Unstable Orbits: available now

That’s another book in the can. Unstable Orbits is released.

And now the peculiar, hot-cold mist of loss and achievement descends. The todo list becomes light on what’s inside the book, and heavy on what’s outside. I hover beyond the edge of my comfort zone like Wile E. Coyote about to drop, listening to my own voice and watching my own face as I edit narration videos. Hoping I don’t crack anyone’s screens or make their ears bleed or cause them to toss their phone in a river in disgust when I publish to Tiktok and Instagram and YouTube.

And now I spend too much time on the Amazon KDP Dashboard, wondering how to make number go up.

Some of my beta and ARC readers have been posting reviews on Goodreads. At time of writing, there are four five-star ratings. I make that twenty stars. (Technically 19½ stars, as one’s a 4½-star rating but Goodreads doesn’t do halves.) Some ego-boosting extracts:

“Absolutely a must-read this Pride Month! Definitely recommend if you’re into fresh, queer stories with lots of feels!” — ARC reader Booksnliftsdiary (see full review)

“[T]his is an amazing book.. i was hooked in the first 15 pages… my only disappointment was the book ended. They all do.. i know.. but I fell in love with so many of the characters, I really wanted it to keep going” — ARC reader Serena Pridgen (see full review)

“This is a really lovely coming of age story with queer and mental health representation … Nate is one of the most relatable characters that I’ve personally read … [T]his book felt like a quiet hug, a gentle squeeze. There were moments that I laughed out loud and times near the end where I was holding my breath because it felt really emotional.” — Beta reader Dani (see full review)

These are the responses I was hoping for. I’m desperately proud of Unstable Orbits and I hope it reaches a wide audience. It can only do that with more reviews, with people telling their friends about the book and encouraging them to give it a try. I can post as many TikTok dance craze videos as I want (I don’t want, I’m not doing it) and the effect of that is negligible compared to readers fangirling to readers.

The rating and review count are key factors prospective readers consider when choosing a book. Is it high rated? By enough people?

And Amazon allegedly uses these ratings and review counts to decide which books to promote organically to others.

It’s a classic problem: to get promotion you need readers, but to get readers you need promotion. I blame chickens and eggs, in no particular order.

If you read and enjoy Unstable Orbits: