Written specifically for fiction authors, this book leads you step-by-step through creating a press kit, scheduling a book signing or full tour, promoting your books, and getting more media attention.
The writing life is like no other. It involves long hours of living inside your own head, pondering plotlines, conjuring up characters, debating yourself over which sentence structure to use or which word is most effective.
It’s a solitary life by necessity; I haven’t yet heard of an author who can write while in the midst of an in-depth conversation. In fact, most writers I know retreat so deeply inside themselves while writing that it can be almost impossible to interrupt them. Try carrying on a conversation with them while they’re concentrating and the most you can expect are one-syllable answers, many of which are unintelligible.
Because it is a solitary pursuit, it attracts introverts—people who process information internally. Asked if they’d prefer to attend a cocktail party with a hundred people or stay at home and read a book, the majority will choose reading. In fact, any solitary activity is far more attractive than a social gathering of any size. Every writer I ever met understood exactly the quote by Lord Byron: “In solitude, where we are least alone.”
Yet the first task set upon an author once a book is winding its way into the book stores is the book tour—a series of book signings that can range from the author’s neighborhood to clear around the world.
New authors inevitably have the same expectations. Once the book is published, people will flock to the stores to buy it. Their phones will ring off the hook with countless invitations for appearances. If the author decides to honor the store with a personal appearance, the line will be out the door and around the block.
The author will be famous overnight. They’ll have assistants at their table, people who will treat them like the celebrity they think they are, and the media will be present and camera bulbs flashing. One brand new author told me he expected to sell somewhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 copies simply by being listed on amazon.com and bn.com!
So it can come as quite a shock when your first book hits the market and you’re instructed to go out there and sell it.
Sell it?
The mere thought of becoming a salesperson is enough to send most writers into cardiac arrest. Selling it is someone else’s job—the publisher, the publicist, the press agent, the book store employees—anyone’s job except their own.
Not quite.
The best salesperson for your book has to be you, the author.
#4 on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller List -- Successful Authors spill their secrets to getting a book written, published, and having incredible book sales!
Bring the ZING into your marketing and advertising. Be More Successful is a perfect guide for new, aspiring, and established authors. Start using the tips before you finish reading--writing wisdom from Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author
#4 on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller List -- Successful Authors spill their secrets to getting a book written, published, and having incredible book sales!
