It's Not Like Making a Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Sandwich But It's Not Rocket Science, Either, or: How I Did My POD (And You Can, Too)

Just in the past month I've had so many of my writer friends and historians ask me how I made my print-on-demand (POD) paperback books,

METAPHYSICAL ODYSSEY INTO THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION

Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual

and the superb Spanish translation by Mexican poet and novelist Agustín Cadena, USA edition,

ODISEA METAFISICA HACIA LA REVOLUCION MEXICANA

Francisco I. Madero y su libro secreto, Manual espírita
-- the latter goes live in just a couple of days--

and knowing that many of you, dear readers, are writers, many with the same concerns about publishing, I post my answer herewith.

Now, I don't pretend to be the expert. That said, it's important to keep in mind that major innovations in digital publishing and also in book distribution and fulfillment are so recent, and a-morphing by the moment, that even the experts-- those who've set up web pages and offer to consult or even undertake to do it for you-- may not know that much more than what you can figure out for yourself. Or they may. Caveat emptor. And just try to keep your seatbelt on and your eyes uncrossed.

(I won't get into the pros and cons of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, whether with a commercial, small or university press; that's another blog post for another time-- and on that subject, see some of the links for further reading below. I am what is now termed a "hybrid author," one with books published by traditional presses-- in my case, University of Georgia Press, University of Utah Press, Milkweed Editions, Planeta and Random House-Mondadori, among others-- and one or more books self-published.)

Screenshot alert! Yes, you can buy my
book from Politics & Prose in Washington DC
--and about a zillion other bookstores'
websites. Yay!

WHY POD (PRINT-ON-DEMAND)? (OR DID YOU HAVE ROOM IN YOUR BASEMENT FOR AN ELEPHANT IN A COMA?)
Certainly, you could self-publish your book the old-fashioned way, that is, with offset printing, in which case you would call and email around to printers and get a few estimates… which is a little bamboozling, but Dan Poynter's excellent book explains all about that. If you go this route, probably, if your printer is a good one, the book will turn out looking nicer than a POD and you'll also be allowed a far wider selection of papers, sizing and bindings. 

But with offset printing, the problem is, well, then what will you do with all the books? 

Because with offset printing, the per unit cost of a book is a function of the print run-- and any size print run has to cover the cost of just getting the machines up and running and fed with your specially ordered sheets of paper-- so, to make it worthwhile, you'll probably want to do a print run of at least 1,000-2,000 books. 

Shipping all those books will cost you more than a chunk of change, and all those boxes of books, like an elephant in a coma, will swallow up a heap of space in your basement (unless you want to help your chiropractor buy his weekend house, don't even try to lift them up to the attic). 

And then, how did you plan to distribute the books and fulfill orders? Assuming you have all the time in your life and the iron-clad personality to play salesman. Uyy.

If you go POD, while the per unit cost of printing the book is probably going to be substantially higher, the quality not as good (but pretty good; most readers won't notice the difference), it will be far less expensive for you upfront because you can print only, say, one copy. Or twenty-five. Or 57. Or whatever number you want at the moment, and shipped to wherever you please. Nor will you have to worry about storing them, nor worry about distribution and fulfillment-- if, that is, you use a POD printer that also offers distribution and fullfilment such as amazon.com's CreateSpace. 

Plus, since POD is digital, you can easily make corrections. As anyone who has published a book knows, no matter how many times and how many people proofread it, there will be typos. And sometimes, toe-curlingly embarrassing ones. (I'll admit to having updated my PDF several times already, and my book hasn't even been out a year…)

There are many other POD printers, but as of this writing-- September 2014-- hands down, amazon's CreateSpace is your best option. There are several factors to consider, such as cost, customer service, quality, color options, and you can compare and contrast with other POD printers and sellers on a spread sheet… (as did Neal Guillen in his excellent presentation for last years' "Publish Now!" seminar at the Writer's Center), but I am confident you'll come to the same conclusion I did that, all in all, as of 2014, CreateSpace wins.

AS OF 2014
I repeat, "as of 2014." Everything is changing so fast; I have no idea what this landscape will look like it 2015, never mind 2020. (Maybe there will be some kind of quantum nanobot printing, so we can dream our book and wake up to find it waiting for us there by our plate of eggs and bacon. Or, maybe Jeff Bezos will have been beamed up to one of the moons of Jupiter, and we'll all be trying to figure out how to oil a letterpress.)


