Oh Canada! Discoveries made...

Hurray! We had our first Canadian visitor to the website! Welcome, Canadian!

I just discovered that in 60-90 days, The Summer of Pomba Gira will be listed with Amazon and Barnes & Noble online. Didn't know that! I did know that sales through other booksellers result in only a 10% royalty, and I'm not entirely sure of if that's on the retail list price, or on the actual purchase price they buy it at, which is discounted to them. This means that the book MAY be available to international buyers through those venues. However, the overall contribution to the fundraiser will be significantly less than if purchased through Xlibris directly. Purchasing through the other sites won't result in a faster ship time, because it's Print-On-Demand(POD) and therefore when you order, they literally make the book for you.

What I suspect actually occurs between the time that you order the book and when you receive it is that the Xlibris folks arrange to have a Pomba Gira party for you. I've heard they know how to party in Bloomington, IN, so I imagine it's like Carnivale or Mardi Gras, every time a copy of The Summer of Pomba Gira is sold. At the current rate, they're probably having a party every day! Thanks to YOU! If this keeps up, we'll generate new business for Indiana rehab programs, thus keeping the American economy strong! Just doing our part, since Joe Biden said we should. He's probably having his own Pomba Gira party over at the White House right now.

All I can say is thank God I didn't publish a book entitled "Managing Your Proctology Exam."

After the party they host in your honor, they send your order off to NJ. Why NJ, you ask? Because they REALLY know how to party there. No, seriously, aside from the physical publishing facility being there, I'm not really sure. So I Googled it, (New Jersey Famous For) and discovered that all answers to mundane questions may be found on the Internet. Apparently someone is trying to avoid housework as much as I am, and posted answers. If I piece it together, the nearest I can come up with as a reason to send your order to New Jersey is that they have lightbulbs there. That's very interesting, because I always imagined they did in IN, too. It only goes to show you how a Chicago hometown girl can learn a thing or two.

After they crank up the generator, and turn on the lightbulbs, they print your book and read it, cover to cover. Then they quote the characters and act the whole thing out an outdoor drama. It entertains the New Jersey folks to no end, or at least, until the generator goes out.

Frankly, I've never been to NJ, but I'm looking forward to seeing them flapping their wings and climbing up trees someday, as one scene in the book has that. I'm envisioning new dialogue, where they nearly roll out of the tree from laughter, that you bought this book at all.

That's when lightening strikes and they have to get a whole new crew in from...you guessed it, Canada. They're not nearly as likely to fall out of trees as we Americans are. A whole new labor force recruited from Canada, where only one of them knows about the book.

This is what takes so freaking long in publishing your book: Homeland Security. America takes these things seriously and the TSA all have copies of "Managing Your Proctology Exam." Several weeks after the bomb sniffing dogs have had their way with their luggage, our new Canadian workforce rapidly works to mail off the book to you, so they can get back home to where the people are saner.

Several of you having ordered the book having:
1. Donated to some great NDN causes,
2. Gotten people in Indiana to rehab one step faster,
3. Brought the wrath of God down on New Jersey folks,

Have also,

4. Emailed me that you've purchased the book and wonder why I've not posted new sales figures here or on my Facebook page.

This is because they don't tell me until it's SHIPPED, rather than when it's ordered. I imagine it's due to national security interests. So they wait until the Canadians have gone past the border check and back into their own lovely country, and only then do I see that a book has been sold.

All of this being said, book buyers, just pat yourself on the back for having done some really amazing things with an internet connection and a valid credit card number. And don't be surprised if a Canadian punches you next time you say you bought a book through Xlibris.