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The Perks of Being an Artist

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This Review Tho’

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by emilypageart in art, blog, book, dementia, family, Fractured Memories, gratitude, humor, karma, painting, Uncategorized

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Tags

Alzheimer's, Beyonce, book, book campaign, book promotion, book review, Christmas day, dementia, dementia care, Emily Page, Emily Page Art, Emily Page author, FLD, Fractured Memories, frontal lobe dementia, frontotemporal dementia, FTD, Gideon's bible, marketing, Monet, promoting, publish my book, signature

My first order of books arrived today!! So now my living room looks like this:

boxes of books.jpg

As I start to empty the boxes, the cats are becoming ecstatic. They’re convinced it’s Christmas day. So. Many. Boxes. They keep hopping from one to the next.

I’ll be spending the next couple days signing books and preparing to ship out all of the pre-ordered ones. It’s a daunting but exciting task. Especially because I don’t really have a “signature” yet. I mean, I don’t want to sign the way I’d sign a document. My signature on paintings takes too long. So now I have to come up with a new one. Perhaps I should just sign them all with Monet’s signature. That’s legal, right? Think it’d boost my sales? Or maybe I should sign them with Beyonce’s signature – Beyonce the singer, not Beyonce the giant metal chicken (that’s just chicken scratch).

Seriously though. I just got my second review – again from someone I don’t even know. For some reason not knowing them makes me even more giddy because they’re not obligated to say nice things about me. I might have to change my name to Giddy-on. And we can all refer to Fractured Memories as Giddy-on’s Bible. We can put one in every hotel room! Thank you to Book Nation by Jen for a fantastic review. It’s so generous! Click here to read it, then take some time to read some other reviews on her site and maybe find more great books to pick up!

***********************************************************************

Thanks so much for reading my ridiculous thoughts! If you’d like to see my ridiculous thoughts translated into art, visit my website, or follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Know a caregiver, or someone with dementia, or someone who knows someone with dementia, or someone who knows someone who knows someone else who’s a caregiver? Or heck, do you know a person? Well, you should tell them about my book, Fractured Memories: Because Demented People Need Love, Too. Part memoir and part coffee table art book, I recount my family’s heartbreaking and hilarious journey through my father’s dementia. Available to purchase here (this is my favorite way if you live in the U.S.), here or here if you’d rather get the eBook than a print copy, and here (especially if you want a hard cover copy).

book-cover-1

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Fractured Memories: Because Demented People Need Love, Too

02 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by emilypageart in book, family, Fractured Memories, gratitude, humor, Uncategorized

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Alzheimer's, art, book, book about caregiving, book about dementia, caregiver, caregiving, caretaker, dementia, family, FLD, Fractured Memories, frontal lobe dementia, frontotemporal dementia, FTD, humor, marketing, publish my book, self publish, self-publishing

Bear with me (or bare with me, if you’re feeling frisky) for a moment. I realized I should really do a post that doesn’t include me bragging about all the mistakes I’ve made thus far in the self-publishing process and just do a post about the book itself. So here’s the skinny:

I wrote a book.

Now here’s the fatty:

It’s called Fractured Memories: Because Demented People Need Love, Too. Basically, in 2009, my dad was diagnosed at the age of 65 with frontotemporal dementia, a form of dementia that strikes early and progresses more quickly than Alzheimer’s, and for which there is no treatment to slow the progression of the disease. Via art and on this blog, I began documenting my family’s heartbreaking and hilarious experiences.

As a professional artist, I’ve often turned to art as a self-prescribed therapy to help deal with life’s trials. This battle was no different. I utilized the elephant as a symbol for dementia (because an elephant never forgets), and incorporated sheet music into the paintings because my dad had been a musician. Eventually, I created 40 paintings that are included in the book. I began blogging about the range of issues that arose daily as the disease progressed, documenting everything from my own fear of getting dementia, to my dad’s transition to diapers (and the various places he opted to drop his drawers and just “go”), to combatting his compulsions like the need to “clean” the cars with steel wool, to an exploration of how he might have gotten the disease, to finding the right dementia care facility, to the best ways to make him giggle. I approached the disease from the fresh viewpoint of a younger caregiver.