WHY CREATESPACE?
Key thing to know: CreateSpace is owned by amazon.com. Once you've uploaded your book, at the click of a button, you can list it for sale on both the CreateSpace.com store and amazon.com-- right alongside, say, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, or whatever might be best-seller du jour. If someone buys it, whether in the Create Space store or on amazon.com, amazon will print it and amazon will collect the money from the customer, ship it to the buyer, and then deposit your share of the proceeds (which, by the way, is a far better percentage than the typical royalties you would get from a publisher) directly into your bank account. Oh, and you can buy copies of your own book at a discount better than most traditional publishers offer their authors.

Is that easy, or what? So why waste your time? 
> START HERE.


WAIT! DON'T I HAVE TO HAVE AN ISBN? 
(HOW DO I GET ONE?)

Yes, you do need an ISBN, your book's identifier. You have two choices: get it from CreateSpace, in which case your book will appear with the CreateSpace imprint, or get it yourself from Bowker, in which case it will show your own imprint (mine is Dancing Chiva). If you go the latter route, you will also need to buy a bar code (pictured left), also from Bowker. Just keep your credit card handy and follow the instructions on their website.

AND THEN HOW DO I PREPARE MY BOOK TO UPLOAD IT TO CREATESPACE?
Once you've visited that how-page on CreateSpace, you will see that you have the option of delivering a formatted PDF of a file made in Adobe InDesign or paying them a few hundred dollars (very reasonable for this work, by the way) to do that for you.

I went and did something a little bit complicated: I rented the Adobe In-Design software, confident that I could format my book myself, since I had been able to format my magazine and chapbooks in ye olde now defunct Adobe PageMaker. I was much too optimistic, alas; Adobe In-Design is a bit like riding a unicycle for a couple of miles. It can be done! But it's not like making a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich! 

Screenshot of the opening of my book's first chapter in Adobe InDesign.

If you zoom in closer on that dashboard, you might get really scared.

It does look a little Apollo 13-y.

So I hired a graphic designer, a very good one named Rose Q., whom I found on www.elance.com. (Is that a typical experience on www.elance.com or was I lucky? I suspect the latter but I do not have enough experience to say.) I already knew precisely how I wanted the book to look (more about book design here), so she basically followed my instructions, formatted it in Adobe InDesign, and sent me the Adobe InDesign file and a PDF, and then I went to CreateSpace and uploaded the PDF. All in all, I was very happy with this path. I can say what CreateSpace charges for book formatting is more than fair (I suspect they outsource to India), though how the quality of the formatting is I do not know. (But I still wanted to learn how to use Adobe InDesign myself, so for another two books, not discussed here, I hired a tutor from www.wyzant.com with whom I work via Skype. Am I from Palo Alto, or what.)

(WHOA. I'M ON THE SHADY SIDE OF 50. 
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU "UPLOADED" THE PDF?)
I logged into CreateSpace, and when they prompted me to select a file to open, I clicked "browse," and a little window opened up wherein I could scroll down to find, in my own computer, the .PDF file. I clicked on that. Then I clicked on the button that said "upload." Peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich. 

AND THEN HOW DO I MAKE THE COVER?
You can use a template provided by CreateSpace, though in my opinion those look a little well, Createspace-esque. You could also hire a professional graphic designer, which will cost you a chunk of change. I designed mine myself, incorporating a painting by Kelley Vandiver (with his kind permission), my own photo taken with my iPhone of Casa Piedra Road (that's actually in Texas, don't tell anybody), some fonts I purchased from the Walden Font Co., and then I had my elance.com designer do it for me in Adobe InDesign and make the PDF. And I uploaded that. Ta da.

>You can see what my book looks like on the CreateSpace store and on amazon.com. Why not order a copy and then you can really see what it looks like!

HOW CAN I GET MY POD BOOK INTO BRICK-AND-MORTAR BOOKSTORES AND LIBRARIES?

This is a two-step process. One is easy, the other is a head-banger. Quantities of Kleenex, your choice.

STEP #1 
Make your book available via a major distributor such as Ingram. 
The reason is that there are so many books and so many different publishers out there that it would be a total migraine for librarians and booksellers to have to place so many different orders with different sellers. Instead, it's, wham, Ingram, done.

If you go the route of CreateSpace, getting your book onto Ingram is just a question of clicking, "yes" on the sign up page for "Expanded Distribution." (No worries, you will see that when you get there.)

