Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Fondin
Hi Michelle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I had just received a rejection letter from Barnes and Noble Books informing me that they couldn’t include books from self-published authors in their stores. It ignited a fire within me that couldn’t be put out. I read the letter in front of twenty people at my book launch party and declared, “I will sell millions of books. And this book will be in Barnes and Noble.”
I’ve been writing since I was eight. For most of my childhood, I wrote poetry and short stories. Growing up, I wanted to be one of two things: an actress or an author. Throughout my twenties and thirties, I wrote fiction and attempted for several years to get published through traditional means by finding an agent. But nothing came of it, and for several years, I gave up.
In 2008, I opened my yoga studio after obtaining a Vedic Master’s certificate from Deepak Chopra’s center in Carlsbad, CA. I began teaching yoga and meditation and did Ayurvedic life coaching. Most of my Ayurvedic life coaching clients repeatedly asked if I knew of an easy book to learn about Ayurveda. I could think of none. So, every year, I would jot down notes for a book on living an Ayurvedic lifestyle for the Westerner who knew little about this Indian medical practice. Every year, I wrote, but I didn’t have the courage to write it as a book because I feared rejection from my previous attempts.
In the fall of 2013, the guy I was dating encouraged me to do Tony Robbin’s audio program Get the Edge with him. While he gave up halfway through the program, I continued and wrote pages of my book every day over the following months. Amazon had just launched its CreateSpace program for self-published authors, and I decided to try it for my book on Ayurveda. In April 2014, The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda was born.
But I knew writing the book wasn’t enough. Even though my clients could benefit from it, I knew that marketing my self-published book would be a challenge. So, I joined an author program by Steve Harrison, who was Jack Canfield’s publicist. Through the program, I wrote the above-mentioned letter to Barnes and Noble Books, and I decided to attend Book Expo America in New York City in May of 2014.
Steve encouraged me to go to Book Expo America, not looking for a publisher, but to learn all I could learn about book marketing. He even gave me a scripted phrase to use; “Hi, I’m a newly self-published author, and I want to learn how to become the best at book marketing. What advice can you give me?” His message was clear. Don’t go to get; go to learn.
I headed off to New York with one caveat: I had no money. I bought a ticket for the last day for $99 and drove from Washington, D.C., on a tank of gas. When I arrived, I realized that most vendors (including many publishers) left on the last day. So I meandered the nearly empty halls of the convention center, attempting to find anyone in the mind-body-spirit genre who would talk with me. After chatting with a distributor of new-age books, I learned that two publishers in my genre were still there. I headed to one, showed him my book, and asked for advice. He flipped through my book and told me it was awful. I was crushed but determined. The second publisher, New World Library, was holding a huge author event. Tons of people were lined up for a book signing. But amid the crowd, I spied the marketing director and made a B-line in her direction. “Hello,” I said as I offered my hand, “My name is Michelle Fondin. I’m a self-published author, and I just published The Wheel of Healing, a book about Ayurveda. Could you give me your best advice for a new author on book marketing?” Stunned, the marketing director responded, “Um, I have to attend to this author and the line, but perhaps you might want to talk to our editor-in-chief over there?” I sped over to the editor-in-chief and shook her hand with my right hand and held up my book with my left. I then repeated the same thing I had said to the marketing director. She took the book out of my hand, flipped through it, smiled, and said, “Are you looking for a publisher?”
Six weeks later, I had a book publishing contract for The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda: An Easy Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle. And yes, my book found its way into many Barnes and Noble Book stores.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I once heard the following, “The bigger the dharma (life purpose), the bigger the struggles.” Yes. My life and career have been chocked full of struggles. As an author, I received rejections for years. I’ve even gotten rejected by the publisher who signed me for my first book. My book, Help! I Think My Loved One Is an Alcoholic: A Survival Guide to Lovers, Family, and Friends was rejected by New World Library because I had no credentials as a health care practitioner, and they thought a book like that would only sell 200 copies. I ended up self-publishing that book and it has done extremely well. But after that rejection, they published Chakra Healing for Vibrant Energy. So you never know. Being an author is highly competitive. You can have the best-written book, and it will still get rejected. Writing is extremely subjective.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m proud of my eleven published books, almost twelve in April 2025. They are like my babies. They are all about healing in some way. I help my readers get in touch with their higher spiritual selves to access wholeness and healing. Not only do I write, but I do YouTube videos to support my books. I believe I’m good at taking ethereal and complicated spiritual topics and bringing them down to Earth. I make it easy for my readers and viewers to understand complex spiritual matters.
Any big plans?
I plan to write a book every year for the foreseeable future. I also plan to get out into the community doing book signings, book readings, and speaking engagements around the country. It’s easy to do everything online, but I miss the in-person events and want to expand them. My book, The Eight Limbs of Yoga for Modern Times: A Practical Guide to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, will be released on Earth Day, April 22, 2025. I hope to speak at as many yoga teacher training programs as possible. I also teach a meditation course based on Deepak Chopra’s Primordial Sound Meditation, which I hope to teach in person as well.
Pricing:
- $395 Primordial Sound Meditation Course
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.michellefondinauthor.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellesfondin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellesfondin/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichelleFondinAuthor
- Other: Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/shop/michellefondin
