Last Friday morning, shortly after hitting the “publish my book” button on CreateSpace, I posted an announcement of my book on my Facebook page. All day I checked the page. To my bewilderment, only one person—George, my friend in Richmond—”liked it.”

To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

That evening when I got home from work, I started poking around on Facebook and realized that several weeks ago I had sent a Facebook post to George’s page. Was there a correlation?

Indeed there was. It seems that Facebook had saved that filter and applied it to my book announcement. Of course! That’s why I had only one “like.”

So I immediately changed the filter and simultaneously dared to change my normally “private” setting to public.

Then came an avalanche! The likes and comments started pouring it. My friends stepped up to support this book and me. I was overwhelmed with the kind comments, the shares, the likes. And I started selling books.

Every writer craves affirmation and this display of support was beyond my expectations. I am incredibly grateful for everyone who liked, shared, commented or bought my book.

CAIRNAERIE is on its own now as I wait while my friends have a chance to read it. I’ve thrown it into the pool and now it has to sink or swim. I don’t know whether it will soar to acclaim or disappear into the dusty catacombs populated by thousands of other self-published books. Time will tell. But one thing I do know with absolute certainty: My friends are the very best. When it counted. At the beginning. When I tiptoed into this world of publishing, they were there for me, and they applauded with gusto.

And that—in the whole scheme of life—is plenty!