You’ve Published your Book – Congratulations!

You’ve Published your Book

Congratulations, you’ve published your book! You will soon realize the buck stops with you when it comes to promoting it unless you have plenty of bucks to pour out to publicists and/or your publisher.

To make a difference, money must be spent. We are living in wicked hard times that require wicked smart solutions. Whatever we do, we must learn to have a sense of humor and not take ourselves too seriously. I’m not one who travels around with jokes in my head, but I think you will appreciate the following, “How many publishers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Three. One to screw it in. Two to hold down the author.” Yes, we authors can be a little stubborn and strong-willed. To be successful, we must have relentless persistence in our belief in ourselves and our work to convince others to spend their hard-earned cash on our books.

Book Review $60, $100, $250, plus expenses

Most believe authors run on instinct not marketing figures like publishers. John Kremer, the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, says, “The best single advertisement for a book, other than giving away lots of review copies, is the author. An author is a walking, talking advertisement for his book…”

The author is his best salesperson, even though the best solutions emerge through trial and error for all of us. Like Carolyn Howard-Johnson, our Frugal Editor and Promoter, says, “Sometimes we have to do what the publisher won’t.” We must remember whatever we do to market our books; nothing significant can be accomplished by acting alone.

Promotions

Most of us believe the first and foremost marketing advantage is maintaining our own Web site. This is a must in today’s high-tech world. I personally think Albert Einstein had the right idea many years ago when he said, “Strive not to be a success but rather be of value.” You might have a great website but do enough people know about it, and is it of value to others?

Another first is sending out an attractive and informative media (or press) release. This gives you more online visibility, better positions in search engine rankings, and more traffic to your website. If you haven’t done this yet, I suggest you check out Joyce White’s Marketing Page, who does wonderful articles, book reviews, and promoting.

You can only pay for the services you need or can afford at the moment. She’ll work with you and your finances. Blog Talk Radio is a great source for authors who scheduled podcasts for the author. Mine is not just a selling web. We need to keep in mind, the more traffic we can pull into our web, the more opportunities we will get for sales and affiliate revenue!

Nevertheless, it is still important we write our promotional articles and blogs for our reader’s pleasure, not the search engines. Joyce can write these blogs for you and get other same-gender authors to write articles to post on your own we. Another sure way of getting ranked higher in the search engines is to attain additional domain names for your Website. Give yourself simple names. Easy names. Fun names. These are remembered quicker.

Amazon

Amazon is No. 1 Affiliate and you should always be connected to Amazon Author Center. I have also had some success bringing in small affiliate commissions with Amazon. When choosing affiliates it is best they are compatible with our Website theme. It is also important to remember what we’re selling; we have to effectively include relevant keywords and tags for search engine optimization purposes.

We can also blog, write articles, or book reviews; that also brings in traffic. Joyce can help with these. Some of us co-author by setting up links to other compatible sites with permission, which helps both authors get more traffic. There are so many opportunities out in cyberspace for independent authors right now. Most of us network with each other. It doesn’t take much time to comment on another’s work or thank those that comment on ours.

Thanks to Authorsden and Angie’s Diary, I’ve been able to link my poetry, my articles, and my interest in art therapy all in another central location besides my websites. Since 2008 I’ve published 17 stories, 100 articles, 83 poems, and many book reviews. All these were instantaneously published to the Web and have brought in more interest than anyone can imagine.

They also have a Marketing Program where those with services can advertise and get paid for our services. I write book reviews. Joyce’s talents are many including, editing, book reviewing, formatting, or book promotion.

She feels like she can help you fulfill your own creative urges and still get paid minimally to help others achieve their dreams. Joyce is a retired legal secretary who works every. The famed artist Vincent Van Gog says, “I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream.” Like him, we need to dream our writing and then write our dream.

Martin Luther King says, “Faith is taking the first step even when there is no staircase.”
Keep the faith and step lightly but loudly.

Confucius says, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I agree.
Writing is a job but it is no chore.

Co-Publishing

I imagine if you can maintain a sense of fairness for who is responsible for what, you can check out co-publishing material with other authors. Another way to frugally educate ourselves is by signing for interesting e-mail newsletters. We can all be sure our emails go straight to the recipient, unlike letters or faxes of the past.

Of course, we should all know we have to be careful when it comes to e-mail marketing. It has so many irritants and pitfalls. This marketing kind can be very distasteful without honesty and respect by both the writer and the reader. Finally, to find out if you’re making any headway out on the net, just Google your name or your Web site’s name!

Don’t forget radio and talk shows to promote yourself and your work. Become a joiner. Successful writers – – write for our reader’s pleasure, not the search engines or our ego. I write about all that interests me, not just Art Therapy; however, I am Winged for Art Therapy. This is the pen name I use.

No matter who we are, the more traffic we can pull in, the more opportunities we will get for sales and affiliate revenue! We can’t afford to be shy when it comes to getting the word out that we are messengers and we have something to offer others. Don’t believe everything you hear. Although writers and authors are notorious for being alone a lot, thanks to the Internet and our computers, we don’t have to be lonely.

Networking

Networking is fun, socially acceptable, and profitable. There are many networking methods, and one especially informative and enjoyable way is by sending and receiving newsletters. My favorite is Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s Sharing with Writers newsletter. You can subscribe to it at or right on this blog. It was named Writers Digest 101 Best Websites.

Making new friends by networking moves us all deeply when we discover kindred and compatible spirits along the way, like online magazines and other sites that can guide you to your destination.

Of course, honesty and respect are some of the attributes we’d like to see more often in all the phases of networking and marketing. These values promote friendship and success. I’m sure most authors appreciate the words of Gandhi, who said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Nothing changes us more than books and friendship.