I’ve fallen super far behind on my work this week, so I only have time for a quick post. Remember how I mentioned that I had to cut 20k words from my manuscript? Well, I’m on Chapter 8 (out of 44), and I’ve cut 5,070 thus far. Huzzah!
Now, when I say “I cut”, I really mean “my mother and I” cut. She’s my editor/manager, and she’s been working on the book for so long that it’s basically hers as well. Not that I’m giving her any of the royalties!!! Muahahaha. I did, however, promise to buy her a boat once I’m rich and famous. Although I’m worried about actually doing that, as she gets sea-sick very easily. I don’t want to gift her with something that will make her ill on a regular basis.
Our basic cutting process (that sounds weird) is for mother to go through a chapter or two of the manuscript and scribble all over it. Then she gives it to me, and we go through the suggested changes together via her laptop-hooked-up-to-the-TV-via-HDMI-cable.
It’s incredibly slow going, but 5k words over 8 chapters is pretty fantastic. I have no idea where all those words came from, although it’s becoming clear to me that I ramble at length when I write.
Our goal is to have the cutting process finished by mid-August, because then we need to get it copy-edited (still haven’t decided by who). Fingers crossed, the edits will be done by the end of August, and then the actual publication process can begin in September. Which, again crossing our fingers, will put the book out sometime mid-October. Just in time for Christmas! Woo!
In other news …
The entire world probably knows this already, but in case you don’t, Snoop Dogg is a recently-converted Rastafarian, has changed his name to Snoop Lion, and will now make reggae music instead of rap.
Thus, for your viewing pleasure, awesome Snoop Lion memes:
Jedi Armen, my teddy bear protector, bearer of the One Ring of Power. He’s very fierce.
Since I’m apparently incapable of making up my own mind, I pose this question to you: how should I title my chapters?
Here are the options:
Option #1
Chapter 27
Option #2
27
Option #3
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Recall that Imminent Danger is a YA sci-fi/romance book. I don’t know if that’s relevant. I’m personally leaning towards Option #2 (just the number), because I spend most of my life these days shortening my manuscript so I’m going through a minimalist phase.
But my book stopped being a dictatorship a long time ago, so time for democracy to get its say:
Feeling multicultural? Check out this ridiculous K-Pop video:
That’s all she wrote. Have a kick-bottom Wednesday, amigos.
So I was scrolling through my “Blogs I Follow” page yesterday, and I found this post by Jason Alan. In the post, he mentions that he’s had his book of poetry, Poetry of a Madman,up on Amazon for over a year with no reviews. And I thought to myself, “I can review things”. Hence this post. Oh, and check out that link, because he’s offering the kindle edition for free (for a limited time), so snap up a copy before it’s too late!
The Book
Poetry of a Madman
The Genre
Poetry
The Author
I don’t know much about Jason, so instead I will quote the blurb on his WordPress blog: “Short stories, rants, poetry, unfinished novels, and look! Cows!”
The Plot
It’s a book of poetry. It doesn’t have a plot. Sheesh.
Basically, it’s a collection of poems, most of them by Jason, with the first section devoted to guest poets.
The Review
Poetry of a Madman was a very interesting read. My experience with poetry is mostly limited to what I read in English class, so I didn’t have any expectations going in. And I was quite impressed with what I found.
Many of the poems are about serious topics — current issues, the human state, etc. — but there are also a selection of more light-hearted pieces that really drew me in. One of my favourite poems was “i am, part one”, which Jason wrote years ago, lost, and is now trying to recreate. I loved the cadence of the poem and the imagery he used — when I read it, I found myself kind of singing along in my head. I think this poem would make an excellent song.
Another favourite was “digital heartache”. I don’t want to give away too much, but to give you a taste of the awesome:
“my farmville crop is sprouting weeds
these angry birds have too many needs
my mafia family has ceased to get paid
and my warcraft warrior never gets laid”
The book has a lovely blend of poetry. There are sad poems, happy poems, quirky poems, funny poems, and thought-provoking poems. I’m a bubbly person by nature, so I enjoyed the funny/quirky ones the most. But overall I thought Poetry of a Madman was a great poetry collection, and I definitely recommend it to all you poetry lovers out there.
Yesterday I began my epic quest to cut 21,307 words from Imminent Danger. Gah. I knew it would be a big job going in, but cutting that many words is something you can’t really understand until you’ve experienced it for yourself.
