Posts Tagged With: self-publish

NaNoWriMo Update

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

More than two thirds of the way through November — seems like the perfect time for a NaNoWriMo update!

I’m failing miserably.

First, I started re-writing a fantasy story I’ve been playing around with for the past six years. I got 15k words in, and realized I was writing Star Wars Episode 1 when I should have been writing Episode 4. Dang. Switched over to my original plan — Book 3 of the Imminent Danger series — and got the first two chapters tapped out with relative ease. Then started daydreaming in the shower about the fantasy story, except this time Episode 4 instead of Episode 1. Lost all interest in Imminent Danger Book 3. This morning, was randomly inspired in the shower again and now am eager to get back to work on Imminent Danger Book 3 again.

My muse is wildly unreliable, and she’s driving me nuts. Also, she only seems to come to me in the shower, which means I now shower for about 45 minutes a day. My roommates have learned to take their showers either before me, or an hour after me, otherwise they get no hot water. Sigh.

In related news, my IndieGoGo campaign is still going on, and tragically we’re $50 short of the goal. Nooooooes! So if you’re interested in snatching up a signed copy of the shiny new Imminent Danger, complete with revised text and gorgeous cover art, pop over to the campaign and claim your copy today! The campaign ends around Dec 9, but the sooner we hit the goal, the sooner I can start coming up with awesome stretch goal prizes to give all the awesome people who’ve donated.

How go your NaNoWriMo attempts? Or if you’re boycotting NaNoWriMo, how go your non-NaNoWriMo-writing attempts?

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/zjCCYRR

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Check out a new self-pubbed book! The Tale of the Golden Pirate (by Anthony Renfro)

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

Fellow blogger and self-published author Anthony Renfro has released a new book, and it sounds pretty darn cool! Check out the summary:

An Action-Adventure tale about pirates, ghosts, buried treasure, doomed love affairs, double crosses, drug deals, and creatures made of slime. An eclectic tale combining the world of Jimmy Buffett and Stephen King. Follow Parson’s journey as he is pushed into endless peril, and asked to do things most people are rarely asked to do. Does he get his buried treasure? Does he get that easy life so many of us dream about? The answers lie within the pages.

Here’s the cover:

GOLDENAnd here some links to where you can buy the book!

UK = http://goo.gl/ztF8zB

USA = http://goo.gl/7RzIh7

Australia = http://goo.gl/MzoXnC

Canada = http://goo.gl/kAgZjU

Spain = http://goo.gl/jEyOQr

Germany = http://goo.gl/E5h8qR

France = http://goo.gl/c90oA5

Italy = http://goo.gl/XGuPPa

Mexico = http://goo.gl/R2iO9i

Brazil = http://goo.gl/isj0GG

Japan = http://goo.gl/f0fgIF

India = http://goo.gl/1Vwkgl

 

Phew! Anyway, happy Wednesday everyone, and good luck to everyone neck-deep in NaNoWriMo! Ah yes, and if you’ve ever dreamed of owning a signed copy of my novel, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, click this link and your dream shall be one step closer to coming true! (hint: you want perk #3)

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/dhDpk8u

 

Categories: Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

IndieGoGo Campaign — Day 1 Results

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

It has now officially been one day since the launch of my IndieGoGo campaign to help pay back the cover design costs for my novel, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It. Woo!

Day 1 was awesome, and exceeded all expectations. Thanks to the generous contributions of friends, I’m already at 45% of my funding goal. And a ton of wonderful people have helped share the campaign on their own social networks, so hopefully that percentage will continue to grow. Thank you to everyone who’s helped out so far, and thank you in advance to everyone who is planning on, but has not yet had a chance to, contribute!

An interesting thing I’ve noticed, from browsing assorted book campaigns on crowdfunding sites, is that I set my goal ridiculously low. Most of the projects are looking for several thousand dollars of funding at the very least, with some going up into the tens of thousands. I guess it’s a difference in mindset — I’m trying to pay back the cover design cost, which I’ve already paid for, so at this point literally any funds I can drum up are more than I could have hoped for! Whereas other projects are more along the lines of, “If this campaign succeeds, I will be able to: hire an editor ; upgrade my website ; take off work for a year and write”, etc. This isn’t a commentary on the efficacy of one crowdfunding approach over the other — it’s just interesting to note.

And for everyone wondering about my $500 goal, here’s the reasoning: that’s the lowest goal you can set. If I don’t make the goal, oh well, since I wouldn’t have had a chance of making an even higher goal anyway (thus, no opportunity lost). If I do make the goal, awesome! Cover design paid for, hope renewed that one day I’ll actually be able to start making money off my writing. And if I surpass my goal … well, I’ll get to that if it happens, but basically I’d get to have lots of fun coming up with stretch goal rewards for all my backers, not to mention I could put the extra money toward helping drag my book out of obscurity.

