Two years ago today I uploaded my first self published book to Amazon- The Vincent Boys.
Breathe had been published that past May through Wild Child Publishing but I wanted to try to do things my way. The self publishing world seemed to be working for Tammara Webber and Jamie McGuire. I had been watching their books in Breathe’s “also boughts” on Amazon and they intrigued me. I had read Tammara’s Between the Lines and Jamie’s Beautiful Disaster and I figured if they could do it then I could at least give it a try.
I didn’t expect big sales. I just hope to sell some copies. Maybe make enough to pay for the poor editing I’d paid over $800 for (hard lesson learned in hiring an editor) and the cover art (that I still love to this day and only had to pay $50). I figured if I broke even then things would be good.
Before the month of October was over I realized that I could really make a living at this. People were reading The Vincent Boys and telling others about it. Even Tammara Webber emailed me about it! I had been struck speechless (still makes me smile today now that she has become one of my closest friends).
Two things I learned from The Vincent Boys (and Beau Vincent especially)
#1 Readers liked that I had pushed the lines. They wanted something juicer than your traditional YA because older readers were reading YA now. Twilight had won over a major fan base of adult readers reading YA books. But they still wanted that edge they couldn’t get in YA. Why not write for them instead?
#2 Using the word “cock” did not ruin my writing career. My mother hadn’t disowned me, my church hadn’t kicked me out, and most importantly I had liked writing the scene that word was used in. My books were going to need to get steamier. So my characters needed to be just a little older but not too old. Like Marcus Hardy in Breathe. He had almost been twenty. Readers loved him. I would give him a story and I would write it for those adults reading YA. The idea for Because of Low was born.
That July The Vincent Boys scored me my first contract with Simon Pulse. My world changed completely.
In celebration for the two year anniversary of not only The Vincent Boys but the change in my writing style that took me from a writer just getting by to a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and a USA Today bestselling author not once but five times- I have the shirt all you Beau Vincent fans have been asking for….
You can purchase a shirt here: http://abbi-glines.myshopify.com/products/the-back-of-beaus-truck-t-shirt
OR comment below on your favorite Beau Vincent moment and be entered to win one of five shirts I will be announcing the winners tonight.
Thank you Beau Vincent for changing my life 🙂
XOXO
Abbi