C.H. Armstrong Books

In case y’all missed it, yesterday was the Official Launch for my new historical fiction novel, The Edge of Nowhere.  It was the most amazing day in every single aspect, and I can only hope for other new authors that their experiences are even half as awesome as mine has been.  The only experiences that come close to being as perfect for me are my wedding day and the births of my two children.

So today, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to more people than I can count.  I will probably forget some people so, if I do, please shoot me an e-mail through my “About Me” page so I can correct myself and offer the thanks where its due!

I am eternally grateful to the following people:

My family (Troy, Amber and Braden) — their patience this last year has been remarkable. My house has gone unattended, and so many things have fallen through the cracks; and yet they’ve barely complained and, instead, have supported me every step of the process.

My Extended Family — my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins once removed, first cousins twice removed (totally not kidding!)…you are the most amazing people I’ve ever met!

My Closest Friends in Oklahoma — you know who you are, Theron and Holly, so there’s no need for me to call you out by name!  ::snort::  Thanks for always supporting me in everything I do!

My Publisher, Penner Publishing — specifically Jessica Gadsden (publisher), Tova Diker (my editor), and Vidya Ravi (admin assistant).  Your belief in Victoria’s story is why we’re here today!

The Other Authors at Penner Publishing — all of them have been so incredibly supportive and helpful, but I want to shout out especially to the following individuals who have been my rock:  Kelly Cain, Bianca M. Schwarz, Amanda Linsmeier, Jamie McLachlan, Jim Cangany, Monique Raphel High, Jenna Harte, and Catherine Haustein.  All of you have been amazing!

Other authors who’ve been beyond supportive and who have kept me from leaping off the ledge when I was frustrated because I’m a control freak and can’t control everything:  C.M. McCoy, Cara Sue Achterberg, Tina Seskis, Abbie Williams, Katherine Dell, and CJ Fosdick.

The El Reno Tribune and The Rochester Post-Bulletin — First to Ray Dyer (publisher of the El Reno Tribune).  Ray, you supported my efforts to major in Journalism when I was a high school student, and then you’ve supported me every step of the way in this journey.  When, after not contacting you for any reason in nearly 30 years, I e-mailed you and asked for an image I could use for publicity purposes, you didn’t hesitate and made a point to get the image I needed.  Then, when I sent you a press release for this novel, you made sure it had high visibility through The Tribune.  I’m still walking on a cloud over that amazing article!  For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, you can follow this link  for more information on the amazing article that ran last month in the El Reno Tribune.

To Matt Stolle (Post Bulletin Staff Writer), thank you for the  wonderful article that ran in The Post Bulletin on Monday night.  Several people who attended my launch last night came only because they’d seen your article in the PB!  Thank you!  If y’all are interested in reading Matt’s article, you can follow this link.

For my launch party at Post Town Winery last night:  Bonita Patton (Post Town Winery, owner) and Jorrie Johnson (Rochester Women magazine, publisher).  These two ladies not only sponsored and hosted my party last night — which was EPIC by the way! — but they also kept things running smoothly.

Also huge thanks go to Kathleen Murphy of Kathleen Murphy Photography.  Kathleen is a dear friend (and fellow Oklahoman here in Minnesota) who came to my launch last night and took scores of photos, which she has graciously promised to allow me to use after she’s gone through them (can you hurry up, Kat??  The wait is killing me! Haha!)  If you live in the Rochester area and need beautiful photographs, consider calling Kathleen.  She did my daughter’s senior photos and I’m still beyond thrilled with them two years later!

And, lastly, Teri Hill and Sara Hill who sold my books for me and handled the raffle.  These two ladies have been the very best of friends over the years, and I just can’t thank them enough!

To the Bloggers out in Cyberspace:  There is seriously no way to express in words how deeply grateful I am to each of you.  More than 50+ bloggers joined my “book blast” team.  These bloggers each posted something on their blogs yesterday related to my book, most of them the same content which was an announcement that my book had been released with links to purchase. Doing so allowed The Edge of Nowhere to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people that would likely have never known it existed.  I can’t thank them enough, and I dearly hope you will take moment to check out their blogs and see what they blog about.  To see who they are, use this link.

