Before we get to the super awesome news, I want you to do two things for me:
- Find the latest version of your current WIP.
- Email it to yourself.
I ask this because I just read this post, in which my blogger friend explains that she lost her manuscript. Lost, as in, her computer crashed, the files have mysteriously disappeared from her flash drive, and the only hard copy she has is about ten revisions back from where she is now. That SUCKS. Seriously. Drop by her blog and wish her luck, because as you can imagine, she’s not exactly thrilled at the moment.
And now … the SUPER AWESOME NEWS!
Well, I think it’s super awesome — and it’s my blog, my rules, so get on the excitement train or get left behind in the dusty wastelands of … not excitement …
Anyway. Remember how I was all psyched and stuff because Imminent Danger won the Editor’s Choice award? Remember how I mentioned that the next award up for grabs is Rising Star? Well …
I WON IT! WOOOOOO!
But Michelle, you ask, what is Rising Star? To which I reply: beats the potatoes out of me. Let me look it up.
Aha! Click here for details.
Basically, I get a swanky cover design, they give me some sort of marketing direction, I get to stick the Rising Star award sticker on the back of my book, and — here’s the best part — the iUniverse reps will present my books to major retailers. Now, I’m not sure what this entails. I imagine the reps go to book fairs, shove my book into various people’s hands, and say “Look! Book!”. Presumably they will be more eloquent than that (although points to them for rhyming).
So this means they can finally get the book cover design going. I got my friend Paul to do up a cover for me back in May, which I sent to iUniverse. According to my “Publishing Services Associate (PSA)”, they really like the design, but will be basically re-making it with stock photography and something something something I don’t remember.
Anyway, I’m really psyched. So close to publication! Ahhh!
Unrelated videos of the day:
Japan, why you so crazy?
Michelle Proulx - Author 
This could not happen to a nicer and more deserving author. I’ve been with you the whole way and I feel like I have won something by extention. Take your editor out to a great dinner and dance, dance, dance my dear!!! Congratulations!!!
Dance dance dance! I promise I will do exactly that, just as soon as I’m over this blasted cold I seem to have acquired. And thanks so much for the sweet words!!! My eyes are tearing up … although again, that could be the cold 🙂
I’m so happy for you! I’m so proud of you. I know it’s strange, but you have worked so hard for this and it makes me proud to see that. I’m jumping up and down! For you of course.
I zip my files and email them to myself every few days. Just in case. I always have.
Phew! Good call. I definitely don’t back up as often as I should. Gotta do that …
I love how supportive you are!!! Every time I get a comment from you, I start smiling. Stay wonderful 🙂
Aww, thank you. I smile every time I think about you too. You are a wonderful friend. Thank you.
Congratz again, and again and again.
I’ll try to stay wonderful…I’ll have to tell everyone who says I’m grumpy that. 😀
Yay! TY!
Congrats! And OMG, I spent almost a day at work watching people make tiny food! I love the deserts!
Oh, and if you have a Kindle, and you email your documents to yourself to read on your Kindle, you’ve got a back up on Amazon, among other places. I also use Google Docs instead of emailing it.
Curses, it’s desserts, desserts!
Hahaha tiny food is da bomb. And cool idea with Google Docs. I assume that’s a document storage site on Google? Lol. I’ll check it out 🙂
Where do you get all those smarts from? Knew you meant desserts. 🙂
I actually started using Google Docs to do beta-reads (it’s easy to highlight things I like pink, things that could be cut, etc.). You can stick questions at the bottom too. I tend to post a chapter at a time with a few questions to get people started.
I use my Kindle to look for typos. They’re so much easier to find if you switch up the medium you normally read it. The back-up is just a bonus.
Congratulations, Michelle! That’s awesome news. And cool on top of it! 🙂
Thanks 😀
Congrats on the award! I guess that makes YOU a Rising Star. 🙂
Back up. Whatever you use… back up.
I wish I felt more like a rising star, lol. My mother spent the last few days lying on the couch with the flu, and just as she’s starting to get better from her flu, I seem to be catching it. It’s funny how awesome news and icky illness go hand in hand sometimes.
Do your best to take care of yourself. Hard to do when things are going so well, I know. Congrats again, Michelle.
Fantastic news! Have a chocolate bar to celebrate!
Woo! I would totally do that if I owned chocolate! Um … I have some raisin buns. Does that count?
Like there was any doubt.
Awwwwwwwwwww 🙂 You spoil me, you really do. I’m worried about my ego. If you see a news story about a Canadian girl floating off into space due to ego inflation, you’ll know who it is.
Don’t worry. You’ve got to be REALLY full of yourself to escape the Earth’s gravity.
