Publicity is that elusive thing that can make or break your book - in all sorts of ways! Learning to promote you and your book is something that can take a bit of "re-training" for most new authors (and many old-timers too). Publicity is really all about selling your idea (and you), but all too often the word "selling" brings up images of polyester clad used-car salesmen, telemarketers, and strong-arm sales strategies that do nothing but alienate your intended customer.

We all have at one time or another had the fantasy of our books being absolutely indispensable to readers - and that our genius is immediately recognizable even without the benefit of creating awareness or self-promotion. Well, for some very famous authors this may be true - but then again, publishers still spend millions of dollars promoting even the greatest writers' books. Having your book recognized for the high quality endeavor that it is, and selling some in the process, really is ALL about an awareness of both you as an author and your book. One of the hard truths of the self-publishing industry is that authors must work diligently to create a market for their books - and all without the multi-million dollar budgets of the big publishers.

How many times when you dreamed of readers finding your book did your dreams center around them finding it in a “brick-and-mortar” bookstore? Chances are, most of the time… This is the fantasy the leads too many authors to the endless pain of the author-agent-publisher rejection cycle. And, it rarely sells any significant amount of books.

To market your book successfully, you don't need a book full of jargon and buzzwords - but you do need a marketing plan. For most authors, and many large publishers even, a marketing plan will produce rather underwhelming results. There are numerous opportunities for a marketing plan to go awry, so I've outlined a few of them below that are the most common and fundamental - hopefully this will help you avoid them!

I’m sure you’re not too surprised to find out that your work as a self published author doesn’t stop when the presses finally start –actually, some of the most important work you’ll do to make your book sell STARTS now (if not a bit earlier…)

No matter what any POD publisher or marketing company tells you (even the traditional publishing houses) you, the author, are almost 100% the reason your book will sell.

It is your belief, excitement, enthusiasm, and energy that will get a reader excited about buying your book.

Publishers are certainly a vehicle by which you can communicate your passion to the rest of the world, but, for ANYTHING to happen you'll need to know a few things about yourself and your book - and be able to communicate them very clearly.