I do not know if my choice was a good one or not (time will tell), but since I wanted to use my own imprint (my own ISBN), not CreateSpace's, CreateSpace did not offer both options. So while CreateSpace does my POD for CreateSpace and amazon, to get onto Ingram I went to Ingram Spark. So Ingram distributes it (which just means they make it available to their customers) and when a bookstore or library orders it, Ingram will print it and ship it to them.

Right, my book, same ISBN, is available on amazon / Createspace and Ingram. No problem. And because it is on Ingram it automatically gets listed on major on-line bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Powell's and a whole bunch of others.

You probably won't find this on the shelf
in any B & N, but you can order it 
on-line from them, yay!

I found Ingram Spark a little frustrating to work with because their customer service, though consistently helpful and kind, was not always available by phone, and by email, they often took as long as 24 hours to answer. CreateSpace, on the other hand, had a telephone number I could call at any time and an actual live human being answered quickly, and then actually answered my questions. (Yea, verily, miracles still happen on Planet Earth.) Also, unlike amazon, Ingram Spark charges a small fee for "market access." But in all, the advantage for me of using Ingram is that now I can market my book to libraries under my own imprint, Dancing Chiva. 

As for brick-and-mortar bookstores, I don't see them being very important for a self-published book on a niche subject such as a mine. (Yours, of course, may be a different case, and you might be willing, as I am not, to visit bookstores and try to sell to them directly.) I am assuming that the majority of my sales will be of Kindles and POD paperbacks via amazon. Yep, it is sad (I play a wee violin): most brick-and-mortar bookstores have already gone the way of the brontosaurus. 

Furthermore, my understanding is that most bookstores insist on being able to order whatever quantity they want and then return any unsold books-- at the publishers' or author's expense. When you set up your account on Ingram Spark, you can click that option, allow returns, if you so desire. But know that bookstores are notorious for ordering boxes of books and then returning them-- sometimes without even having brought them out of the back room. Oh well, you could click the option "destroy" the unsold books, however many those might be, if you don't want to pay the cost, whatever that might be, of their return freight. As for me, sorry, if you order my books, they're yours.

Screenshot alert!
My book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution
is also carried by the famous Powell's on-line bookstore, double yay!

STEP #2. 

I'd never even heard of this store,
but yay, they're offering my POD!
(If you order it, they source it from Ingram.)

You have to market your book. (Grrr. Advil. $$$. Guilt Management 101)
Just because it's for sale on amazon.com doesn't mean any one will notice it, never mind review it, and just because it's distributed by Ingram, huge step as that may be, doesn't mean, abracadabra, it will sell. 

Marketing a book is a whole different blog post and anyway, I am not the expert, and I am mainly focussed on writing my next book because… that's what I do! 

My own rather lazy-daisy, low-key strategy with Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution has been to give autographed copies to selected individuals (if you teach Mexican history, don't be shy, ask me for a review copy here), blog, guest-blog, do a bit of social media, attend and speak at relevant conferences and wherever they'll have me (thank you, American Literary Translators Association, Rice University, and the UCSD US-Mexico Center, and the major book fair about to make an announcement today Texas Book Festival), give interviews (as for example, here and here and here), and do a postcard campaign to U.S. libraries. 

For postcard campaigns, I can recommend www.modernpostcard.com and renting the mailing lists of libraries available on www.newpages.com. For the latter, hat tip to my fellow Women Writing the West member and very successful self-published author, Susan Wittig Albert, who so generously shares her tips for getting a self-published book into libraries.

For reviews, I might also try Netgalley.com later this fall-- though I haven't really gotten my mind around that yet. My understanding is that it's a good way to reach bloggers, teachers, and librarians. (Yes, it costs a few hundred dollars, but it's cheaper than sending that many paperbacks through the mail.)

> Join the Independent Book Publisher's Association for advice, webinars, more resources and discounts-- the discounts alone just about cover the cost of membership. (That's where I got the story straight about CreateSpace and Ingram and first heard about Netgalley.)

IN MODEST BUT DELIGHTED CONCLUSION
As they say, aim for the stars and you won't blast off your toes. I did aim for the stars with my book, I put my heart into it, and I believe it is a paradigm-changing work on the Mexican Revolution, on Francisco I. Madero, and the history of Spiritism. That said, I take my own advice: As a self-published author, in a world where the big publishers still have the money and muscle, it's best for your Kleenex supply to keep your expectations modest.  

(That said: Dear Oprah Winfrey, If you invite me on your show, I promise to be nice. And you might be interested to know that in my book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual-- fair use-- I quote from your interview with Wayne Dwyer about his "psychic surgery.")

