It’s been 4 months since I published my debut contemporary romance novel Reality With You. It’s wild to think that much time has already passed after working on the book for 3 years, and working toward publishing for even longer. I’ve been writing and dreaming of this since childhood, and I’m now in my mid-thirties.
There’s an indescribable feeling I have knowing I officially embody the title of “published author.” That I turned a dream I had into a reality through hard work, stubbornness, and commitment. There were so many moments of overwhelm where I wanted to stop, but I didn’t, and I’m so grateful that I kept going. (If you’re in that stage right now, please keep going.)
As a result, I’ve unlocked all of these new experiences that come with this next chapter of the journey.
Since my book’s release on August 5th:
Reality With You has been stocked in several independent bookstores
I’ve launched my online shop for signed copies and book merch (U.S. only)
I’ve done two book signings (something way out of my comfort zone that used to terrify me, but I ended up having a great time and met so many cool people)
My book has been nominated for its first-ever awards (in 5 categories)
I’m proud of the progress I’ve made in 4 months, especially as an indie author managing every detail and learning it all as I go. I had a lot of unexpected delays and issues leading up to my publishing date, ended up with a very short ramp for a release campaign (and could only do ebook preorders), and didn’t really start doing much marketing until recently because I was learning how to juggle all the other facets of the publishing process. This shit is hard (but totally worth it).
People are READING my book. Spending their time and money on it. I genuinely can’t express how cool that is, and how much it means every single time someone cares enough to engage with it. This is quite literally the dream.
Still can’t get over this — my debut novel has been nominated for 5 Indie Ink Awards (Best Book Cover & Cover Artist, Best Friendship, Best Setting, Best Use of Tropes, and Prettiest Book Interior). I’m honored to be included among so many other amazing indie books.
🤍 If you’d like to vote for Reality With You in the Indie Ink Awards, I would appreciate it so much. You just need a free Indie Story Geek account, then head to this page to vote. Select a category, find Reality With You, then scroll to the bottom and click “save my vote.” You can vote in as many or as few categories as you’d like. Voting is open until DECEMBER 31, 2025. If you vote for RWY, thank you from the bottom of my heart. 🙏🏻
I have to give a special shout-out to the Best Book Cover & Cover Artist and Prettiest Book Interior categories, because neither would be so beautiful without the incredible artists with whom I collaborated. I designed the book cover and commissioned the stunning artwork from Alina-Andreea Zamfir-Ciobanu. The book’s interior pages were designed by the wonderful Stacey Blake of Champagne Book Design.
Please take a moment to appreciate their amazing work:
You can read all about the process of designing the book’s cover here.
As for the interior pages, let me nerd out for a sec. I wanted the paperback to be an immersive experience. Reality With You is dual POV, so each chapter has a setting-based image associated with the POV character. Lennon’s chapters begin in New York City, so the image header corresponds to that location until she moves back to Arden Beach, Florida, at which point her image changes (as do the scene break symbols—they go from stars to palm trees). Dylan’s is a different image for Arden Beach until he leaves for a couple of weeks to go to a boot camp in another city, and then Lennon’s changes once more in the epilogue.
I am obsessed with little details like this, and Stacey brought my vision to life so perfectly. I keep a copy on my desk and flip through it randomly just to enjoy how pretty it is.
So, I’ve been working on Book 2 in the Arden Beach series (Reality With You is the first book in a series of interconnected standalone novels), but I was inspired to take a little detour.
I’ve always wanted to write a holiday romance, and I got an idea for Midnight With You, a second-chance short story that takes place on New Year’s Eve. It exists in the Arden Beach world but features different characters, so you don’t have to read Reality With You first to enjoy it.
The full short story is just under 8.5k words, and it’s available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
Read "Midnight With You" Now 🥂
xx L.E.
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