As my readership here grew, so did the suggestions from you awesome people that I turn the blog into a book. After hearing too many horror stories about traditional publishing contracts, I decided to self-publish. I ran a fundraising campaign for my book and presold over 500 copies in less than a month.

My dad was my best friend. He embraced the ridiculous, looked for the good in people, and mentored and helped people whenever he could. Following his diagnosis, when people asked how he was doing, he’d answer, ‘Not bad for a demented guy.’ He looked for the light hiding amidst the pain. He chose to be very open about what he was going through in the hopes that it would help other people cope with their own diagnosis or a loved one’s diagnosis. Writing this book seemed a fitting way to honor that legacy.

I tried not to shy away from the ugly, raw emotion of life with dementia, but I also looked for the laughter where it could be found. Rest assured, you will love my father as much as I do when the book is done, and perhaps gain some insight about how to cope with your own loved one’s dementia or how to support a caregiver.

So now that you’re all frothing at the mouth in sweet, sweet, demented anticipation, here’s where you can get it:

  1. Buy a paperback copy directly from me at http://shop.emilypageart.com/. When you buy it from me, you save a couple bucks and I make more on each book. Win win. And if you tell me you’ve ordered and tell me a terrible joke on any of my posts on the blog after you’ve placed your order, I’ll sign your copy with a terrible joke in return. Win win terrible win.
  2. Buy a hardcover or paperback copy off of Amazon here.
  3. Buy an eBook here or here.

And when you’ve had a chance to read it, and if you like it, please consider leaving a good review on GoodReads or Amazon or the stall door at Starbucks (only on a piece of paper taped to the door, please don’t vandalize). And then make sure your local caregiver and/or dementia support groups know about it. If you read it and don’t like it, please lie.

Hearts and snugglehugs,

Emily

book-cover-1

Floating Elephant says, “Buymebuymebuymebuyme!”

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A Story About Publishing a Story

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by emilypageart in book, dementia, Fractured Memories, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

author Emily Page, Blurb, Blurb.com, book, book campaign, BookFuel, BookFuel.com, Emily Page Art, Fractured Memories, Nick Page, publish my book, publishing mistakes, Publishizer, Publishizer.com, Raleigh artist, Raleigh author, self publish, self-publishing

This is a story about writing and publishing a story. The first thing you should know is that it miiiiight have been a mistake to self-publish, but then again, it might not. I will say that I regret a couple things, and in hopes that I can save other authors some heartache, I’m going to share the mistakes I’ve made (so far, because let’s be honest, I’m going to make more of them).

Thing one that I regret: I opted to run a crowdfunding campaign through Publishizer instead of through Indiegogo or Kickstarter. I went into it not realizing that Publishizer would take a way bigger cut of the money I raised than those other sites do. I also thought that they would be hooking me up with legitimate publishers. Not the case. They just pitch your idea mostly to vanity publishers, who don’t really need to be pitched. Vanity publishers just want to get paid to publish your book. So not really helpful there, and certainly not worth an extra 20% of the money I raised. There were a couple of actual publishers that approached me, and perhaps I should have considered them more, but I’d heard some horror stories of authors making no money because of poorly managed book launches. And I’d done so well with pre-orders, I decided it was worth my time and effort to promote my own work and not rely on someone else. We’ll see how that works out soon.

Thing two that I regret: the publisher I chose. After speaking to several, I went with BookFuel. Bad idea. Right from the start things started to go wrong. They wouldn’t lay out the book the way I had envisioned. Every step took infinitely longer than it should have. I’d complete a step and send it off to my account manager, then wait a few weeks. I’d finally reach out to check on the status and each and every time it would have magically “just come back” from whatever department it had been in. What a coincidence. Every. Single. Time. And the kicker was that, when I received my sample copies (which were both really low quality), they had changed the formatting from the approved manuscript and eliminated the strike-throughs I’d included. So sentences that should have read something like, “He had raised me not to cry, though I was a giant ball of weepiness considerably less skilled at suppressing my tears,” now read, “He had raised me not to cry, though I was a giant ball of weepiness considerably less skilled at suppressing my tears.” When I alerted them to it, they wanted to charge me to fix it. And the blasted thing is still available on Amazon, even though I’ve asked them to take it down.

