don't really like it. It just doesn't look right.
    Give your book to God and he will lead the right people to it. :)

    I wrote a review on my blog during the tour, and I can't believe I didn't write one on Amazon! I will definitely do that. :) Thanks so much for offering the giveaway.

    I hope you have a wonderful week! God bless you!

    Love,
    Ashley

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh my goodness, congrats, Abi!!!!!! *happy dance*
    I'm so proud of this huge accomplishment! :D (I plead guilty on not reviewing your book sooner, sorry about that. It has been mended. ;) Can't WAIT to read Martin Crossroads and any other books penned by you in the future! God has given you an amazing gift, and you've been using it in the best way possible: to bring glory to Him. Keep up the fabulousness! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. AH CONGRATS! This is such a big deal. And I love the bookmarks!

    ReplyDelete
  13. CONGRATS!!! I'm so happy for you!!
    I downloaded the book a little while ago and can't wait to read it. I know it's going to be awesome!
    If I had to guess, I'd say it took you two days to write this post. :)

    ~Ivie

    ReplyDelete
  14. I just got the book today and am SUPER excited!!!
    Happy Birthday Martin Hospitality!!!
    astoryspinner.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just got Martin Hospitality today, and LITERALLY had to stop reading it for the sole reason of commenting and saying that I got excited over one of the kids being named Gail. GAIL is a valid male character name!!! I have a Gayle, and when people read about him they go, "That's not a boy name.". Next time... I'll just reference Martin Hospitality!!! I am really liking it so far!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Eeeep! That's so exciting! :) Congratulations and Happy Book Birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is so cool! It's awesome to see just how much this book means to you, and all the work you've put into it to get it to this point. What an awesome accomplishment, enjoy it, you're allowed to be vain today. ;) I'm very excited for the sequel, or just more Abi-books in general! Also, I have no idea how long you spent on this post but probably a lot of time because it really shows. :DD

    ReplyDelete
  18. HI again Abi. I read your newsletter and just wanted to say I love the names and I love what you have planned so far! I am so excited and can't wait to read more!

    ReplyDelete
  19. A million and one congrats to you, Abi! <3 Martin Hospitality is sooo amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Aww, Abi! Congratulations, that's so exciting!! I was so happy when I saw MH was free - and I'm glad to say that I absolutely LOVED it! <3 I just need my own copy to grace my shelf now because the cover is seriously gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congratulations!!! Martin Hospitality is such an awesome book, it totally deserved that award!!! :-)
    ~Skylar Reese

    ReplyDelete
  22. Update: I have been quite glued to this book today!!! I'm really loving it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh, how I love this book. Proud of you. <3

    ReplyDelete

Comments are how I know you've been here! I try hard to reply to all the comments in a timely fashion, but regardless, know that if you leave a comment, I will read it and it will make me smile. :) Please no profanity or soliciting.