Who the heck is Michelle Proulx?
Hi. I’m Michelle. I just got back from a year of teaching English in South Korea, and I’m celebrating my return to Canada by finally fulfilling my dream of publishing a novel.
A novel, you say. Sounds … interesting.
It is! It’s called Imminent Danger and How to Fly Straight into It.
That’s an awkwardly long name for a book.
You are probably correct. It started off as Varrin, then became Space Chattel, and then The Reluctant Xenophile. The first was scrapped because, although awesome, Varrin isn’t the main character of the story. The second two were shelved due to the obscure words they contained. Also, certain people indicated that they sounded overly pretentious, which doesn’t really work for a young adult novel.
So it’s for young adults?
The writing level and maturity content is on the level with teenagers, yes, but all ages are welcome to read. I myself am classified as an “adult”, and I think it’s awesome.
Well, you would. You wrote it.
How astute.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
So I’m guessing this blog has something to do with your book?
Very much so. It has come to my attention that “social networking” and “websites” are “useful” for marketing things, hence the creation of this “blog”.
That’s a lot of quotation marks.
I swear the book is written better than this.
So what information will I find on this blog? I don’t want to be bombarded with posts saying “Buy my book!” or “Tell your friends!”.
Okay, nominally this blog is to promote Imminent Danger, and any future books I manage to get published. Bereft of a traditional publishing house, I have decided to go the self-publishing route. There’s a lot of stigma attached to self-publishing, because in the past it has produced a lot of poor quality books, but nowadays self-publishing is becoming much more widely respected. Imminent Danger, for example, has been extensively edited by both enthusiastic amateurs and actual professional editors, so it’s at least as good quality as anything you’ll find in a bookstore — if not better!
That’s fascinating. But you didn’t answer my question.
So yes, the blog will promote my book. But it will have lots of other fun stuff too. Random musings, funny photos, links to cool stuff I’m interested in, etc.
And what are you interested in?
Lots of stuff! Sci-fi, fantasy, movies, books, television, soccer, tennis, travel, music, you name it!
How about politics?
Politics has always and will always continue to baffle and elude me.
I’m running out of questions.
You must want to know something else.
Well, I don’t … that is to say … oh! Tell me about your book!
Are you sure you can handle it?
I was born ready.
How about I give you the “back cover copy”?
I have no idea what that means.
It’s the writing that goes on the back of the book and tells you what the story is about.
That makes … so much sense in retrospect.
I know, right? Okay, brace yourself.
I have firmly planted my feet.
High school junior Eris Miller thinks she’s having a bad day when her roommate’s boyfriend catches her stepping out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel. Then she gets abducted by scaly six-armed aliens with a strange fondness for the color blue, and her day suddenly gets a whole lot worse.
Trapped on a spaceship bound for the slave markets of Sirius B, Eris fears she’ll never see her home again. But then fate whisks her away from her reptilian captors and into the arms of Varrin, a fast-talking space pirate who promises to deliver her safely back to Earth. He claims to have her best interests at heart, but Eris soon discovers that her charming rescuer has a hidden agenda.
As they race across the galaxy, outrunning a villainous figure from Varrin’s past, Eris begins to realize that their relationship is putting her planet, her life and her heart in imminent danger. She knows that trusting Varrin could prove deadly … but what other choice does she have?
I see you worked the title of the book into the end of the description. Cunning.
Thank you.
You mentioned someone named “Varrin” earlier. Is he in the book?
He’s the love interest.
Is he a super smexy bad boy?
Naturally. He is also a space pirate.
Dude.
RIGHT???
So where can I buy this totally awesome sci-fi/romance young adult novel?
Imminent Danger is officially published and available at all online retailers. Check out my website for more info on where to get it.
What if I have an irrational phobia of paper?
You’ll also be able to get it in ebook format.
School was extremely traumatic. I had a mild panic attack every time there was a pop quiz.
I’m so sorry. Stay strong.
So I guess all there’s left to do is subscribe to your blog.
Do it! I promise you won’t regret it. Or else.
