Years ago when I was writing Fan Fiction, I had built up a rather large following of devoted readers. The kind who gave wonderful reviews, made outrageous requests, and would defend this Scribe from trolls. (Yeah the trolls are everywhere.)
I loved my readers, got to be on a first name basis with some. Even became close friends with a few. They were a loyal and wonderful bunch.
Fan Fiction was a great place to hone the craft of writing. Even in Fan Fiction there are rules. Not all of the writers obey them, but they are there. For me it was a great training ground. The subject was one I loved, so it was easy to pen stories.
Two years ago I began the process of working on self publishing. That took me away from Fan Fiction, working on my novels is a full time job. But my gal pal FaeCat requested a yule story, and I couldn't refuse her. To my surprise, my readers were still there, and were thrilled to have another PaisleyRose story.
That's when I realized in the furor to get my novels up on Kindle, I had forgotten to tell the fans at Fan Fic about them. So I jotted down another quickie one shot with the announcement. What happened next surprised, and thrilled me. There was a big jump in my sales. I mean HUGE.
I am so blessed to have such wonderful devoted readers! And I am so grateful.