Some milestones don’t arrive with trumpets.

They slip quietly into your inbox on an ordinary day, disguised as just another message among many.

I had just finished Serenity Falls — a book that took far more out of me than I expected. Not only time and effort, but something deeper. Pieces of memory, emotion, late nights, and stubborn perseverance stitched together into a story I hoped might matter to someone, somewhere.

On a whim — and very much aware of the odds — I submitted it for a BookBub Feature Deal.

If you’re not familiar with BookBub, it’s one of the most selective promotional platforms in publishing. Thousands of books compete for very few slots. Most authors apply again and again without success. I knew this. I assumed my submission would quietly disappear into the void, like a paper boat sent out onto a vast ocean.

So I did what writers often do after releasing something fragile into the world.

I tried not to think about it.

One day later, an email arrived.

I opened it expecting a polite decline. Something encouraging but final. Instead, the first word I saw was:

Congratulations.

Their editors had selected Serenity Falls for a feature.

For a moment, my brain refused to process it. I reread the sentence several times, certain I must be misunderstanding. When the realization finally landed — fully, unmistakably — my body reacted before my thoughts could catch up.

I fainted.

Not dramatically, not in some cinematic swoon — just a sudden, overwhelming shutdown as adrenaline and disbelief collided. One moment I was standing there holding my phone, the next I was on the floor, heart racing, trying to laugh and breathe at the same time.

At the time, I didn’t fully grasp what it meant. I was too stunned, too relieved, too exhausted from finishing the book itself. It felt unreal, like being told you’ve been invited to a grand event you never expected to attend.

Only later did it begin to sink in.

A team of professional editors — complete strangers — had read the description of this story and decided it was worth placing in front of their massive audience of readers. They believed it would resonate. That it belonged there.

Somewhere along the way, without fanfare or ceremony, I had crossed an invisible threshold.

I was no longer just someone who had written a book.

I had become a BookBub Featured Author — a novelist whose work had been selected, curated, and professionally promoted to readers around the world.

And yet, strangely, the most powerful part wasn’t the scale of the promotion or the prestige attached to it.

It was the quiet affirmation:

This story matters. Keep going.

Seeing new readers discover my work now — especially from places I never expected, like Pinterest — feels like watching ripples spread across water long after the stone was thrown. Proof that stories have a life of their own once they leave your hands.

If you’re one of the new people who found your way here recently, welcome. Truly. You’ve arrived at a moment when the journey feels both fragile and full of possibility.

And if you’ve been here from the beginning, thank you for walking this road with me — through drafts, doubts, and the long, uncertain stretches between milestones.

Serenity Falls releases soon.

Whatever happens next, I’m grateful beyond words that you’re here to witness it.

— Iwan