All that anguish, all panic, and in the end the stone thrown into the mill pond that is Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) will cause not so much as a ripple.

It’s not until you dive in, that you truly realize just how large the KDP body of water is.

1,400,000 title EVERY year – it’s a truly mind-numbing number.

So, how do you stand out in the crowd?

Being famous (notorious even) would help – alas I’m neither.

An advertising budget that would make the “Big Five” (Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette Livre, Simon & Schuster, or Macmillan) blush – don’t have that either.

Okay, then tap into your social media presence or all those followers of your website….  Ah, and again NOPE.

So, what are my options other than relying on blind luck for my book to reach the attention of readers?

Truthfully, I don’t know.

Many will attempt to sell me a service, many will claim to have magic beans, but I think I’ll keep a firm hold of the cow.

That knot tied by Mr Gordion looks more and more impossible with each tick and tock of the clock.

When writing, my problem was ‘what happens next,’ and now that deed has been done, I am somewhat at sea as to selecting my next realistic option.

I cannot throw more money at the project – that way madness lies. 

While I wrestle with that particular conundrum I will continue to type away and give life to the tale of two Iceni women – who history has somewhat abandoned under the shadow of their incredibly famous mother.  The Fox, The Greyhound and The Bull continue apace.

Maybe the telling of the adventures of Heanua and Lannosea will be the success that will bring light to the plight of young Miss Amy Grace?

Who knows.

What is that they say “l’art pour l’art,” lose sight of that and we are all doomed.

Stay safe, hug those you love, and remember you could have fussed over a manuscript for nearly a decade, put it out to alpha, beta, gamma or indeed delta readers, had it professionally edited, AND still only found a spelling error (only one) when you attempted to upload the script into KDP.

Amy Grace: Payne – available via KDP (Kindle and Paperback) 01/06/26