TOLEDO – Crafting a novel is a daunting endeavor, but the subsequent challenge of marketing and publishing a final draft is an entirely different world for many authors. Micheline Brewer – a Toledo local and author of Life Is Terminal And So Is This Cold Sore – found herself wrapped up in this chaos, ultimately choosing to self-publish her work.
Growing up, Brewer watched her mother produce a novel that never saw publication. Living in a more technologically advanced era, Brewer believed she could bring her own novel to life – fulfilling not only her dream, but her mother’s too.
“It got to the point where I thought, ‘No one’s getting younger here. What if I just self-publish?’”
In July 2025, she began working with Book Baby, a self-publishing website that offers global distribution to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and more. While larger publishing houses have strict deadlines for publication, Book Baby provides more flexibility in publishing and printing written work.
“I would say they’re a bit more of a printer than a publisher. They communicated with me about the changes I needed to make, but there weren’t any deadlines… It would have been harder to navigate a larger publishing house for my first time.”
By September 2025, Brewer had physical copies of her book at her doorstep and an e-book available online. Her official publication date was in November 2025, allowing for Life Is Terminal And So Is This Cold Sore to be carried by Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
While the self-publishing process was quite quick for Brewer, the marketing side of the journey has been a learning curve.
“The publishing process was painful, but it was nothing compared to the publicity. Especially since I’m not a social media person… It was an easier entry, but that also comes with more books that you’re competing with at any given time.”
The creative side
Life Is Terminal And So Is This Cold Sore is a culmination of prose, poetry, and vignettes that were written at various points in Brewer’s life. Most of the dialogue is intentionally absurd, toggling the line between serious and funny.
“I’ll come up with a commentary in my head about something I’ve been through.”
Brewer says she keeps “folders” in her mind of strange things she’s seen, someone she met during her time living out west in California, a dating experience…and that’s when she jots down ideas.
“I have several topics that I tend to write about. It probably narrows down to around ten topics. I’ve got the dating, and the marriage, and the dogs.”
With a mix of the mundane and the abnormal, Brewer has crafted a very human book.
“You Can Take This Job…”, the first vignette in the book, portrays a conversation between an interviewer and a hopeful job applicant. The conversation is relatable and silly, ultimately reminding readers that everyone is trying their best to make something of themselves.
In contrast, “Ode to Your Appendectomy” is a poem that showcases the frivolity of life, inspired by a friend of Brewer’s who underwent emergency surgery.
“It’s about finding the humor within the terminal life we will all have to go through. We’re all here; we’re all going to not be here. We can at least acknowledge the absurd in-between… One of these pieces should speak to everybody.”
More about the author
Brewer’s book is available both online and in-store at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Goodreads, and Kobo. At the moment, she is working on a larger novel that is “dialogue-heavy” and centered around the emotional nuances of interpersonal relationships.
“This next one will be released in a couple of years. It contains more situational dialogue than Life Is Terminal And So Is This Cold Sore. Universal themes such as marriage, work, family, societal norms, and, of course, dogs will be included.”
