In my first few months of indie publishing, I made zero dollars. That's right. The big donut.
But by the end of my first year, I'd grossed over $10,000, making me not a millionaire, but a thousandaire.
How? Hard work and a bit of good luck.
In this essay, I break down the recipe of how I made five figures in twelve months.
We can all profit from indie publishing. Not the same amount of money, and not on the same timeline, but every one of us can reap the rewards of this brave new world, selling directly to readers, which means pocketing the money both as authors and as publishers.
We can all be thousandaires together!

Julia Sharpe can tell the future using popcorn. That's right, popcorn. It's like using tea leaves, only cooler. But the cute new kid, Darwin Jones, makes all the fortunetellers sick. How can Julia save the day and get Darwin to fall in like with her at the same time?

Winner of the InnermoonLit Award for Best First Chapter of a Novel (2008)

What if...your best friend was a long, thin slice of dill pickle and you played with him every night in your dreams?
What if...this world became more real than the one you're in right now?
What if...Pickle Joe took you swimming up the Amazon River and the piranhas attacked you?

A thousand word-story about pickles, piranhas, and parents.

A Killer Flight With No Way Out

When Dr. Hope Sze flies to Los Angeles to reunite with her soul mate, she expects Botoxed blondes with Brazilian wax jobs, not terror at 35,000 feet in the air.

Yet on their way home, with 1000 miles to go and nowhere to land, she and Dr. John Tucker must strive to save one man’s life.

Hope and Tucker have no surgical equipment. No surgeon on board. And, as first year family medicine residents, almost no experience.

But right this second, they’ll try anything.

Especially Hope, because minutes before, she might have accidentally helped to kill the man spasming at her feet.

Dr. Valerie Chia strides into St. Joseph's emergency room expecting the usual Montreal Monday morning chaos. Nothing she and the other day doctor can't handle, with the help of the nurses and a little coffee.

Until the other day doctor doesn't show up. And one of the overnight patients crashes. And the shiny new resident doctor, Hope Sze, tries to save the patient’s airway, but just might end up killing the woman instead.

Debut episode (half-hour pilot script) of a medical radio drama featuring Dr. Hope Sze, by Melissa Yi, a.k.a. Melissa Yuan-Innes, the emergency physician and award-winning author.

Max's To-Do List
1. Get born. Check.
2. Discover a magic hat. Check.
3. Defeat bullies who snatch the magic hat. Uh-oh...

A heart-warming picture book about a boy who takes on the bullies--and wins!

Winner of the Best Children's Literature award, sponsored by the Cornwall Public Library and the Cornwall and Region Writer’s Society.

One missing uncle. One missing child. And a river that could kill them both.

"Wonderful."--Greg Smith, M.D.
"Valuable."--The Ultimate Reading List for Nurses
Now an audio book on Audible or at Gumroad.

If you yearn to hold your baby,

If your love still burns,

If your heart is broken,

Or if you want to comfort to someone walking this road,

This book is for you.

"Your Baby Is Safe" was written for anybody who has loved and lost a little one at any age.

Camping can kill you.