Alliances blog Swap with S. Usher Evans

Thank you to the incredible Mary for letting me take over her blog today. This marks the first of a nine week blog-swap-aganza to help promote the release of my second novel, Alliances, which is available now for pre-order for Amazon Kindle (and book 1 of the series, Double Life, is now free on all ebook platforms!)

 The Razia series is about a woman dealing with a lot of inner demons while trying to balance lives as a scientist and space pirate bounty hunter. In the first book, she comes to understand that she has to accept both sides of herself in order to be happy. In the second book, she learns that she needs to be able to accept help from others - and that's what I'm going to talk about in today's guest post. 

Accepting help is incredibly difficult for me. I'm not sure if it's my stubbornness or pride or because I don't feel worthy of help or what. Probably a combination. But asking for help is something I've never been comfortable doing.

2014 was a year of major change for me. I decided to publish a book, and then I decided to go all-in and become an indie author. I set up a company, I attended 10 comic book conventions this fall and held a book signing here in Washington, DC. And I did it all by myself.

Except, you know - it would have been a hell of a lot easier if I had some help. For Double Life, I did everything by myself - including the copy-editing and quality assurance piece. Which also meant all of the pressure was on me. I had more than one panic attack about missing a major typo.

I decided to ask for help with Alliances, the second book of the series. And you know, although my copy-editor found a lot of formatting stuff wrong with it, she only flagged 3 major typos. But it felt so much better to have help with it.

 If you've never been to a comic-book convention, I recommend that you go at least once. It's a trip, let me tell you. And if you're a science fiction/fantasy writer - there's no better place to get in front of prospective fans. But it's a long day, especially if it's far away. I did one convention in Virginia Beach that was a 3 1/2 hour drive - one way. And I drove there and back and stood on my feet all day (I sold 42 books, so I ain't complaining).

Razia in front of the Razia booth. #bcc2014 #meta

A photo posted by S. Usher Evans (@susherevans) on Sep 9, 2014 at 7:37am PDT

I've got a huge convention coming up for my second book release down in Pensacola, FL (my hometown). And you know - I asked for help. I've got my mom, my best friend, and my baby cousin all signed up to help me man the booth. Which means that I'll be able to, you know, run to the bathroom instead of holding it all day.

There's something so empowering about doing it all yourself. You can look at a product and say, "I made that." But that also means that you've got the baton to handle everything, and all of the pressure is on you to make it right.

Eh he he he he....

And don't forget to pre-order your copy of Alliances for Kindle!