In addition to the bloggers who participated with my book blast are those bloggers who agreed to be part of my blog tour.  Most of these bloggers agreed to give my book a shot by reading and providing an honest review on their blogs for readers all over to see.  It’s a huge gamble for both of us — for me because, of course, what if they hate it?  I asked for an honest review and that’s what I expect of them…so I need to be prepared that some will hate it.  From their end, again, what if they hate it?  They’ve agreed to read this book, but what if it’s a huge stinker…that would be a day in their life that they’d never get back! Thankfully, I’ve not received anything resembling that type of feedback, but again — it’s a gamble from both ends.  To see who these bloggers are, use this link.  I’ll try to update this page frequently with links to their reviews and interviews. Take a minute to pop over to their websites to see what they had to say about The Edge of Nowhere, but then stay a while and see what else they have to offer.

Social Media Friends and Followers:  Finally, I saved this group for last, not because they were least important, but because they have been a vital part of helping The Edge of Nowhere find success.  To my Facebook and Twitter friends and followers:  from the very bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!

This group includes, maybe most especially, my Oklahoma “family.”  I use quotations because I don’t mean my relatives, but those people who share with me the bond of being either from Oklahoma, or (more specifically) from my hometown of El Reno, Oklahoma.  Some of these people I know well, and others of you I don’t know at all; and yet y’all have supported me every step of this process.  Yesterday morning, I came to you with a plea:  “Please share the news of my release with your Facebook and Twitter friends,” and you did…in abundance.  My Facebook post alone received more than 1,200 shares…and that number is still rising. The link to that particular post on my website has had more than 1,300 unique visits…and, again, that number continues to rise.

The following information is difficult for me to share because it feels too close to bragging, and those who know me at all know I don’t care for braggarts.  With that said, I’m going to share it anyway because I want all y’all on social media to understand the impact you’ve made toward the early success of this book.  As of the typing of this post (9:45 a.m.), The Edge of Nowhere was ranked on Amazon in the top 3,700 for all e-books and the top 14,000 for paperbacks.  Additionally, it is ranked in the top 110 for e-books about Family Life (OMG! It’s almost on an Amazon Top 100 List!!!) and top 150 for all books of that genre; and the top 200 for Historical Fiction.  While this number is very fluid and it’s not likely to maintain such a low ranking for long (tomorrow it could be back up to ranking at 300,000) allow me to put this in perspective as I understand it:  Amazon sells quite literally millions of books.  The lower the number, the better.  Most authors, especially those from smaller publishing houses, never rank lower than 50,000 overall, and some never hit the top 1,000 for their genres.  YOUR SHARES have allowed The Edge of Nowhere to see amazing levels of early success, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate you!  Thank you!!

To celebrate and to show my appreciation, I’m offering a Free Signed Copy of The Edge of Nowhere to one lucky winner.  To enter, simply comment below and tell me what state you call home.  I’ll take the names from each of the comments and throw them into a hat (or, probably, a random name selector from an online app) and select a winner.  I’ll announce the winner on this website on Friday, January 29, 2016.  The only rules are these:  (1) only one entry per person, (2) You must tell me in which state you reside, (3) due to the cost of shipping, I can only send to the U.S. and Canada*, and (4) the contest closes on January 27th at 11:59 PM…so that gives you one week to comment and enter!  🙂

*For those Outside of the United States:  I will have a second giveaway just for you, and I’ll give away one Free Digital Copy of The Edge of Nowhere. So don’t be afraid to enter!  Just tell me what country you’re from!

Again — to all of you and anyone I’ve missed, my deepest and most heartfelt appreciation!  An author can be the next Hemingway or Harper Lee, but if his work isn’t seen he falls into obscurity.  Your efforts on my behalf have made huge strides toward giving attention to The Edge of Nowhere, and I’m deeply grateful!