Luck strikes when you least expect it, and perhaps that's what makes it so wonderful.
Last year I finished my Sherlock Academy series. It's done fairly well on a local scale, and I've learned so much about writing, publishing, and being an author the last seven years of creating Sherlock Academy. I've always wanted it to be more, but also resigned that it is what it is. Occasionally when I've had extra time I've sent the first book out to publishers in hopes of it getting picked up and developed commercially in a way I never could on my own. I didn't get any bites.
Until recently....
A few years ago we met an author who self-published his middle-grade book. We immediately became friends with Adam Sidwell, sharing the same passions for writing and kids. We admired his charisma and success with self-publishing. This year Adam started his own publishing company, and sent out an advertisement for writers to submit their work. I submitted Sherlock Academy, figuring I had nothing to lose.
Adam called me up with great news: he and his publishing team loved Sherlock Academy, thought it had commercial value, and offered a plan for publication, which includes selling my book at Costco and Barnes and Noble.
You can imagine how thrilled I am! I'm excited to have professionals take over the business end of publishing/selling Sherlock Academy, and of course I'm excited about Sherlock Academy reaching more readers through large sales at Costco, etc. Most of all, it's wonderful to have others see the value of my work and want to invest in it.
And I'm thinking there's more than luck involved here...