So yeah, not happy with BookFuel. I’m still in the process of negotiating with them to terminate our agreement, and hopefully that will be resolved soon. But it’s been an expensive lesson.

All of that being said, I found another company to print my book, and so far am pretty happy with them. With Blurb, I’ve had total control over the layout, the print quality is higher, and it costs me less per book when I buy in bulk. The only down side is that the print-on-demand books (i.e., through Amazon), are more expensive than they would have been through BookFuel so I earn less money when people purchase that way.

So now, without further ado, I’m pleased to announce that the book is finally available for purchase!! There are several ways you can buy:

  1. You can buy the paperback directly from me here. This is my most favoritestest way, because I make the most money on each book and you’ll save a few dollars.
  2. You can buy the hardcover and paperback versions on Amazon here. If you want a hardcover, this is currently your only option. Please note that the first version with the formatting errors is likely still going to show, so to get the right one, you’ll be looking for the one that offers the hardcover for $39.95 and the softcover for $29.95.
  3. You can buy the eBook here and here.

Once you’ve had a chance to read it, and if you liked it, pleeeeeease consider leaving a review on Amazon or GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34408526-fractured-memories?from_search=true)or your own blog/social media. And then tell everyone you know!

book-cover-1

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It’s Almost Book Time, Y’All

05 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, dementia, Fractured Memories, painting, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

art, artist, book, book campaign, dementia, dementia care, elephant art, FLD, Fractured Memories, frontal lobe dementia, frontotemporal dementia, FTD, journal, memoir, painting, publish my book

Several people have expressed an interest in purchasing my new book as a holiday gift. It’s part coffee table art book and part memoir, and it’s full of ridiculousness and love. I’ve been pushing the publisher to get it out in time, but they’ve been frustratingly slow with everything and are anticipating a release date in January. So, I’m offering the book for PREORDER on my own website. When you order, I’ll email you a nice little mock-up of the cover for you to print out and put in a card. You can order your copy at http://shop.emilypageart.com/products/fractured-memories.

Book cover 1.jpg

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Publisher Chosen

22 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, culture, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Book Fuel, publish my book, Publishizer, unpublished manuscript

It’s official, everyone!! I have signed with a publisher. Following the campaign on Publishizer, I was offered both traditional publishing deals and self-publishing deals, and after a fair amount of research, I have opted to self-publish. It will mean that I’ll have to do more of the promotional work, but I’ll get to keep all the proceeds instead of getting a tiny little royalty payment. Making this decision has been weighing on me, so I’m thrilled to have finally made a choice and signed. I’m sending off the manuscript tomorrow, then I have to finish up one more painting this week. The publisher estimates that it will take 3-6 months to get it printed and up for sale, so I’ve got time to plan and create a marketing strategy. It’s really scary and really exiting and I might have a heart attack or at least burp-vomit. But either way, one decision has been decisioned (if I say it’s a word, it’s a word – you have to believe me because I’m about to be a published writer). Feel free to send me bourbon.

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Second Place? I’ll Take It

02 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, dementia, Fractured Memories, gratitude, humor, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

publish my book, Publishizer, second place ain't bad, writing contest

So there I was bemoaning my fate as an artist, when life was was busy plotting to remind me that it ain’t all wailing and gnashing of teeth. When I ran the campaign on Publishizer, I did so as part of a “Write-Off” contest – basically, whoever had the most publishers express an interest won. Well, I’m pleased to announce that I got second place, with 11 publishers interested. Not bad for a first time author. Even better news: there was a $1000 prize for second place, so that made up for some of the fees that the site and PayPal took for themselves for hosting my campaign (of course, PayPal will take a chunk out of the $1000, too, but still). Booyah!! I think that’s the first time in my life I’ve said “booyah.” I think I’ll say it again. Booyah! Nope, I went too far. That last one was gratuitous. Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered. You make a girl smile.