The first thing I did was print out the book, then grab a red pen and flip through it. I wasn’t doing a line-by-line edit, I was looking for entire sections that I could chop out. You know, scenes that were fun but didn’t contribute to the story, unnecessary exposition, too-long battle scenes, etc. So I spent a few hours doing that.
Then I went into Word and cut out all the sections I’d circled. I was pretty excited, because I got rid of several large chunks, so I was hoping for a massive reduction in word count. The result? I cut 3,000 words. Now, that’s a lot of words. But it’s nowhere close to 20k. Back to the drawing board.
Since cutting out major chunks didn’t work, I’ll have to go through the story line by line. And while this is easily the most onerous editing task I’ve ever undertaken, I’m buoyed by the thought that when I’m finally finished, my book will be better than ever before. What I really need is one of those eighties training montages, where there’ll be shots of me frowning at my manuscript, sitting in different positions around my living room, drinking coffee, falling asleep at my desk, etc. And then two minutes of montaging will pass, and I’ll thunk the completed manuscript down on the desk while triumphant music plays in the background.
Like that’s going to happen.
I’ll keep you updated as I go. I’ve cut out approximately 3,600 words so far, with another thousand hopefully going today. I need to be done soon, because I need to get the book published before the end of October if I want to take advantage of the Christmas season.
As for getting the book copy-edited, I’m still on the fence. A few of you have said that $2,200 is way too much to spend on editing, which I agree with. The other alternative, however, is to do it myself, then run the risk of missing something and being eternally embarrassed when everyone and their mothers point it out to me. Here are the three options, as I see it:
Option One: iUniverse copy-edit
$2,200, 2-3 weeks, guaranteed placement into the Editor’s Choice program (which opens the book up for other assorted awards)
Option Two: freelance copy-edit
I don’t know how much freelancers charge. I assumed it would be less than iUniverse, but the first link I looked at was $30 per 1000 words — e.g. $3,000. Anyone know any good, cheap copy-editors?
After the freelance copy-edit, I would fork over another $250 to iUniverse for a return evaluation, where they would consider me for Editor’s Choice (placement not guaranteed).
Option Three: do it myself
This one is free, obviously, plus $250 for the return evaluation. My current thought is to start with this option, submit the manuscript, and see what happens. If I get the Editor’s Choice, grand. If not, I can consider getting a professional copy-edit. Although if the manuscript isn’t up-to-snuff, I’m paying an extra $250 for the return evaluation with nothing to show for it.
I recently discovered the “poll” function on WordPress, so I’m putting this to a vote. What do you think? What should I do?
Ain’t it purdy? I gotta use polls more often. And thanks for listening to me ramble!
Internet funtimes
I’m pretty sure everyone in the entire universe has seen this video, but I nevertheless present it here for your nostalgic viewing pleasure (note: the song rocks, but the real fun begins at 0:50):
Yay! I feel so … awarded. And lovely! And unless parallel dimensions exist, I’ve got the “one” aspect pretty much covered as well. Huzzah!
Right. On to the next part of the award — seven things about myself. Although by this point you probably know more about me than I do …
1) The most delicious thing I have ever eaten was barbecued meat at my soccer team’s victory party about ten years ago. I don’t know what the meat was (possibly pork?), or what our coach did to make it so delicious (ritual sacrifice?), but I have been dreaming of that unidentified barbecued meat ever since.
2) I wear glasses, and they are a very high prescription. I enjoy giving my glasses to people who have perfect vision, and watching as they try on my glasses, reel backwards in shock, and say, “This is how you see?!!”
3) I am currently watching a Korean Drama entitled “Boys Before Flowers”. It revolves around four hot, rich guys at a private school who meet and (some of whom) fall in love with a common girl who teaches them about life, love, etc. It’s a soap opera in every sense of the phrase, but I enjoy it because it’s a fun insight into Korean culture. Click here to watch a fanmade trailer for it.
5) My brother recently fractured his wrist. While waiting for him to get his cast at the hospital, I composed an epic 3-act play for my mother’s birthday, entitled, “Mama’s Magical Madventure”.
6) I mispronounce the word “disciple”. I can say it correctly when talking about the disciples of Jesus (dis-eye-pull), but any other time, I pronounce it “dis-ih-pull”.