P.S. New York Times best-selling author and also, on occasion, self-published author, marketing guru Seth Godin, offers his perennial words of wisdom for authors > here. < After having published nearly a dozen works over the past 20+ years with publishers both big and small, Yours Truly vouches for Mr. Godin's profound wisdom on this subject and, by the by, sends him a cyber shower of jpeg lotus petals. 

In conclusion, yes, it takes a little work, a little money, and a trudge up the learning curve to make it happen, but the advantage of doing a POD on CreateSpace / amazon / Ingram is that, rain or shine, night or day, and around the world, 

YOUR PAPERBACK BOOK
IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON-LINE 

FROM MULTIPLE MAJOR BOOKSELLERS, 

AND NOT, AS IN THE DAYS OF BRICK-AND-MORTAR YORE,

 FOR THE SAME DURATION AS A TUB OF COTTAGE CHEESE, 
BUT, AS YOU PLEASE, 
INDEFINITELY. 

Anyone with a credit card can easily order your book and receive it as quickly as any other book, and if and when they do, you will be paid a very generous royalty by direct deposit in a timely manner. That simple fact is a TOTAL LET'S-DRINK-TANG-ON-THE-MOON GAME-CHANGER. 

FURTHER READING

UPDATE 2015. Publishing guru Jane Friedman has a free and very helpful graphic, Book Publishing Path. Highly recommended.

> APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur
Highly recommended how-to book. One excellent tip offered by the authors, Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch: stick with 6" x 9" for the size.  

=====>>> Your COMMENTS always welcome. And I also welcome you to sign up for my newsletter.

+ + + + + + + + 

MORE MADAM MAYO:

+Traditional + Indie = Hybrid Publishing: Three Authors Dish at Jane Friedman's Blog
(Highly recommended)

+Self-Publishing for All the Right Reasons (Reporting on the Writer's Center's "Publish Now!" Seminar)

+How I Published My Kindles

+Seven Reasons Why E-books Will Be Big in Mexico

AND OVER ON THE HOME PAGE, www.cmmayo.com

+Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution
Excerpts, podcasts, resources for researchers and more, and you betcha, it is available on Kindle, too.

+The Manuscript is Ready-- (Or Is It?)-- What Now? 
(From the "Publish Now!" Seminar at the Writer's Center)

+ New Events: My Literary Travel Writing Workshop 
one day only, Saturday, October 11, 2014 at the Writer's Center.


***UPDATE: >>Listen in<< anytime to the podcast of my talk about this book for the University of California San Diego's Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

Self-Publishing for all the Right Reasons (Reporting on The Writer's Center's "Publish Now!" Seminar)

Last month I gave a talk for the Writer's Center's "Publish Now! digital publishing seminar-- such a hoppin' topic that it sold out before I could even alert my own writer friends and workshop students. Unlike how-to-get-published conferences of yore, which inevitably featured the panels of nose-in-the-air agents and the other panel of nose-in-the-air editors, all trying to out-groan the others about their Himalayan "slush piles," this one had, among the attendees, a number of previously well-published authors-- and by well-published I mean, you know, the big famous NY agent, the big famous NY publishing house, reviews in the New York Times, and so on and so forth. (Wannabes might imagine glowing reviews and invitations to glamorous parties falling like little showers of lotus petals upon said authors' heads... Uyy! That's another blog post.)

One of the speakers at "Publish Now!" was my fellow Writers Center board member, historical biographer Ken Ackerman, who found that his big NY publisher wasn't interested in reprinting his Young J. Edgar Hoover-- even though the Leonardo DiCaprio movie was about to come out (!) In the seminar, Ackerman talked about how he then plunged into self-publishing and, step by step, put together the paperback POD (print on demand) editions of Young J. Edgar Hoover-- and his other biographies, all then languishing in publisher's warehouses or effectively out-of-print-- through CreateSpace and Lightning Source, plus ebooks for Kindle, iTunes and Nook. He held up the four self-published new paperback editions of his books and my, they did look beautifully designed. Seriously, Ken, you are an inspiration.

As another well-published writer friend of mine put it, we authors are suffering from "an erosion of support" from our publishing houses. Well, in my own case, this is indeed the case with some of my publishers, but certainly not all. Over the years I've had several books placed with an array of publishers, from international corporate behemoths (Planeta and Random House Mondadori) to university presses (Georgia and Utah), small presses (Milkweed Editions, Unbridled Books, Whereabouts Press) and.. drum roll... yes, I have self-published.