That was ominous.
I’m an ominous person.
No, you aren’t.
Shhh, don’t tell anyone.
Michelle Proulx - Author 
I can’t wait for your book to come out, it sounds interesting. I love your humour, if you have the same humour in this “F.A.Q.” section as in your book, then I can promise you that I will love it.
Your book sounds great! Looking forward to it. 🙂
Keep up the good work, Michelle! Let it never be said that we self-published authors don’t deserve respect! I write non-fiction but all authors labor over their work and can be proud of the results. You have already read my opinion on self-publishing. Any ideas out there on Kindle Direct Publsihing? WAM
Thanks 🙂 Kindle Direct Publishing… honestly, all I know is that if you price the ebook between $2.99 and $9.99, you will get 70% royalty rates – otherwise it’s 35%. I’ve heard from other authors on WordPress that KDP is fairly intuitive to use, and Kindle is one of the fastest growing ebook retailers in the world, so I’d definitely use it if I weren’t self-publishing via a different route that includes Kindle distribution as part of the package. And I *believe* (don’t quote me on this) that Kindle’s contract is non-exclusive, so you can always publish your ebook elsewhere if need be. Thanks for commenting!
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Your FAQ was so enjoyable I am now tempted to write on of my own! 🙂
Do it! It’s so fun!
Your FAQ is charming. 🙂 Good luck on your publication.
Thanks 🙂
This FAQ is great (in fact, the whole blog is just lovely)! You’re clearly a writer who finds it easy to write ‘funny’. I, however, am not. Therefore, I am jealous of your talent. 🙂 I hope your journey to publication goes smoothly and I look forward to following your career. Thanks for calling by my blog – hope to see you hanging around there again sometime. Have a great day! 🙂
Thanks 🙂 I’ll follow you so I can keep track of what you’re up to!
Hi! I’m Sue, and I’m from SlimKicker, a fitness/diet app and online website. I bumped into your blog a few days ago and it captured my interest!
I’m contacting you b/c we’re about to release a fitness tracker (similar to FitBit) early next year, and are looking for bloggers who would be interested in receiving 1 for free to review when it is out (negative or positive).
Would you be interested in doing this? You can email me at: sue (at) slimkicker (com) with ‘Review’ in the email heading if you are.
In case you don’t know, our online website SlimKicker basically turns your fitness/diet goals into a level-up RPG game. The tracker will work with the website, and allow people to track calories burned and number of steps they walk automatically. The more they exercise, the more points they rack up! That’s basically how it will work.
Anyway, hope to hear back either way…
– Sue
P.S. You can choose not to publish this comment as this is more of a private comment 🙂
So I have an extremely random question for you. You are Canadian and you self-published through the states I’m guessing? How did you solve the whole being taxed by the states and Canada issue? Just curious, ’cause I’m going to be doing the same thing. 😛
Aha. Excellent question. The answer is, of course, that I have no idea. 😀 Um, that would be because my book was published this year (2013), so I don’t have to submit tax information for it until next April. From my understanding, however, iUniverse (or whatever self-publisher you go through, I assume) will send me assorted tax forms that I will give to my accountant to figure out. And iUniverse will be taxing me for the American taxes until such point as I fill a form that exempts me from US taxes … but apparently you can’t actually get your hands on that form until you’ve received your first royalty payment.
In conclusion, ask me again in a year 😀
Sounds complicated and not fun! But okay! That is still more information than I had before I asked you. So thank you! 😀
Hi Michelle – finally bought a copy of your book! Your FAQ humor is what prompted over to Amazon. Keep up the nice work!
Haha yeah, I had a bit too much fun writing the FAQs — which was probably fairly obvious! And thanks so much for picking up a copy! I hope you have a blast reading it — and if not, feel free to yell at me 🙂
God, you are funny!
Love your hyper-enthusiasm and space opera glee. I have some of that in me as well. Your books sounds ridiculously fun. I’m probably going to have to get a copy.
Haha yeah, I tend to get over-excited at times. Happy reading!