The Code We Break: One Month Later
A Raw Look at the Numbers, the Hustle, and the Heartbreaks
The Code We Break is 1 month old today 🖤
I’m sitting here after midnight, wearing my comfiest sweater, staring at numbers that simultaneously make me want to celebrate and cry. Every milestone feels both massive and minuscule at the same time.
Let me tell you what one month of my book baby in the world actually looked like. Keep in mind, I’m an unreliable narrator as I’m biased. Obviously.
What Readers Are Actually Saying
Before we dive into the messy middle, let’s start with what matters most. The readers who GET IT.
One reader called it “a dark romance unlike anything I’ve ever read before” and “genre-bending in the best way.” Another said they “almost used a PTO day, and honestly I kinda regret not.” That’s the energy I needed.
My favorite review pointed out that Mads is “absolutely obsessed and Viv actually stays mad for more than 2 seconds” because yes, she’s not here for the BS, she’s here for respect AND obsession. We can have both. We deserve both.
Someone said the tech elements were so intense they thought their phone was “about to explode from all that hacking and sneaking around.” Another mentioned, “You can feel the sparks popping off the screen even when they’re arguing about passwords and firewalls.”
This is what I wanted. A DEEP romance where he shows weakness only to her. Where she sees exactly who he is (surveillance, violence, broken edges) and chooses him anyway. Not to fix him, to exist with him in all that beautiful damage.
“Maddox’s intensity is just fantastic!” one reader wrote. Another gave it “5 outta 5 catfish!” which might be my favorite rating system ever.
The Actual Numbers (Because Transparency Matters)
30 days. Here’s what happened.
64 books sold
15,115 KENP pages read on Kindle Unlimited
Countless hours of me refreshing my KDP dashboard like a woman possessed
For a debut author with little to no followers? These numbers are solid. Hell, they’re good. I know this intellectually. My brain understands that 64 people spending actual money on my words is incredible. That 15,000+ pages read means people aren’t just buying. They’re READING.
But here’s the thing about being human. Knowing something intellectually and feeling it in your bones are two different beasts.
Are these good results? Are these bad? I have no clue.
Each person has a different experience and starting point, and this is all the data I can use for my next release. Said that, it’s easy to be discouraged in the social media environment, but I can’t avoid it as I have to… gasp… market this Scandal x The Night Agent mashup for corporate baddies looking for a mental thrill.
Launch Day (The Anticlimax Nobody Talks About)
Let me tell you about launch day. October 10th, 2025. The day everything changed and nothing changed.
I woke up, checked that my book was live on Amazon, and then... I went to work. Like every other Friday. I sat in meetings. I answered emails. I made small talk, sipping my third coffee while internally screaming, “MY BOOK IS IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW.”
The world kept spinning. Nobody at work knew that while I was losing my patience on spreadsheets, strangers on the internet were meeting Vivien and Maddox for the first time. Life continued its regular programming while I was having an entire existential crisis in business casual.
That’s the weird paradox of publishing your first book. Everything inside you has shifted, rearranged, exploded into something new. But outside? You still have to buy groceries. You still have deadlines. The universe doesn’t pause to acknowledge that you just did The Thing you’ve been dreaming about.
Everything changed. Nothing changed. Both things are true at once.
It’s the Schrödinger of an author debuting.
What I Tried (The Good, The Bad, The “Why Did I Do That?”)
The Goodreads Giveaway Experiment
I ran a giveaway for 100 ebooks. The results? More than 1000 people added The Code We Break to their “want to read” shelf, which looks pretty on paper. But it led to exactly one review. One.
Honest assessment? I think this tool is more useful if you run it alongside ARCs and a huge campaign BEFORE launch. Running it after felt like shouting into a very elegant void. Lesson learned.
Other authors suggested running it regularly, but giving only one week for signups. Their experience was different from mine, and that’s why there isn’t a simple recipe for success. We fumble our way through this big adventure.
The TikTok Hustle
I’ve been making videos. Trying to be genuine while also, you know, desperately wanting people to read my book. It’s this weird dance of “Hey, I’m just a normal person who happens to have written this book about a man who watches a woman through security cameras, and please don’t think I’m weird, but also please read it.”