Well, that’s enough rambling from me for today! If you haven’t check out the campaign yet, here’s the link again. And even if donating money isn’t in the cards, please consider donating your time and social media connections by sharing the campaign. I shall not rest until every person on the planet has seen this campaign! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

It’s not the most vocally spectacular parody cover in existence, but the theme is fun and the lyrics made me laugh a couple of times.

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

My IndieGoGo Campaign for Imminent Danger is now LIVE!

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

After two years of struggling with iUniverse, I have broken away and will be re-publishing my YA sci-fi novel, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, with a shiny new cover. As if that’s not exciting enough, I’m also running an IndieGoGo campaign! It will be running from today until December 9th (i.e., 30 days), and if all goes well I’ll be able to start shipping some of the perks out in time for Christmas.

The purpose of the campaign is threefold:

  1. To raise funds to pay back the costs of the cover design.
  2. To increase awareness and visibility of my book. (It’s hard to buy a book if you don’t know it exists!)
  3. To provide awesome Imminent Danger themed swag for all you wonderful people.

The perks you can buy include, but are not limited to:

  • A copy of the eBook
  • A signed copy of the print book
  • Assorted flat swag that can fit into an envelope
  • Assorted 3D swag that can fit into a box (including an 8-bit Imminent Danger-themed coaster!)
  • A chance to get your name into the Acknowledgements section
  • A chance to name a character in a future sequel

Now comes the part where you take action! If you’ve got a few dollars to spare, please hop over to the campaign page, pick your favorite perk, and snatch ‘er up!

And I’m also hoping everyone who sees this post will be able to take a few minutes to share the campaign with friends/family. Re-blog this post, put the link up on Facebook or Twitter, etc. Thank you so much in advance for your help, and stay awesome!

Totally related media:

Here’s my campaign vlog again, in case you missed it yesterday:

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

My IndieGoGo Campaign Starts Tomorrow! Get Psyched!

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

I’ve been talking about it for weeks. And it’s finally happening! Tomorrow I launch my IndieGoGo campaign for Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It. Woo!

Obviously I’ll put up a post tomorrow with all the details — how long the campaign will run, what perks are up for grabs, how you can help spread the word, etc. But for tonight, I’ll leave you with this promo video I recorded to grace the campaign page:

Get psyched for tomorrow!

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/LwPeG

Categories: Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

It’s official! I’ve cancelled my iUniverse contract!

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

Ladies and gentlemen, the day I’ve been babbling on and on about for the past year has finally arrived. That’s right — not four hours ago, I officially sent in my cancellation form to iUniverse. Once they process it, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It will officially be a free agent!

Woooooooooooo!

Okay, I might be a bit excited. And terrified. But mostly excited.

So, what’s next? Well, it will take iUniverse a few days to take the book down off their website. Then they have to send out the message to Amazon, B&N, Chapters, etc. It will take them 30-45 business days to take down the book. And once the book is officially down from all those sites, I can put the new version up on Amazon/KDP!

In the meantime, I get to play around with something that I think’s going to be a lot of fun for everyone involved — my IndieGoGo campaign. I’ve mostly got it set up — basically, I’m trying to raise a few hundred dollars to repay the costs of the new cover design. And then the prizes range from eBook copies of Imminent Danger to cover art cards to bookmarks to print copies with the new cover (my personal favorite), and then lots more fun stuff.

I’m hoping to start up the campaign in the next week or so (gasp!), so keep an eye out for that. And until then, live long, prosper, celebrate my emancipation from iUniverse, and enjoy the unrelated media!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: iUniverse, My Works, Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Imminent Danger Re-Publish — Cover Reveal Coming Soon!

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

Now that I finally have a publishing plan, it’s time to reveal the new cover art for Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It!

No, that’s not happening today.

It is, however, happening soon — November 1st, to be exact. I’ve already sent out a mass email to people asking if they’d care to participate in this event, so if you didn’t get that email and now you’re horribly offended that I didn’t contact you, I’m so sorry! If you do want to help out and aren’t too steamed at me, pop me off a comment below and I’ll email you all the relevant info.

To go along with the cover reveal, I’ll of course be holding a contest (of course!). So stop by my blog on Nov 1st and check out the pretty new cover art, along with the giveaway (Oh, and I haven’t decided on the prize yet, so if you have any ideas let me know!).

That is all.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/YUT9L89

 

Categories: My Works | Tags: , , , , , | 11 Comments

My Winter 2014 Publishing Game Plan

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

This is a big one, folks, so prepare yourselves!

