Marketing

    I read a blog the other day about a woman who had been published traditionally. It took two years from the time she wrote the book until it was published, and then, it was basically up to her to market it. She talked about hiring her own publicist.
  Amazing to think that she had had her work published by a "real" publisher, and she was the one having to market her book. Wow!
  I hired my own publicist -- it's me. Who cares more about my work than I do? No one so it's up to me to get it out into the hands of readers.
  Two months into this thing, and I think I've done pretty well. I've been on two radio shows and have been featured in a newspaper article in The Augusta Chronicle. My book launch event was successful in terms of traffic. There were a lot of people I hadn't seen in years who stopped by to say "hi" and buy a book.
  I had another big book signing at the local First Friday event. There were musicians outside the book store to draw customers in.
  So far, I have four five-star reviews at Amazon.com. I didn't make up accounts or even ask anyone to write them for me. It's very humbling when someone really likes your work and wants to tell others about it.
 Facebook has been great. I've gotten a lot of readers who never would have even heard of my work except through Facebook. I haven't placed any ads; I've just relied on word of mouth. There's nothing like having a friend suggest your work to another friend.
  I haven't made the New York Times bestseller list, but I've sold books, I've gotten my name out there, and I have several people begging for a sequel.