Awesome collection of little tricks to save you time and money. Not book related, but life related, and books are based on life, soooo … still counts as on-topic?
Random
My business cards have arrived! Time to throw them at people!
So Vistaprint recently ran a promotion where you could buy 250 business cards for $10, with free shipping. Score! I immediately broke out my mad graphic design skillz, chose a cool space template, and went nuts.
The result:
Ain’t it purdy? Of course, that’s just the online preview of what the card looks like. Since the cards are so cheap, I was worried that they would have flimsy paper or poor print quality. Not so!
The result:
That’s one of the printed cards. It looks yellow due to the appalling lighting, but in normal lighting it looks pretty much identical to the online preview. It’s shiny, the cardstock is decently thick, and it’s so pretty! Squeeeeee!
Now I just have to figure out what to do with them.
Here’s my question for you guys: do I start spreading the word of my upcoming book right now via business cards, or do I wait until the book is actually published?
Option #1: DO IT NOW!
Various experts claim that marketing for your book should begin 3-6 months before the book is released. That being said, I think it’s kind of silly to hand someone a card, say “Buy my book!”, and then when they ask where they can buy it, I say, “Well, it hasn’t actually been published yet, so just hang onto that card and check back in three months.”
I know if some unknown author pulled that on me, I would probably lose their card within the week. Not on purpose, obviously, but because I lose track of everything I possess, especially little pieces of paper advertising a book with an unknown release date.
Option #2: WAIT, YOU SILLY GIRL!
The other option, obviously, is to save my cards for when the book actually comes out. That way I can actually say “Buy my book today!” when I hand out cards. I think that would be pretty darn cool.
My polling mood is still going strong from yesterday, so here’s another poll:
Unrelated media of the day:
Categories: Random, Self Publishing
Tags: book promotion, books, bruce lee, Business card, marketing, ping pong, platypus, self-publish
28 Comments
Yes, I’m still alive (more or less) + Copy-Edit news!
You may have noticed that I’ve been suspiciously absent from WordPress for the last fortnight. You may not have noticed. Either way, I’m back, and I’m psyched to be here. Specifically, I’m psyched not to be sitting in a freezing cold office highlighting endless paperwork. Anyhoo …
I spent the last three hours trying to catch up on all the blog posts I’ve missed over the last two weeks. Do you people have any idea how much you write? Good grief. I had to restrict myself to reading 1 out of every 6 posts, or I would still be scrolling through my Blogs I Follow list tomorrow morning. So if I missed a major update in anyone’s life due to my extreme skippery, I apologize.
My temp job is officially over, and I have about $1600 and no life to show for it. Still, an interesting experience was had, and I extracted several promises from my co-workers that they would buy my book when it comes out. So … call it a win?
Speaking of my book … nah, just messing with you. The Michelle Proulx Official Life Update isn’t over yet. Patience, my young padawans.
This month I also moved apartments, which I think I may have mentioned, and we’re officially settled into our new place. It’s smaller and cheaper than the last place, but the location is way better (right beside the mall), plus the heating is centrally controlled, so my mother can’t turn down the heat whenever she gets too hot. Muahahahahahaha.
Okay, now we’re actually going to speak about my book. The major news is that I got my Copy-Edit back! As I expected, the edits are all minor things — commas moved around, dashes added, etc. The editor seems to have some sort of weird addiction to semicolons, because he’s added about a dozen. Interesting. Right now I’m going through the edited manuscript — basically re-reading the book – to make sure the editor didn’t do anything crazy. He seems fairly sane thus far (Chapter 18, baby!), so I have high hopes.
Once I finish my review, the manuscript goes back to the editorial folks at iUniverse, and the design process begins. Woo! I’m really excited. I sent them cover design ideas a few weeks ago, but I haven’t heard anything back yet, so I have no idea what the design team has done with them. Hopefully something epic.
I really need to get dressed and unpack/review my book, so I think that’s all for now. I have great plans to make another vlog episode, which may or may not succeed depending on how my showering/unpacking/book reviewing goes.
Hope you’ve all had a great two weeks, and I look forward to reading about your lives/accomplishments on a more regular basis.
Oh yeah, and before I forget — I gave up on NaNo. No time + no energy + packing/moving/job/other job/copy-edit review = no NaNo. Le sigh.
Unrelated media of the day:
What if Aladdin always looked like that?
