I can hardly believe it, but my first novel, We Survivors, has been out in the world one year today! To celebrate the anniversary, I commissioned character art of Nadia. It was so fun working with Georgina Donnelly to bring her to life, and I’m excited to share the artwork with you all!
I also wanted to share a few details about this past year and my future plans for the book and the world of We Survivors!
First of all, I want to thank everyone who has supported me and my book over the past year. There are so many ways to help promote books, and I’ve had friends and strangers do them all – buying or borrowing, reading and reviewing, telling friends about the book, and spreading the word on social media. Was it terrible timing to release a book about the aftermath of a global pandemic right before an actual global pandemic? Probably yes, but I’ve also had several people reach out and tell me how it helped them escape 2020 stress and that has been so special to me. And at least I was able to laugh about it, too!
One of the most exciting parts of the past year was We Survivors being chosen as a Minnesota Indie Author Project Finalist, one of three in the YA category. I was so surprised when I got the email, and it was such an honor to be chosen because I know how many talented indie authors there are in my state!
I also wanted to compile a few numbers from the past year and share them here. I can’t believe how many sales, Kindle Unlimited page reads, and positive reviews my weird little book has managed to accrue in just one year:
• 758 copies sold
• 250,164 Kindle Unlimited page reads
• 4.29 star rating on Goodreads (93 ratings & 40 reviews)
• 4.7 star rating on Amazon (45 global reviews)
Lastly, I wanted to share a few of my future plans! Currently I’m querying a wintry YA fantasy novel, but I have not forgotten about the world of We Survivors either. I’ve been pretty quiet about this as I wanted to see how the first book sold, but I do have a trilogy planned out and will start drafting the sequel soon! I can’t wait to take you all on more adventures with Nadia and her crew.
I also plan to participate in Amazon’s ACX program to–hopefully–release an audiobook of We Survivors soon. Amazon’s KDP Select program has done quite well for me, but I am considering taking the eBook broader this year, so those who use Nook, iBooks, Kobo, etc. will have access as well!
Again, thank you so much to everyone who has supported me along the way. I can’t wait to see where this book–and its eventual sequels–go from here! ❤
~ L.J. Thomas