I'm Published, Now What?

So you’re published! Congratulations! Now if you’re like most authors you may be asking yourself, now what? There are so many ways to market yourself, so many in fact it’s sometimes tough to know which one you should chose. Now without getting into all your choices, let’s look at some basic things you can do to surround yourself with enough education and experts so you never have to wonder: I’m published, now what?

1) Find some good books to bury yourself in.

2) There are a lot of marketing choices and if you’re not sure which one to chose here’s a tip: if it seems to good to be true it probably is. Stay away from hype because hype rarely pays off. Ask for references, talk to other authors.

3) You can find a lot of information online if you’re willing to do some research. Whether you’re looking for promotional ideas or people to help you promote your book you should definitely Google them first and see what you can find.

4) Find someone you trust to talk you through the process. Whether you hire someone or met someone in your writing group, find someone you can bounce ideas off of who knows the industry and understands current book marketing trends.

5) Don’t live in a vacuum. Get out and meet other published authors. Go to writers conferences, check out your local PMA listings (Publisher’s Marketing Association) and consider joining them on a national level. Also SPAN (Small Press Association of North America) is another fantastic organization to join. Both of these places offer a monthly newsletter with tips, articles, and advice columns.

6) Do some online networking via publishing and book marketing forums, here are a few for you to get started with:
Pub-forum – http://www.pub-forum.net
Publish-L – http://www.publish-l.com
Smallpub-civil http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/smallpub-civil
Ind-E-Pubs – covers ebooks http://www.ind-e-pubs.com
POD publishers http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/pod_publishers

7) Subscribe to some great publishing newsletters, there’s a lot of information out there and a lot of it is packed in some of the best newsletters you’ll ever read:
Dan Poynter’s Parapublishing Tips: http://www.parapublishing.com
Readers and Writers http://www.writersreaders.com/
John Kremer: http://www.bookmarket.com
Brian Jud: http://www.bookmarketing.com
Book Marketing Expert: http://www.amarketingexpert.com

8) Get your book reviewed: maybe this sounds like a no-brainer but you’d be amazed how many authors forget this step but it’s important and here’s why: people like what other people like. What someone else says about your book is a thousand times more effective than anything you could say. Do reviews sell books? Well, yes I believe they do and here’s why: if your book is up on Amazon or some other online portal and no one’s talking about it a potential new reader might not be motivated to buy. Readers rarely buy “naked” books.

9) Outline a few goals and hit the promotional “road”: keep it simple and keep it realistic. Long, complicated, and involved marketing plans are not only tough to stick to, they’re probably gonna cost you a bundle.

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