Hehehe. And here’s another ridiculous K-Pop video to brighten your day:
Re-Blog: “Write on”
Check out this beautiful post by Just a Thought …
NaNoWriMo — Day 7 Check In
My temp job continues, netting me sweet, sweet cash, and further inhibiting my ability to meet my NaNo word count. When last we chatted, I was 483 words into NaNo. Now, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been a busy little beaver these last few days, and I have officially brought my word count up to … wait for it … drum roll …
5,455 words
Woo!!! Broke the 5k mark! PARTAY!
Okay, to be perfectly honest, that’s actually a pretty pathetic word count. You’re supposed to finish 1667 words a day, so by Day 7 I should be at 11,669 words. I’m a little short. And by a little, I mean I need to double my word count. I might have to cancel my partay …
However, I’m not letting that stop me. I WILL PREVAIL! It won’t be easy, however, because my boss has projected that he’ll need me to keep temping well into next week, and possibly longer, as the job is much bigger than they thought and we’re nowhere near done. So, yay for my bank account, and boo for my story. Oh, and we’re also moving apartments on the 17th, so there goes most of the weekend. But still, I WILL PREVAIL! If I say it enough times, it’ll come true, right? RIGHT?
Unrelated images of the day:
His mother must be so proud.
Source: http://i.imgur.com/eH0VP.jpg
((NOTE: Click on the image below to see a larger version))
Unrelated video of the day:
My Tacyon Halloween + NaNo Update
I don’t understand science, so bear with me. Basically, tacyons move backwards through time. So when my brother Jesse (you might remember him from Vlog #2) heard that we were having our Halloween party after Halloween, he decided that we were having a Tacyon Halloween. Does the title make sense now? No? Welcome to my world.
Anyway, I thought I’d share some photos from our party, mostly because I’m super happy with my costume (German bar wench) and wanted to share them with you. Scroll past the photos for an update on my horrendous attempts at NaNoWriMo thus far.
Pumpkin ale and cupcakes.
Mother and brother.
Me, with my friend apparently trying to behead me.
Me trying to behead my friend.
NaNoWriMo Update:
So we’re 3 days into NaNo, and it’s going just plain awful. I am 483 words in, and I shouldn’t even be that far because I need to do actual work for my real job and instead I’m writing — and writing slowly, at that. Le sigh.
Unrelated media of the day:
Happy Halloween!
I have seven minutes to write this post before I have to go watch Greek and then sleep, so we’ll keep this quick.
#1: 9-5 work is HARD
Oh. My. God. I am so tired, I cannot even describe how much I want to just fall over at my keyboard. I am not a morning person, and I do not function well without 8 hours of sleep. Ack.
Kudos to everyone out there who does 9-5 on a regular basis. I don’t think I would survive. That being said, I did manage such hours from grades 1-12, so I suppose I would survive after all. And now I’m not making any sense. SEE? SLEEP DEPRIVATION!
#2: Star Wars bought by Disney?
Many people are furious about this. I, personally, think it has great potential. Yes, Disney tends to make things a little more kid-friendly than one would hope — but only sometimes. They did amazingly with The Avengers, the first Pirates of the Caribbean was phenomenal, etc. If they get the right people heading Star Wars VII, it could revitalize the franchise. So yeah, I’m excited.
#3: Sandy
Up here in Ontario we managed to mostly avoid the storm (save for Toronto), which I’m super thankful for. The worst we got hit with where I live was a severe wind warning. It appears living in the frozen north has its advantages.
#4: Out of time
That’s all she wrote, folks. Just thought I should check in and … okay, I’m so tired I forgot why I wanted to write this post in the first place.
Oh yes!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Unrelated media of the day:
Not taking sides in the upcoming election, just sharing a funny video. Please don’t start a political debate in the comments!
Thanks to storiesbywilliams for introducing me to this video.
Categories: Random
Tags: disney, Lucasfilm, sandy, sleepy, star wars, Star Wars sequel trilogy, storm, The Walt Disney Company, work, writing
11 Comments
RE-BLOG — 2 Days to NaNo: Are Your Characters Worth Spending A Story With?
Great blog post from Ink Out Loud, with fun quizzes you can do to make sure your characters aren’t suffering from Mary Sue-itis:
2 Days to NaNo: Are Your Characters Worth Spending A Story With?
Help out a fellow blogger + update on my book!
