Do you know what it means to be an author? If you have a published book, you are at least somewhat savvy. If you haven\u2019t reached that point yet\u2014you\u2019re still in the writing stages or are just thinking about writing a book\u2014you may still be in the dark. You can only imagine the joy and the responsibilities. But you may not have a clue as to the responsibilities. Most hopeful authors have a warped idea of what\u2019s ahead and that\u2019s why most authors fail.<\/p>\n
They can write the book\u2014and this is usually the book they want to write without regard to whether or not there is an audience for it. Their inspiration to write it may stem from the stories they read about some of this country\u2019s bestselling authors. They may know people who have written and published books and they have the attitude: \u201cIf they can do it, I can do it.\u201d And certainly, anyone can find a publisher willing to take on their book\u2014no matter how poorly written or insignificant. <\/p>\n
But the reason why most authors fail has more to do with the last phase of authorship\u2014the marketing phase. They either don\u2019t know that it\u2019s up to them to promote their own books or they simply don\u2019t want to do it. I\u2019ve known authors who had no intention of promoting their books once they were published. All they cared about was getting the book out. Some authors believe that their book will sell without a marketing plan or any effort on their part. But most authors simply do not understand how important a good marketing plan is to the success of a book. Even an excellent, well-written book with a potentially large audience must be promoted. People won\u2019t buy a book they don\u2019t know about. And with so much competition for book sales today, it\u2019s even more important that authors reach their readers and the more personal the approach, in many cases, the better.<\/p>\n
As you know, I\u2019m just starting my journey in promoting a novel\u2014something new to me. I\u2019ll try to keep you apprised of the process. I know that some of you are writing novels and you might find my path helpful. My book is a cozy mystery involving cats: Catnapped, A Klepto Cat Mystery<\/strong><\/em>. So far, I have done the following:<\/p>\n \u2022\tI\u2019ve set up an email program where I\u2019ve input the nearly 2,000 email addresses I\u2019ve collected over the years. I sent an email blast announcing my new book to this list and to my friends and family. I\u2019ve had a bit of a setback with the program and have had to take time out to get that taken care of. My technology coach is out of commission this week, so I\u2019m behind schedule with this task. But priority number one for me right now is getting that list in shape for future use. I think some of you can relate when I say I am technologically-challenged and need to be walked through the steps to a new system as if I was in preschool learning the alphabet. And in the midst of this learning curve, Yahoo decided to make some changes. I was typing an email when the new format came into being and I thought I\u2019d clicked on something to make the window change. I spent an afternoon trying to figure that out. Book promotion can take many twists and turns which often distracts us from the task at hand. But some of the distractions are necessary to handle in order to streamline things for future success. <\/p>\n \u2022\tI\u2019ve been talking about Catnapped<\/em> here in this blog and at Twitter.<\/p>\n \u2022\tI had some charming little temporary promo pieces created and I\u2019ve been handing them out at meetings, in line at the post office, while shopping for a water fountain for my cat, while visiting a doctor\u2019s office, etc. <\/p>\n \u2022\tI have approached a couple of reviewers of cozy mysteries\u2014they were most interested in the theme of my book. One liked the cover so much, she put it at one of her cozy mystery sites. (It\u2019s an original painting that artist Bernadette Kazmarski did.) Don\u2019t you love it when you get an added bonus like this one from your promotional efforts? A few friends and colleagues I sent the announcement to have offered to review the book or post it at their site. All good. But it wouldn\u2019t have happened if I hadn\u2019t reached out.<\/p>\n \u2022\tToday I plan to check the SPAWN Market Update<\/em> archives for reviewer directories. I compile the Market Update (posted in the member\u2019s only area of the SPAWN website) and I often provide directories of reviewers (as well as publishers, agents, publicists, libraries, newspapers, writing jobs, etc\u2026) I mean why do a simple search for a single reviewer at a time when you have access to directories of reviewers? Moving right along.<\/p>\n \u2022\tToday I am also trying to discover how to help reviewers get free copies of my Kindle novel, Catnapped<\/em>. I understand there\u2019s a program where reviewers can get Kindle books free. I haven\u2019t had that confirmed, yet. Anyone out there know about this?<\/p>\n \u2022\tYes, that\u2019s another thing I\u2019m doing at this point, reaching out to other novelists and to reviewers and colleagues for guidance and with questions since this road is a little less familiar than the one I\u2019ve taken for the last 40 years.<\/p>\n The ranking is still excellent for >Catnapped: A Klepto Cat Mystery<\/em>. Check it out here: http:\/\/amzn.to\/14OCk0W<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you know what it means to be an author? If you have a published book, you are at least somewhat savvy. If you haven\u2019t reached that point yet\u2014you\u2019re still in the writing stages or are just thinking about writing a book\u2014you may still be in the dark. You can only imagine the joy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t