Thanks, Franny, for the words of confidence. By the way, all of you are promoting or are about to, Fran's newsletter on promotion is well worth her small $5. fee--not only because one learns so much from it and because she and her subscribers share valuable resources but also because she supports her subscribers in turn. You've got her ear on the forum. Go for it!

Dotsie, your comment on trying for a big publisher is one that most self and subsidy published authors ponder if their books are successful. There are a couple of drawbacks. The author would probably make less money in royalties by going to a traditional-mainstream publisher. Another is the loss of control. The advantage would be that it would find some new avenues of distribution and for authors whose first goal is to BE READ, that is definitely a consideration. There is another advantage and that is an author could learn much from a major publisher IF she were assigned one of their BEST editors; on the other hand, if she weren't she could end up feeling frustrated being advised by someone with fewer editing skills than she has (I've seen this happen with a couple of my writing friends who have taken great pains to hone their craft--MFAs and the like.) It is a dilemma.
Oh, the biggest drawback. They own your book and if they decide to take it out of print, out it goes and the author is back where she started wishing she had kept control of her own book, her own cover, her own promotion....you get the idea. LOL. The only reason my first two literary works are still in print is that I continue to promote them and they still sell. Though certainly not as well as they did at first!

And Robin, yes, I wrote the first section of FRUGAL for writers who haven't pubished yet, or even signed a contract. Everyone will find the ideas in that section useful, but there is a whole lot that can--and should be done--while you are writing your first book. I'm really glad I "got to you" early. You will go into the experience prepared!

Everyone, I am teaching at UCLA this weekend so I may not get back to the forum until Monday. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!

Best,