My friend Matthew Cook contacted me this morning with what he termed a “huge favour”. Now, I’m inclined to give this gentleman whatever he wants, because he is one of my best beta readers/editors/copy-editors/proof-readers. Not to mention he’s just a genuinely good guy. Plus, we used to play D&D in high school, so we go way back to the days of trolls and imps and THAC0 (major cool points if you got that reference).
Anyway, he’s still in university, and he’s taking a journalism course that requires him to make a blog and acquire followers. In a strange twist of academics, his grade depends not on the contents or quality of his blog, but on how many followers he acquires. Weird, right? Anyway, here’s the situation in his words:
Hi, my name’s Matt! I’m a journalism student developing a blog about cartoons – webcomics, political cartoons, and daily comic strips. I also have my own cartoons posted, about whatever seems funny to me at the time. My blog is a part of a big journalism project and I need to get more followers if I want a good grade. So if you’re interested in cartoons, come visit the site and comment if you have the time; either positive or negative comments help (the negative comments let me know what I’m doing wrong!)
Here’s a sample of his cartoons:
I figure we bloggers must stick together, and Matt’s grade depends on how many followers he can get, so let’s give him a hand, shall we? Here’s a link to his blog.
Update on my novel:
So I got my Return Evaluation back. Surprise surprise, they recommended a Copy-Edit. Siiiiiiiigh. Well, at least it’s an appropriate length now. So there’s that.
My plans to chat with my Editorial Consultant about booking the Copy-Edit have thus far failed, in that I emailed her and she hasn’t responded. And now I’m working 9-5 (at least, for the next few weeks), which also happen to be her office hours, so hopefully she’ll be flexible about setting up a meeting with me. Once I actually get into contact with her, I will hypothetically purchase a Copy-Edit, get that done in a few weeks, and then FINALLY get the darn thing published.
It’s going to happen. I swear.
Unrelated gif of the day:
Unrelated video of the day:
Background info: A professional voice actor reads aloud the review a young man made about an online game. Hilarity ensues.
Note: Funny begins around 0:35.
Categories: Random, Self Publishing
Tags: author, blogging, blogs, books, Cartoon, copyediting, dnd, imminent danger, Jeremy, Journalism, Matthew Cook, self-publish, writing
30 Comments
Blogging is hard …
I have literally spent the last hour sitting at my keyboard, attempting to write this post. Each time I get halfway through a post, I decide it’s stupid and then delete it and start over. Sigh.
Since I apparently have nothing intelligent to say, I suppose I’ll settle for giving a brief life update. You can barely contain your excitement, can’t you? CAN’T YOU?
So I got a call from Manpower (the temp agency) yesterday, and today I started a new job at a major Canadian bank, the name of which I cannot disclose on pain of a death most gruesome. It’s a 2-3 week gig, depending on how fast we get the project done, and (again, not going into details) basically involves data entry. But the challenging kind, where you need to actually pay attention to what you’re doing, solve problems, try to suss out what the scribbled writing and blank mandatory fields are trying to tell you, etc.
It’s at a bank, so I have to wear nice clothing. I’ve spent the last eight months or so wearing sweat pants (They’re comfy! Don’t judge!), so this was a new and exciting step for me. Needless to say, I felt very fancy today.
In non-work related news, my mother recently had her friend from Florida over to visit for the weekend, so I was booted from my room and took up residence on the couch. That was … fun?
I’m still waiting for my Return Evaluation to come back for Imminent Danger. It’s been about 9 business days now, and I’m getting kind of impatient. And by impatient, I mean obsessively checking my email, even at times of the day when it is completely unreasonable for someone to be contacting me. I really want to see my evaluation, if only to learn whether or not I have to fork over two grand for a copy-edit.
This concludes my rambling. It is 10:30 now, and I must go prepare for bed if I want to have time to watch Glee before I go to bed. Yes, I watch Glee. I’m a girl. It’s allowed.
Update: I spent too much time finding videos to share with you. It is now 11 pm. No Glee for me.
Unrelated media of the day:
Jeggings are silly. Enjoy.
Female warriors’ outfits in video games are also silly. Enjoy.
And, finally, some sports fails to round out the hilarity.
Categories: Random
Tags: books, college humor, data entry, funny, glee, imminent danger, self-publish, temping, writing, yolo
15 Comments
Read me!
Sequel out now!
Michelle Proulx - Author 