It used to be that self-publishing was for those whose work was not up-to-snuff or who were too naive or lazy or easily intimidated by the traditional publishing process. Yes, there has always been some work of great but not commercial value, but in a word, "self-published" was not a label anyone with a shred of ambition would want-- unless they were Walt Whitman, but that's another blog post. And today self-publishing is wide open-- it doesn't even require money to do a Kindle, and compared to the past, very little to do a paperback, so just about anyone can publish just about anything. And therefore, we have an unimaginably vast and exponentially growing mountain of... well, let's just say I do not know how to appreciate most of it.

But I did self-publish back in the Crustaceous, I mean, 2002, with The Visitors / Los visitantes, which is the second chapter of my memoir, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, a book that was published by the University of Utah Press in 2002 and Milkweed Editions paperback in 2007. (And much later, the ebook of Los visitantes, pictured left, by Yours Truly.) It was both time consuming and expensive-- back then POD wasn't really done, that I know of, so I had a professionally designed cover and interior and the whole thing was offset printed in Canada. (And not to mention the design and printing, boy howdy was shipping expensive.) But I was able to sell a few of the books and give away more, and no doubt this helped more readers find Miraculous Air. In all, a learning experience. I was not eager to repeat it, however. But ebooks, that is another story. Yes, some headaches with formatting and figuring out to work with the iBooks Author app and Kindle. But in all, compared to the past, it is jump-up-and-down cheap and easy. I love it! Why?

(1) No cash.
(2) No expensive designers.
(3) No printing.
(4) No shipping.
(5) No having to give up space in the garage. And best of all,
(6) NO PAPERWORK HEADACHES DEALING WITH FULFILLMENT.

In other words, when someone orders one of my ebooks on amazon.com or iTunes, all I have to do is wait... I will get paid. I don't have to provide an invoice to individual customers, I don't have to ship anything. Oh, wonderful, wonderful.

Basically, once you get your ebook up there on amazon.com or iTunes, what you have is a variable rate annuity. Probably with a very low yield-- indeed, for most authors, a Kindle edition of their book won't earn back the cost of their time and trouble. But should things change, the upside is the moon. What's interesting-- to say the same thing a little differently-- is that the marginal cost of increasing supply to meet any increase in demand is essentially zero. Whether one person or 100,000 people download your ebook, it doesn't matter; they click, they get.

Another speaker at Publish Now!, also a fellow Writer's Center board member (bless his heart), was novelist Neal Gillen, author of the memoir 1954 Adventures in New York. He gave us an overview of his experience and the various pros and cons of the the various self-publishing services. (Takeaway: you're probably going to be happiest with amazon.com's Createspace.)

Barbara Esstman

Of course the importance of editing-- that step so disdained, and to their detriment, by most self-publishers-- was underscored by novelist and freelance editor Barbara Esstmann.

For last year's "Publish Now!" seminar I gave the talk-- her title-- "The Manuscript is Ready -- or Is It?-- What's Next?".

My own talk focused on travel writing and interactive books. I mentioned my own ebooks, Podcasting for Writers, From Mexico to Miramar or Across the Lake of Oblivion, and others, and for examples from the cutting edge, Mary Lynn Patton's children's iBooks with sounds, including Sounds of Mexican Beaches, and Rich Shapero's Too Far.

P.S. I lifted that title, "self-publishing for all the right reasons," from Kevin Kelly. Check out all he has to say about his latest nondigital self-publishing venture here.

More anon. Much more.

COMMENTS

Publish Now! One Day Seminar at the Writer's Center

Before I had a chance to even mention it, the October 26 one day seminar "Publish Now!" at the Writer's Center in Bethesda MD (near Washington DC) has sold out. Sincere apologies to my workshop students... all I can say is, do sign up for the Writer's Center's newsletter because obviously I am not so on-the-ball in the blogging and newsletter department. On my Resources for Writers page, I will be sure to post some of the material for my talk, a break-out session on traveling writing and interactive ebooks, so stay tuned.

One of the speakers this Saturday will be my fellow Writer's Center board member, Wilson Wyatt, editor of the Delmarva Review, who shares this article (PDF download) in the Maryland Writers Association Pen in Hand, "Publishing in the Digital Age".

My own adventures in self-publishing ebooks continue-- rather intensive this very morning as a matter of fact, because I just uploaded to Kindle my translation of Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual of 1911 with the all-new title, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual Introduced and Translated. This required more Advils than I would like to admit. (Don't get me started about iTunes' iBookstore.)