After a great deal of research and herbal tea, I have roughly mapped out my publishing plans for the next few months. I haven’t worked out timelines yet, but I do have the steps more or less in order, so I thought I’d share them here. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts/opinions, as you in all likelihood know something I don’t. Thus, without further ado …

My Winter 2014 (and possibly Spring 2015) Publishing Game Plan

  1. Cover reveals for Imminent Danger and Chasing Nonconformity. As you may know, I’m going to split (at some point) from iUniverse and re-publish Imminent Danger via KDP and Createspace. The sequel is getting into the latter stages of editing now, and both books have beautiful new covers, so I’ll be hoping to get you lovely people to help me out with cover reveals in the next month or two.
  2. IndieGoGo Campaign. Okay, this is the big one that I’m really excited about. After that potato salad Kickstarter went viral, I thought to myself, “Self, you can totally run a crowdfunder for your book. It may fail miserably, but you can sure as heck try!” So sometime in the next few months (currently looking at ~December) I’m going to run a crowdfunder for Imminent Danger/Chasing Nonconformity! The concept is pretty simple — you donate a certain amount (to help me pay back the cover designer and assorted publishing-related expenses) and then in return you can choose from a whole bunch of perks. There will be the obvious ones, like eBook copies and signed print copies, but then there will also be some fun stuff (I’m thinking a swag bag with assorted Imminent Danger themed goodies). So if anyone’s run a crowdfunder before and has any tips, please share them!
  3. Re-publish Imminent Danger. Once the campaign’s over, time to re-publish Imminent Danger with its pretty new cover! I’ve also made some minor edits to the book (nothing massive structurally-speaking, just little tweaks to improve the flow of the book), so it might be worth checking out. (wink wink) Also, I’m planning for the IndieGoGo campaign that you automatically get an eBook copy of the new Imminent Danger regardless of how much you donate, so that should be an easy enough way to update your virtual library.
  4. Publish Chasing Nonconformity. No timeline yet on this, as the book’s still being edited, but we’re looking at Spring 2015 at the moment. Once the sequel gets published, I can obviously start sending out all the Chasing Nonconformity-related swag from the IndieGoGo campaign.
  5. Write the third book, tentatively titled Cerulean Bound. Spoiler alert!!! I’ve got the plot mostly worked out (well, the start and the end, at least, lol), so now it’s a matter of writing the darn thing. The first book took me 7 years from start to finish, and the second’s going to take 5, so hopefully we can cut this one down to a year or two.

That’s the plan! Questions and comments welcome and encouraged. Have a wonderful week!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/J6vwIhD

Categories: My Works | Tags: , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

Chasing Nonconformity Back Cover Blurb – Help!

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

Happy Saturday, everyone! As edits are progressing well with Chasing Nonconformity (Imminent Danger #2), I thought it high time to share the back cover blurb with you!

The story is set but the blurb isn’t, so if you have any suggestions for how to improve it, please by all means comment! Actually, that’s exactly why I’m sharing this today, so please let me know what you think. Heck, if you want to re-write it entirely, that’s “totes” cool with me.

Without further ado …

Chasing Nonconformity

(Imminent Danger #2)

Back cover blurb

Still recovering from the shock of accidentally marrying an exiled alien prince named
Varrin, and from almost getting her head blown off by a six-armed lizard man with anger
management issues, seventeen-year-old Eris Miller is ready for a vacation. But Varrin is
desperate to rescue his beloved spaceship, the Nonconformity, from the clutches of the
galactic government, so her vacation will just have to wait.

While Eris and Varrin chase after the stolen ship, they are unaware that trouble is
brewing on the other side of the galaxy. The villainous Emperor of Rakor has assembled
an unlikely team to hunt down and capture Varrin: Prince Trystan (Varrin’s younger
brother), Sebara (Trystan’s electro-scimitar-wielding bodyguard), and Fino’jin
(commander of the deadly Skin Slicers).

With enemies closing in, time running out, and the Nonconformity slipping further and
further from their grasp, Eris is forced to ask herself … what is she willing to sacrifice to
ensure her happily ever after?

 

There we have it! Comment, comment, comment, and my thanks in advance for any and all help provided.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

John Oliver tears into the Miss America pageant and it’s hilarious.

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Hip Hurrah for Editing!

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Michelle Proulx

That was a misleading title. I hate editing. It takes forever and it’s tedious and when you have to cut chunks of text it’s soul-crushing. That being said, it’s necessary, and it’s currently the next step I have to take if I ever want to publish Chasing Nonconformity. Thus, I edit!

I’ve been putting it off for several months now, and sometime last week I just got tired of seeing the manuscript sitting on my bedside table. I think my sudden burst of excitement for editing has come about partially because I’ve been playing around with formatting the interior for Imminent Danger. As you may or may not know, I intend to re-publish Imminent Danger in the near future via Amazon KDP (and Createspace), so I’m starting to look into exactly how I’ll go about doing that.

The key to editing for me, I think, is that I just need to get into the writing mood. It doesn’t matter how I get there, but once I’m in, I can force myself to direct my energy toward whichever project needs attention — in this case, Chasing Nonconformity.

As of today, I have finished addressing my editor’s notes on the latest draft. I am now preparing myself to go through the manuscript again, with the intent of ironing out inconsistencies and attempting to cut the manuscript down to size. It’s currently sitting at around 115k words, which is much too long. As you may remember, however, Imminent Danger was once at 120k words, and I got it down to 94k, so I’m cautiously hopefully I can repeat that feat here.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or encouragement for me as I delve back into editing my magnum opus (ha!), please share them with me in the comments below.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/sKolg05

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , | 33 Comments

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