Woopwoop! Well done! I have to admit, I’m not surprised to hear this. Huge congratulations – you’re an inspiration! And also – excellent advice re, the emailing of the WiP. I back my work up obsessively, in two places, but it’s still a great suggestion. I’m very sorry for your friend. But back to you! Woopwoop! 🙂
I see your woopwoop, and raise you a wootwoot!
I am a day late, and I just threw my back out doing a backflip of happiness for you! I hope you are still excited today, because I am thinking about you all day, and really overjoyed for you. The rising star is awesome, awesome, and will open many doors for you. This is sooo cool. I will one day be able to say, “Oh, yeah, Michelle Proulx and I are buds. I knew her back when she posted all that fun, random stuff to her blog.” … Well done, Michelle. I hope you didn’t get the flu and are feeling ok today. Big happy hug!
P.S. – I have my own domain, so I send my WIP up to my server a few times every day. So sorry for your friend.
Congratulations, Michelle! That is wonderful, and well-deserved news! I wish you continued success in publishing your book.
Thanks 🙂
Oh my god… is that REAL food? I mean like, can you eat it? And it was all made in that tiny-ass kitchen? JAPAN. WHY YOU MAKE EVERYTHING TINY? That was honestly the craziest thing I ever saw in my life. Like someone took easy-bake oven, but… like… went wayyyy overboard with the design. Or wanted to feed mice, I don’t know.
ALSO CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BOOK NEWS! 8D I mean, yeah, I was excited about that the whole time, yeesh. 😛 But seriously man! I can’t wait for your book cover to be released. 🙂 Gonna post that stuff up on my blog, yo. ❤ And since it can only help, I'm glad you got that Rising Star thingamajig. Woo! Woooooohooo! You're seriously getting there, arentcha?
Hopefully, lol. I’ll get there eventually, the only question is when. And I KNOW!!! HOW TINY IS THAT FOOD? Pure insanity. And I bet you can eat it, too. I wonder if that’s a toy for children? From the look of the oven/cookingware, it kind of has to be.
You’d think. xD But adults can be weird. Maybe it WAS a toy for kids, but I bet you more adults use it, ha ha ha. x) And hey, they’ve been pretty speedy up to now, so I’m sure they’ll stick to their general idea of January release. 🙂
January seems decent, right? That gives them a couple weeks to do the designing, then I take a week to look over the proofs … final edits … and then printing and distribution!
It sounds way better than ‘A long long time from now, maybe, someday, in the future…’ which is kind of where I’m at right now. xDD ❤ It's JANUARY. I have to wait longer than that for The Walking Dead to start again!
Yay! Congrats!
Thanks!!!
They send the book to Barnes & Noble to see if they can get it on the shelf. i was told, “there is no market for this kind of book,” by Barnes & Noble. I’m hoping you get a better return. They also put you on the Rising Star page on B&N, however, it is not a page you can find from their home page, it is hidden and eventually they will send you a link to it. Took me six months to get mine. They also send you a PDF resource packet on how to create a press release and a marketing kit, which is a PDF of sheets to fill out…blah blah, this is all probably stuff you are already doing anyway because you are way awesome. So, kudos and congrats, because this really is such a huge accomplishment, and now I really can’t wait to read it. Hurry up iuniverse!!! See you next time on the “Star” board…race ya there.
Well that’s hardly a fair race — you’ve got like 6 months on me, lol. Do I get a handicap of 100 books sold? Although that would mean I don’t qualify for Star, which kind of defeats the purpose.
Majority of my sales have been private. I think I may have hit 50 through retail, but over triple that from my own stock. Of course, selling from your own stock doesn’t count.
Hmm … really? I thought they told me that to get to Star, you had to sell 500 copies, 250 of which could be from your personal author purchases. One of us is wrong, and I don’t know who, lol.
LOL. What I meant is, you can only sell half of what is required through personal sales. So you can sell 500 of your own stash, but only 250 would count. But there is one before that, right?
Ooooh yes. That makes more sense. And yeah, I think it’s … Reader’s Choice? I think you have to sell 250 for that, and again you can sell half that from your personal stash.
Yeah, and that personal stash gets expensive after shipping. If you’re ordering, tell them no at first and then they work with you on better prices or packages. Watch those price breaks, too. Sometimes you get more for cheaper just going one book over the price break. It’s sneaky math, and they won’t tell you. I don’t recall the price breaks, but it’s like you can get 220 for the same price as 190, because of the break (just for example).
Oooh, that IS sneaky! I’ll have to fiddle around with the ordering system to find the best deal. And lol, I love your plan to say no at first and then get great deals. Isn’t that always the way? They bend backward to help you … but only if they think they won’t be getting your money.