7) I am a recovered WoW addict. Now the Mists of Pandaria expansion is coming out, and I can already feel it trying to pull me back in. I must resist!
You probably gathered this from the title of this post, but I made a vlog! I set up my webcam, chose a nice background in my apartment, and just went nuts. Thus, without any further ado:
How’s my vlogging technique? Any tips? I used Windows Movie Maker to edit the video, so hopefully it isn’t too mind-bogglingly terrible.
Now, what silly picture from around the interwebs shall I share with you today? How about … this!
Photo courtesy of Nakai SZH. Source: engrish.com
Copyright law states that images can be used on your blog if you are using them to parody or review. Thus, a review of the picture above:
I find it very amusing. Mistranslations are an excellent source of comedy.
I don’t want to be sued for copyright infringement, so here is my photograph of turtles. Enjoy.
The big news in my little part of the cosmos is that I got my Editorial Evaluation back! To remind you, I’m self-publishing through iUniverse, and the first step of the publication process is they have an editor go through the book and do an evaluation. At the end of the evaluation they give you recommended edits to make–which basically means they tell you which of their editing services they want you to buy. But we’ll tackle that topic in another post. So, without further ado …
What the Evaluation said!
I actually got the email about my evaluation being complete right before I was about to head out to Stratford to go see Pirates of Penzance. The play was pretty good — I love the Tarantara soldiers. Since I really wanted to read the evaluation, I printed it out and brought it along for the ride. I shall now give you a summary of what I read.
So what they basically do is break down the evaluation into several categories. Then in each category they have a checklist, where the answer can be either “Yes” (as in, yes, you rock, this is good), or “Needs Work” (which is fairly self-evident). The first category deals with the marketing text (correct genre, is the work suitable for the target audience, etc.). I passed that one with flying colours. Next up: title. Apparently my title is appropriate for my book, so huzzah, I guess.
Now for the Opening. My first page grabs the reader’s attention — probably a good thing for a book to do. I began to notice at this point that aside from the checklist, the “evaluation” mostly consisted of the editor copying chunks of the book into the evaluation document and basically providing a summary of the plot. Which is fine. At least it shows they read the book, so they do have some idea of what they’re talking about.
I ran into trouble at the “Basic Premise and Tone” section. The plot and everything is fine — what tripped up the editor is the word count. The editor starts off saying:
“The author has wonderful writing skills and a vivid imagination … Relationships are fully developed. In fact, some of the humorous banter reminds one of the relationship between Princess Leia and Han Solo from Star Wars.”
COPYRIGHT NOTE: All quotes from the Editorial Evaluation in this post belong to iUniverse. Please don’t sue me. I’m harmless.
Woo! I love compliments. Especially when Star Wars references are involved. Kudos to my editor for being awesome. But remember how I mentioned the word count being an issue? Here’s the editor’s thoughts on that:
“Regarding the language level — at 121,307 words, this novel is too long. Especially in this tight economy (and even before it), traditional publishing houses normally do not take on books longer than 100,000 words, because of the cost of publication. In fact, most publishers of YA novels suggest that they should be around 45k-75k words long. It’s always best to adhere to required word length parameters. Not doing so is enough to prompt rejection from traditional publishing houses.
Besides that, practically every novel can benefit from pruning and tightening. There are places were cuts would improve the plot of this book. One place is where explanations of details about the fantasy world slow down the pace of scenes. Every little cut an author can make will tighten the plot and allow her to develop the most important characters and plot points.”
Phew! So basically, my book is too long. I’d suspected this was the case, but I guess it took the Editorial Evaluation to really drive that home. I’m sure my shortening woes will deserve a blog post of their own, so we’ll move on for now.
Next up was “Structure, Plot and Pace.” I got another “Needs Work” on “Does each incident or action propel the reader forward or provide needed but succinct background information?”. This ties into the word count thing. Once I cut unnecessary scenes, this should no longer be a problem.
Dum-de-dum, flipping through my pages … here we go! Here’s some random quotes:
“The last one-fourth of the book contains a rousing, all-out space war. Battles and clever one-liners are fun to read.
An Epilogue ends on a note of humor, with a hint of a sequel to come.”
Yup. So basically, I need to make it shorter. Le sigh.
Moving on to “Setting” — everything fine there. Characterization also received thumbs ups across the board, as did Dialogue. Now we’re really moving along! Then we hit … Basic Punctuation and Grammar.