None of my videos hit. Some videos made me question every life choice that led me to make faces in my apartment for strangers on the internet.
I met some great people in a short amount of time, and one thing that worked and led to more books in front of new readers has been… genuine connection. Yes, roll your eyes as much as you want, but there is no gimmick besides getting to know people and allowing them to know you.
I have four lovely people asking to join my Street Time after they read my book. And it all started with a comment under their videos.
The Social Media Marathon
Threads, Instagram, TikTok, newsletter. I’m everywhere, trying to be authentic and vulnerable, and also professional and slightly sassy, because that’s apparently my brand now.
The Emotional Tsunami (Or The Part Where I Get Really Honest)
This month broke me and rebuilt me about seventeen times.
I’m hustling hard while working full-time. I traveled for work the week after launch, got sick (because of course), and had a bout of imposter syndrome so severe it completely blocked me from working on book 2.
There were days I’d check my sales and feel like a real author. Then five minutes later, I’d see another author’s success, and suddenly I was a fraud who accidentally typed 152,000 words and tricked 64 people into reading them.
The mental gymnastics of being grateful for every single reader while also desperately wanting more is exhausting. You feel greedy for wanting more. You feel ungrateful for not being satisfied. You feel everything and nothing, and usually both before your morning coffee.
What This Book Actually Means to Me
Through all the noise, the numbers, the comparison trap, I stand by The Code We Break.
I love writing strong men who are also fragile. Men who build empires but can’t figure out how to say “I love you” without their hands shaking. Men who’d burn the world down for one person but can’t believe they deserve that person’s love in return.
I love writing about fragile women who are also strong. Women who can uncover billion-dollar fraud but still need someone to tell them they’re doing enough. Women who swim at 6 am because it’s the only time they have to quiet their busy minds.
Vivien and Maddox are everything I wanted them to be. Messy, complicated, a little broken, but choosing each other anyway. Not despite the damage, but through it.
The Truth About Month One
Here’s what they don’t tell you about your first month as a published author.
You’ll refresh your sales dashboard more than you check Instagram. You’ll memorize which friends haven’t mentioned your book yet. You’ll screenshot every review and also convince yourself they’re all lying. You’ll feel like you’re bothering people by talking about your book and also like you’re not promoting it enough.
You’ll write “published author” in your bio and immediately delete it because who are you kidding, 64 sales doesn’t make you a real author. (Except it does. It absolutely does. I’m working on believing this.)
What Happens Next
Book 2 is sitting there, waiting for me to stop being scared of it. The imposter syndrome tells me I got lucky once. That I can’t do it again. That everyone who liked book 1 will hate book 2.
But here’s the thing. 64 people chose my vibes. 15,000+ pages were read. Real humans in the real world are having real feelings about Vivien and Maddox.
So I’m going to keep writing. Keep posting. Keep being vulnerable and slightly awkward on the internet, because somewhere out there is reader #65, and they need a book about a woman who says “You don’t scare me” to a man covered in blood from protecting her.
I’m building a small Street Team for readers who loved The Code We Break. The ones still thinking about Maddox, Vivien, and that safe house scene 👀
If you crave morally grey men, complex women, and worlds that hurt a little before they heal… this might be your sign.
Early access, secret snippets, and maybe a signed book or two for my most loyal chaos crew.
Only about 10 spots.
🖤 For readers who fell for Maddox, stayed for Vivien, and want to be part of what comes next.
The Bottom Line
One month. 64 books. 15,115 pages. Countless moments of doubt. Even more moments of pure, ridiculous joy.
Turns out, that’s precisely what being an indie author is: choosing to keep going through the mess, not waiting for it to get clean.
To everyone who bought, read, reviewed, or even just added The Code We Break to their TBR, you gave my non-traditional little surveillance romance a chance, and I’m grateful in ways I don’t have words for. (Ironic for a writer, I know.)
Month two starts now. Let’s see what happens when we stop apologizing for wanting more.
Nicky xox
The Code We Break is available on Kindle Unlimited. Yes, I’m ending this vulnerable blog post with a sales pitch. That’s growth, baby.