I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning, as I do every morning. Today they had a story about the difficulties publishers are facing with marketing their books, and they shared some techniques for getting "buzz" started. Naturally, the two things these tips revolved around are the two things I just don't have and cannot generate: word of mouth and a print run with galleys to be shipped to book sellers, reviewers, and book clubs.

I was feeling pretty copacetic about the whole Irish Horse fiasco, even with the sorry state of the bank account, but now? Now I'm feeling like this has all been a huge waste of time and energy.

Every time I speak to someone who might be interested in reading the book, they're all enthusiastic about it until I mention that it's only in electronic form. I could probably sell some copies if I had them in actual physical print. The drawback? Money. This is me, without the thousands it would take to fund a print run. Furthermore, this is me, without the potential to obtain the thousands of dollars it would take - my day job doesn't pay that well (especially while I'm paying off two surgeries and a week in ICU), and the thought of obtaining a loan in this economy is ludicrous.

I'm feeling pretty discourged this morning.