Yes, you guessed it. I scored a “Needs Work” here. Noooooooes! Considering that I had approximately 15 well-educated individuals read over the manuscript before I submitted it, I’d really hoped I’d get a good score here. The errors they found actually weren’t that bad. I spell “all right” incorrectly (I spell it “alright”, which is sometimes correct, but definitely not for an American market). I didn’t capitalize “God” (for shame!). And there was a discrepancy in quotation punctuation that is entirely because I’m Canadian and didn’t know that Americans punctuate differently. Oh, and they didn’t like some of my commas. So yeah, that happened.
Final notes!
This post is getting long. I’ll try to type faster (that’s how you make posts shorter, right?). So at the end they give “General Comments about the Manuscript”, which is basically a reiteration of what was already said. Since quotes are fun, here’s a quote:
“This author has remarkable writing skills and a unique vision. She has also wisely accepted the help of a large group of helpers/editors (listed in the Acknowledgements at the end of the book). That makes this book a well-conceived, professionally-written, and enjoyable read.
The only weakness is the excessive length, but I feel the author has the skills to successfully do some cutting that would tighten the narrative and bring it into accepted word length parameters. Then the book will be absolutely awesome!
The author says her dream of becoming a published author has come true. I predict she can go far in her writing career, and I wish her all success in her future writing.”
As you can imagine, I’m pretty pleased with this evaluation. It sucks that I’ll have to do more editing (six years of editing and counting!), but I really do want this book to be the best it can. As my mother says, “This book is your introduction to the world. So you want it to be amazing.” I certainly do, mother, I certainly do.
And now for the “Editorial Rx Referral”
This is the part where they tell you what edits you have to do if you want to be in the “Editor’s Choice” program. More about this in a later post. But basically, this is a rewards program that gets you extra benefits, a nice “Editor’s Choice” logo on your book, and other assorted things from iUniverse. It absolutely does not translate into book sales, although it definitely doesn’t hurt potential sales.
The editor says:
“First the author is encouraged to do some pruning and tightening of the material. Then a Copyedit is recommended to fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Optional: A Developmental Edit would help the author cut and tighten.”
What this basically means is that if I want to be in their Editor’s Choice program, I need to get my book copyedited. I don’t have to do it through iUniverse, but if I get it done somewhere else, I have to pay a $249 resubmission fee, and then if it doesn’t pass the evaluation, I’ll be right back where I started (and considerably poorer).
iUniverse copyediting costs $0.022 per word. For a 100,000 word book, that works out to about $2,000. That’s a lot of money. At the same time, there are evidently punctuation/grammar errors I am making that I didn’t even know about. Because I’m a Canadian trying to write for an American market, there’s the added complication of our different grammar/spelling rules. And they also look at things like internal consistency, cross-checking facts, bringing the book up to standardized style guidelines, etc.
So what now?
Now I cut down the book by 21,307 words. Once I’m done that, I seriously consider whether or not I want to get a Copyedit done. Again, more on that in a later post. But if you have any opinions on any of this right now, please comment and let me know!
On a more musical note …
No Doubt has released a new song! Maybe they did this months ago, I don’t know, but I just found out about it now, so here you go!
Remember that blog tour I mentioned I was taking part in? Well, the day has finally arrived! Today we have with us Tania L Ramos, author of the adult romance/drama Be Still (click here for my review). She’s an extremely talented author who I met over WordPress, and she’s here to share some thoughts with us about how to set realistic, achievable goals.
So here’s what you need to do if you want to be awesome:
1. Read the guest post. I really enjoyed reading it, and I think you will too.
2. Enter the giveaway! Go to Tania’s Facebook pageand find the “Blog Tour with Michelle Proulx, Post Comments Here” post (should be easily spotted). Leave a comment saying that you read this blog post, as well as your email address. Then you will be entered for a chance to win a softcover copy of Be Still! For free! Woo!
3. If so inclined, you can also check out Tania’s website. There’s lots of information there about her, her book, etc. Do it!
And so, without any further ado, Tania’s guest post!
Tania L Ramos, author of Be Still
Hello friends of Michelle Proulx and thank you for following my blog tour. My name is Tania L Ramos, author of two books titled, “When I Thought I Was Tough,” and most currently, “Be Still.” By day I am a registered nurse in a recovery room. By night I punch away at my keyboard and put on my author hat. Currently, I am a marketer, publicist, and social media novice all for my most current book. Most importantly, I am an independent author and that has been the scariest part.