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Working on Fractured Memories, Or What the Hell Am I Doing??!!

12 Thursday May 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, death, dementia, Fractured Memories, humor, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

death, Emily Page, Emily Page Art, Fractured Memories, garlic, paint, painter, painting, publish my book, writing a book

Here’s the problem with writing a book: it’s hard.

That is all.

Just kidding – I mean about that being all. I’m not kidding about it being hard. I spent most of Sunday and Monday working on Fractured Memories and have gotten a huge chunk of the first draft finished, but let me tell you, I spent about half of each day bawling my eyes out. Reliving this stuff sucks. It’s been three months since my dad died and for the first  two and a half, I really was pretty damn okay. Then Satch The World’s Greatest Cat died and I crumbled. And pretty much since then, I’ve been the giantest and hottest of messes. So adding writing about my dad into the mix is, like, quadruple hard. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m raw, because this ain’t my first dance with death, but I think I’m definitely medium rare.

I took a break while writing to get a little painting done, which resulted in finishing up the two little garlic paintings I already posted, but I also did a painting of my dad on his death bed to include in the book. ‘Cause, you know, nothing cheers you up while dealing with a death than painting a dead guy. It’s up in my studio drying, and I can’t wait until it’s dry enough to put in my storage room so I can stop looking at it. It’s not the most cheerful of images to walk in on when I go up to work on other stuff, but it may also be forcing me to confront those final mental images I have and, I’m hoping, exorcise them, or at least blunt them.

Here’s the painting:

Final Breath.jpg

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The Book Campaign Is Officially Over

30 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by emilypageart in Fractured Memories, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

book campaign, Emily Page, Fractured Memories, publish my book

The book campaign is officially over! Thank you so so so SO SO SO much to everyone who ordered. We sold 548 copies of the book. Now begins the hard work of actually sitting down to finish the book.Your support will carry me through when it gets tough. So thank you, thank you, and thank you again.

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Last Day of the Book Campaign

30 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by emilypageart in dementia, family, Fractured Memories, gratitude, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

book campaign, Emily Page, Emily Page Art, Fractured Memories, publish my book, Publishizer

Last day for the book campaign! Only 9 hours left. Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered. You’re the light in my life, the butter on my bread, the bourbon in my glass. For anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, I’m taking pre-orders for the book I’m writing about my family’s journey through dementia. It will cover all the hilarious and horrible things we experienced following my dad’s diagnosis, and will include over 35 paintings I’ve done on the subject, as well. You can order your copy for as little as $7. The more orders I get, the more seriously publishers will take me – and this site works directly with publishers, so it’s a big deal that it’s performing well. If an order isn’t in the budget, you can still help by sharing the link on your own social media pages. I need help spreading the word! You can read the full book proposal and place your order athttps://publishizer.com/fractured-memories/.

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Two Urgent Thoughts

26 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, death, dementia, Fractured Memories, humor, kindness, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Emily Page Art, FLD, Fractured Memories, frontal lobe dementia, frontotemporal dementia, FTD, Nick Page, publish my book, Publishizer

First, I urgently need you to know that on Sunday, I saw a bumble bee poop and then wipe its butt with its back legs. I felt horrible that I didn’t have any teeny tiny toity paper to offer it. That has to be so humiliating to have to wipe up with your own legs, or really, anyone else’s legs, either. That’s just awkward.

Second, I urgently need you to know that there are only 5 days left in my book campaign. So if you’ve been thinking, “Oh, I want to order but I have plenty of time and there’s a new cat video I need to watch on youtube,” now is the time to pause the video and watch a cute platypus video instead. And then go here to read my book proposal and pre-order yourself a copy for as little as $7. And then post a link to your own social media pages for anyone else who might be interested. And then have a tall glass of bourbon and resume cat video watching and try to forget what I told you about that bumble bee smearing poop all over its legs.

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Emily Page

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