Beating the Dementia Monster, 2nd Edtion

I don't think I mentioned it before, but I have been working on a second edition of Beating the Dementia Monster for about two years.  I have had several people from the publishing world advising me, and the manuscript has now been reviewed by a neuropsychologist, a neurologist, an internist, and an official from the best known Alzheimer's advocacy organization.  (I'm avoiding saying their name.)  They all gave me very helpful comments. 

Currently the manuscript is in what will hopefully be two last reviews -- one from a medical school professor of neuropsychology and another review from one of her colleagues.  I'm hoping they'll complete their reviews in early March.  Once those reviews are completed, I have an editor who will do copy edit.  (Hopefully, they won't have any comments requiring major surgery.)  In parallel, I have a cover designer under contract who will hopefully take the cover "to the next level."

I had never tried to get Barnes and Noble or any big book store to carry the original book, thinking that they wouldn't carry a self-published book.  But then I saw a self-published book on someone's experience with dementia on the shelf at our local Barnes and Noble.  I asked the manager about getting my book on their shelves (the new edition), and she said they didn't have a problem with a self-published book.  In fact, she said I should come down and to a book-signing!  That would be great.  And perhaps local success could be magnified in other parts of their system.

So far, we've sold about 3,500 copies of Beating the Dementia Monster.  (I'm counting about 500 equivalent copies from Amazon Ultimate page reads.)  I've learned a lot from this, finding in particular that public appearances make a big difference.  So I've been fishing for these.  When I speak and have a video, I post them on my Dementia Monster YouTube channel.