Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Newly-Published Author's Long, Dark Night of the Soul

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less):

If you think writing the book, soliciting feedback, revising, designing cover art, formatting, publishing and getting the book listed for sale are the hard parts...you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Your adventures in authorship have only just begun, and your work is far from over. Somehow, we've all acquired the tribal misinformation that once the book is out there, readers will rejoice and the inevitable tidal wave of sales will commence. The reality for newly-published, unknown authors everywhere is quite different. It's a given that indie authors are on their own to promote their books and get their books into brick-and-mortar stores, but the same is now true for mainstream-published authors as well. Shockingly, publication with a major house is no longer any guarantee that your book will show up on the shelf of your local Borders. It's oddly comforting to know we indies aren't at such a huge disadvantage compared to the mainstream anymore, but that doesn't make the work of self-promotion any easier or more pleasant.

An Indie Author Guide to Promotion is coming to the rescue, but every minute I spend writing about promotion is a minute I'm not able to do any promotion, so please be patient.

(No Run Yo Mouth Version again, because I'm too busy with...wait for it...promoting my books!)

No comments: