It’s been a little over a week since I released my debut novel, Salep and Ginger. HAVE YOU READ IT YET? If so, I’d love to hear from you! If not, get at it!

Once the nausea subsided I was able to take in everything that was happening – it was all terribly exciting! Again I had to learn that it is a process, sales can take time, but of course I was rather impatient with all the waiting. Between you and me, I’ll admit that I kept refreshing my “reports” until IT happened.  I had actually sold a book. Someone had paid real money to purchase it. I was now officially a published author!

Now for the self-flagellation. Salep and Ginger is not as polished as it should’ve been. It needed to go back to my editor one final time but I had delayed and amended so many times that it kind of became “now or never”. If I didn’t hit that publish button, I probably never would. So I know there were a few indentation issues and strange blocks of bold font throughout (and I still can’t work out how to correct it). I also found a few typo’s post-publishing. I nearly cried (and threw up again) because that meant I had to go back into the editing program and let me tell you I did NOT want to do that. The process of “creating” the book made me more than a little certifiable. I’m certain that the good people at Kindle thought I had lost the plot a few times over those last few days before publication.

But then I woke up on Monday to find that Salep and Ginger was ranked #2 in “Hot New Releases” in Erotic Romance and it got to #14 in that same category on Amazon UK’s site. Now that is exciting (and all without any reviews!).

And then I got my first actual review from a paying customer – and they left 5 stars! Woo hoo! Leaving a review is so important to boost the book (and my self-confidence) so if you are one of those who have read Salep and Ginger please take a moment to leave an honest review (if you can).

So what does happen next? Right now I’m going to go back to my regular (or somewhat irregular) programmed viewing aka an occasional blog post and get cracking on my next novel, tentatively named “Kiz Kalesi”.

Again I want to give each and every one of you a big shout out, I couldn’t have done any of this without you guys believing in me.

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Janey In Mersin was created by me when I first moved to Turkey. It became my only friend in a sometimes dark, desolate world, my safe place to go where I could hide from all the bok and my private diary left carelessly open for the world to see.

It also helped me make friends, journal my experiences, and gave you guys a glimpse of just how ridiculous life could be here with The Turk and his crazy family. But more importantly, blogging allowed me to take that first step to fulfil my childhood ambition of becoming a published author. 

As a child, I had lofty ambitions indeed. I had just finished reading “Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret” and I decided that I would surely become the next Judy Blume. I mean when it all comes down to brass tacks has there ever been a better piece of prose than, “We must, we must, we must increase our bust”?

By the time I finished school I had quickly realised I didn’t need to repeat that particular mantra over and over as my boobs were already a double D, so I discarded my dream of becoming an author and got on with my real life.

And then one morning as I sat on my terrace overlooking the Village, I wrote a couple of paragraphs about a girl who had fallen in love. I knew something about that at least, well, I did at the time anyway. That girl became Ginger Knox. She and I became firm friends (and occasionally mortal enemies) over the next year or so while I drafted and revised, discarded and re-visited Ginger’s story, time and time again.

Finally! I had written something that wasn’t completely heinous, but where do I go from here?

Full of moxie I emailed off my synopsis and first draft to publishers and waited to be inundated with offers. Now I’d like to think that I was mature enough to handle rejection but, as it turned out, I’m not. Instead, I morphed into a whiny-assed child when Harlequin rejected my manuscript, and I threatened to burn the world down when Mills and Boon passed on my literary masterpiece. “To hell with them all!” It was a battle cry shrieked from my rooftop in the Village all the while smearing blue paint down my face and brandishing my bottle of wine like a sword! They were trying to destroy my dream!

I decided it must be rubbish so I shelved it for a while.

After a little soul-searching I asked for beta-readers to give me some honest feedback. And I got it in spades! From the positive: “I needed a ciggie after that” and “When I wasn’t laughing at Ginger’s inner monologue and snappy comebacks, I was in desperate need of a lie down after all the naughty bits”, to the negative: “I feel there is an overuse of profanity that could cast a negative light on the story”, and even the down-right strange: “I will pray for you.”

All that feedback helped me shape Ginger’s story (and between you and me that last comment made me realise that I might be on the right track!).

I began to look at other publishing options. Self-publishing seemed the most realistic way for me to move forward. I had seen other well-known authors who utilised self-publishing and went on to see their novel become a huge success.

And so let’s fast forward to today. I’m excited and terrified and more than a little bit nauseous, but I’ve finally done it. I’ve published my slightly funny, definitely not autobiographical (this question gets asked a lot!), sexy, swoony, heartfelt romance. Rated R for raunchy, Salep and Ginger is probably not suited to those who don’t like being spanked or for those under the age of 18 years (full disclosure: there is no spanking in this book). It’s mostly the story of a girl standing in front of a boy… wait, no, that’s not right… maybe you guys should just read it for yourselves. 

Anyway, tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell everyone you know (within reason, of course) to grab a copy of Salep and Ginger, available now from Amazon, either on Kindle or paperback from your usual Amazon e-store. Every sale will help support my wine habit and enable me to continue to live in the luxury (cough, cough) of which I have become accustomed. 

To those who do take the plunge teşekkür ederim (thank you)! If you loved it, please leave a review and hit up those stars on Amazon. I would appreciate it… and there’s a bottle of rakı on its way to you (there’s not really a bottle of rakı on its way to you. Sorry.).

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Loving this blog? Please help me build my audience and share with like-minded people who, like me, know that confidence is half the battle won and also love Turkey. You can also subscribe or like me on Facebook for all updates.