Like so many others, I dreamed of being published and getting paid for what I love to do. Then I discovered that was like saying I wanted to be an award winning actress in Hollywood. Well, I had my fifteen seconds of Hollywood fame when I played (in a non-speaking roll) a paramedic for several episodes of the television show E.R. I was never discovered and, so, I went on into my role of being a real medical professional then chose to start writing during a very bleak period in my life. That bleak period is a whole other story, one of those Hallmark television after-school specials.
With my time off I wrote my first novel. I thought I would have been happy at that, but all that did was spark a great fire for the desire to be an accomplished author. What is accomplished? I had a few goals in mind went I decided to independently publish, “Be Still.”
Goals:
1. Have a professional looking book (accomplished)
2. Have a book signing (accomplished)
3. Reach a rank of less than 1,000,000 on Amazon (accomplished…for a few hours)
4. Have a book party (accomplished)
5. Have a book trailer up (accomplished)
6. Have an author video interview up (accomplished)
7. Do a blog tour (in process of being accomplished)
8. Sell 250 book by August 31,2012 (short about half, but there’s still time)
My guest post today is about having goals and making them realistic. Sure, I would love to be a NY Times Best Seller and have a company pay me to write instead of investing my own money to write, but it takes baby steps. There are many authors out there who started out self-published and eventually won out the big publishing houses, but even those authors would say they had to first pay their dues. Never, or at least rarely, do things come without working at it first.
I have paid over $6,000 into being published. And I do not mind saying that. There are many authors who refuse to reveal numbers, but I’m here to state the truth, so other authors going this route know they aren’t alone. Over $6,000 in publishing and at least another $2,500 in marketing and publicity. I have tried it all. I made a commitment to put any money I make back into marketing or into publishing my next book. I didn’t expect to make a profit, but wouldn’t scoff at it should that happen. I am a relatively unknown author and have prepared myself to pay my dues.
I set goals first off, and placed them on a blackboard in bright shiny colors to see every morning. The list above are just some of my goals, there are many more: send out a press release, create a Facebook fan page, start using Twitter, etc. Every day I set out to complete one task and called it an accomplishment. I celebrated every minor milestone such as hugging the woman who had no clue who I was but bought my book at the mall anyways. What was all the hubbub? Someone who didn’t know me from Eve bought a book! To me that was a major ordeal. When I sold my first ten books I shouted for joy and posted it to every social media outlet I could. Again, it wasn’t the 250 by August, but it was a milestone on my way to the bigger picture. I celebrate everything so nothing too small can ever be a disappointment.
A few weeks ago I did a book signing at High Desert Oasis Used bookstore’s grand re-opening event. I sold one book. Just one. I called it a bonus day. You know why? The guy who bought my book met me at the mall the week before and promised he would show up to the bookstore for my signing event. And he did. That was one of the most special books I have sold yet. And still, I only sold one book that day. It wasn’t so much the sale as knowing he came back to see me because he was very curious about the book. Milestones.
This blog tour has been such a huge ordeal for me. I didn’t know many people before writing my book. In fact, I could name all my friends on one hand. I’m socially awkward and a great savant at being perpetually recluse. Thusly, I write. So creating a book tour took so much time and emotional energy. I had to start networking, start putting myself and my emotions out there, and start speaking up. Some of you may empathize.
I was turned down by five people whom I invited to join my blog tour. I was psychologically devastated and emotionally mortified. But in between all those rejections were acceptance replies. I told myself I would do the tour even if just one person accepted. Just one. I had five people accept. Instead of wallowing in devastation I celebrated my accomplishment. FIVE PEOPLE ACCEPTED.
Not only am I hitting milestones and accomplishing goals, but I’m changing who I am. I can talk to people about my book. And conversely people are asking me questions. I have joined clubs and volunteered to do speaking events. People are contacting me now. But everyday, I still create and reach for goals. Today I am coming to you from Las Vegas, Nevada where I am working on another goal: research, video and photos of the Extraterrestrial Highway for my next book (based on aliens for young adults). There is always a goal…
I feel like a superstar and so should you in every minor and major accomplishment. Hug the lady who buys your book and has no clue who you are. Let them know they are superstars in your world. Rejoice in the person who remembers who you are and comes back. Be delighted if only one person accepts your request to host a blog tour, but jump to the sky if you get five. Take a picture of the moment you sell ten books, twenty-five, fifty and finally hit your goal. Never, never, never look at a goal as missed but look at it as an extended journey. Books are forever. It may take twenty years to hit a goal, but don’t forget to shout out loud on the day you hit that mark. Never lose sight of your dream, because nobody else can dream it for you. And when you reach that goal, after the celebration, make a new one. And if you can’t be among the stars…write about them.