A few of the interactive books I'll be mentioning in the seminar

Mary Lynn Patton's Sounds of Mexico / Sonidos de México

Rick Shapero's Too Far

My own "The Building of Quality"-- the iTunes (iBook) edition includes a video and an audio Q & A.

My own Los visitantes iTunes (iBook) edition, also made with the iBook author app.

My own Podcasting for Writers, both iTunes (iBook) and Kindle editions.

And of course, my own Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution.

And I'll also be talking about publishing travel writing and podcasts. My main experience here is with the "Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project: Exploring Marfa, TX & the Big Bend in 24 Podcasts"-- listen in anytime.

A few preliminary thoughts:

1. The whole experience of self-publishing ebooks is not so much something you can figure out once-and-for-all, but a wriggling target (just when you've got it figured out, they update the software!!)

2. Design matters (and it's expensive, sometimes)

3. Marketing digital books to customers via amazon.com is a very different enterprise than trying to sell books in bookstores (uyy there is a reason why publishers keep such a big slice of the pie)

4. The bar to publication is so rockbottom low now...and it is terribly tempting to skimp on or even skip the editorial process. 

5. Now what I really want to talk about is rare books. In other words, enough with the candy store, let's get back to the chocolate factory!

Much more anon, and especially about rare books.

COMMENTS

Guest-Blogger Author and Survivor Joan Young's 5 Inexpensive and Unexpected Tips for Healthy Living

I met Joan Young at the recent "Publish Now!" seminar the Writer's Center and when she told me about her book, Wish by Spirit: A Journey of Recovery and Healing from an Autoimmune Disease, I was fascinated. It's an eye-opener of a memoir, and for anyone suffering from a serious health condition, a walloping dose of inspiration. 

Read excerpts from her book, and also, be sure to check out her links page for alternative health resources, on her webpage, www.gemwrite.com .

5 Inexpensive and Unexpected Tips for Healthy Living

 By Joan Young

For the last 20 years, on my quest to remain healthy, I learned of many ways to avoid pills and take control of my body in a more natural way. I love these might-help-can’t-harm techniques and am pleased to share some of them with you.

Irrigate your nose – Drip warm salt water through your nose and spit. Sounds awful, but is really quite soothing. Based on an Ayurvedic (ancient Indian) medicine tradition, this technique has been used for thousands of years to help prevent colds and sinus infections, mitigate allergies, and keep the nostrils open for easy breathing. 

Chew your food – Not the usual 4 or 5 chomps per bite, but 20, 30 or more helps you lose weight, improve digestion, and kill bacteria. 

Regulate your breath – Breathing is the only autonomic nervous system function that works independently AND that you can control to regulate body functions such as blood pressure. Use breathing techniques to both energize your body and reduce stress. 

Cleanse with oil – Swish a tablespoon of vegetable oil in your mouth when you wake up to jump-start your metabolism, improve dental health, and clear those toxins from the body….another Ayurvedic tradition.

Drink hot water – Ditch the ice cubes and fire up the tea kettle to help detoxify your body and improve digestion… surprisingly helpful, even in the summer. Add a little lemon for an extra healing boost. 

++++++
---> For the complete archive of Madam Mayo guest-blog posts, click here.
--->Recent guest-blogs include Ellen Cassedy on 5 Links to Learn Yiddish; Peter Behrens on 4 Canadian and 1 Irish Writers You Must Read; and Harry Morales Celebrates Literary Translator Gregory Rabassa on His 90th Birthday.

May 2012 Newsletter, News on Publish Now and Marfa Mondays Podcasts

The May 2012 newsletter just went out last week. There's plenty in here for writers interested in exploring the possibilities on the digital frontier, Mexico and its great literary artists, the Orphic Journey and the wonders of the Sierra Gorda, and that world waiting for a dream, far-out & far West Texas. Oh, and the Afterlife, too. More succinctly: It features news about the June 23 "Publish Now!" conference at the Writer's Center (in Bethesda MD, near Washington DC), the latest Marfa Mondays podcasts, and Conversations with Other Writers. Read on.

I send subscribers the newsletter as an email via mailchimp.com (a great service, by the way, I highly recommend it) that includes the link and passwords for a free ebook with tips on writing. So sign up, whydoncha. I'd be delighted to see you on the list. I send it out a few times a year, and you can unsubscribe or re-subscribe automatically anytime (that's mail chimp.com for you).