My marketing mentor, Narelle Todd of Get My Book Out There, encourages us to step outside our comfort zones.
I should mention that my comfort zone is deep, wide, and not unlike a sucking black hole determined to keep me inside. No matter what color it is, I like being there.
However, I also do not like looking like a wimp to my mentor. So sometimes, I try.
That is how I ended up committing to an all day event at the local Winter Book Fair last Saturday. I survived. My kind of brave is not life threatening, though it occasionally feels that way.
The other thing I did was get my Out of Time series translated into French.
That probably does not sound terrifying at first glance.
But it felt terrifying.
Why? Because I received three translated books I could not read.
I knew this would happen. I just did not fully appreciate how unsettling it would feel to look at my own books and not be able to tell if anything was wrong. I stared at them like they might suddenly confess.
It took me several weeks to work up the nerve to upload them to Amazon. Even longer to upload them to Kobo. I kept waiting for something to blow up.
So far, the world is still spinning on its axis. That might be because I have not told very many people they exist yet.
Now that I am officially stepping out of the translation closet, things could still go horribly wrong. Or they could go just fine. Both are possible.
I will admit, I am not quite sure how to promote books written in a language I do not speak. Talking about them in English feels deeply ironic.
Still, if you speak French, or know someone who does, and they enjoy romantic, action filled, time travel adventures set during World War II, I would love it if you spread the word about:
HORS DU TEMPS
Une Histoire Hors du Temps Tome 1
JUSTE À TEMPS
Une Histoire Hors du Temps Tome Deux
DIRE L’HEURE
Une Histoire Hors du Temps Tome Trois
Sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone does not look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like clicking upload and trusting that the story can travel farther than you ever expected. ✨