The title of this post might have clued you in to the fact that today’s topic has nothing to do with writing, or self-publishing, or any of that good stuff. Instead, I will share with you a super-cool new technology I found out about, as well as several pictures of Godfrey Gao (aka the super hot actor cast as Magnus Bane in the upcoming City of Bones movie). Oh, and at the end, I will reveal undeniable (read: ridiculous) proof that God exists.
To begin: 3D Food Printers? Really?
First off, I will direct you to this website. What you will find there is a series of machines which are essentially food printers. I didn’t know such a thing was possible, at least, not outside of sci-fi movies. Clearly I was wrong.
Digital Chocolatier Prototype
The Digital Chocolatier is a prototype for a machine that allows users to quickly design, assemble and taste different chocolate candies. This machine is composed of three primary elements: a carousel of ingredients, a thermoelectric deposition cup and a user interface. Through a graphical user interface, users can select and combine the ingredients housed in the different carousel containers to create customized candies. The carousel rotates to extrude these ingredients into the thermoelectric cup that rapidly cools and hardens the chocolate, making it ready for consumption. The interface also makes it possible to save and rate favorite recipes for later use.
That’s … insanely awesome.
Yes, yes it is. And here’s an example of what it can make:
Mouth … watering …
They also have a few machines that can make actual meals. I would feel safe buying the Chocolatier, because you can’t really go wrong with chocolate, but once you start printing out lasagna, I just don’t know how good it could realistically taste. And I wonder how they’d get the texture right, if they’re squirting the ingredients out of tubes?
Still, interesting food for thought.
Hot guy time
If you haven’t read Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, and you have any interest in YA fiction, you should definitely check it out. It’s a fantastic read, and there are currently 4 sequels and 2 prequels, so the fun never ends. Except when you run out of books, and then the fun does end.
Anyway, one of the characters in the book is Magnus Bane — aka the High Warlock of Brooklyn. He is possibly the coolest character in the book, and he now has an actor portraying him live on the silver screen: Godfrey Gao.
Here’s another one:
He seems to have some trouble smiling. There’s got to be a smiling picture somewhere … aha! Victory.
I think I’m so enchanted with this gentleman because he’s kind of how I pictured one of the characters in my novel to look (Varrin). Although my mental image of Varrin is constantly shifting, so I might have a completely different opinion in a few months. Regardless, if I could get Godfrey Gao to star in the movie adaptation of my novel, I would probably die of happiness.
You may recall that post I wrote about the “Free Marketing Tips” eBook. Well, today’s post is about the same author, Mark Coker, who started Smashwords and has written yet another eBook about self-publishing that has some very useful information for anyone who has ever, is currently, or will ever self-publish.
The eBook is called “Secrets to eBook publishing success”.Here’s a link to the download page. And it’s totally free, so if that isn’t reason enough to read it, then I don’t know what is!
There’s lots of useful info in there. I’ll share some here so you get the idea (note: these are quotes directly copied from the eBook):
80% of your book’s success will be determined by the quality of your book. The other 20% is distribution, marketing, and luck.
A good author name is simple to remember, and simple to spell. Avoid cutesy spelling, because this can make it difficult for readers to find you.
Think of each book you release as a fish hook in the ocean. When you network them together with simple mentions and hyperlinks at the end, the fish hooks form a net. Each book becomes a subtle yet powerful advertisement for the others. Each gives you the opportunity to reach new readers.
(Giving your eBook away for) free works best if you have a deep backlist or if you write full-length series.
Ebooks are immortal. They never go out of print or lose distribution unless the author or publisher willingly decides to remove a book from distribution. Your sales can start off small then gradually build over time as readers start discovering and enjoying your books.
Your book is your most effective marketing tool. Write a book that touches the reader’s soul and the reader will market your book for you through online word-of-mouth and reviews.
Michelle Proulx - Author 
