Getting the Word Out

It is important to develop a marketing plan for your book, and I was thinking of ways to market mine even while I was still writing it. To help me in this effort I bought a book that is a must-read for anyone deciding to venture into the business of self-publishing. The book is appropriately titled, Publicize Your Book, and the author is Jacqueline Deval.

Publicize Your Book is meant for the author who is working with a publicist (usually provided by the publishing house), but I believe almost everything covered in its 297 pages can be done by us self-publishers if we roll up our sleeves and get to work. The book includes chapters on writing the marketing plan, getting free publicity, putting together a press kit, marketing online, and even a chapter entitled "Get on the Oprah Winfrey Show." For that kind of exposure, however, you would need a publicist or some other professional connection, or a book as popular as The Da Vinci Code.

Needless to say, I refer to Publicize Your Book pretty much every day and follow its advice to the letter. (except for one main point which I read after it was too late) In chapter 6, in bold print inside a bordered box, the author writes, "Do not send free copies to your friends and family, no matter how tempted you might be. They should buy copies of your book." Well, too late--I had already mailed or given out more than a handful of my books before I read that far. No regrets, though.