So, you’ve written your novel and you’re ready to take it to the next level. You’re about to tackle the job of publishing your story, the story you’ve poured your heart and soul into. Unless you want to keep your novel a secret, now is the time to break the news and share it with the rest of the world. Some writers are natural born un cours en miracles Alas, that wasn’t this writer. Indie authors often need to learn the art of shameless self-promotion with the help of a marketing coach.
You don’t have to let your book be like that familiar philosophical riddle, the one that asks, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
You want your book to make the loudest bang, a sound that will draw eager readers like moths to a flame.
Promoting and selling your book can be everything from word of mouth to a slick campaign costing thousands of dollars. But if you have written your book for the love of writing, you probably didn’t give much thought to marketing the finished product. Most writers are only absorbed with wanting to create a well-told story.
Some say that public speaking ranks as one of the things many people fear the most. What if a writer is asked to stand before a crowd and talk about writing or answer questions about their book?
If you are like many children growing up, you were warned not to boast about your accomplishments. Imagine the surprise to realize you now have to do just the opposite, to find any opportunity to brag that you’ve written a book and say it proudly and loudly. You have to believe in your writing, that it is good enough and people will line up to buy it.
Back to that tree is the forest riddle. One writer said, “I discovered my book was like that philosophical tree and some people actually heard the tree-falling sound. The good news was, readers that heard the sound not only bought the book, and they actually read it. They not only read it, they told me they liked it. How to get the word out to a wider audience became a challenge I hadn’t expected to face.”
Good News, Bad News
The good news is you have written and published (or are ready to publish) a book. You are now part of a very select group. You have done something that many only dream about. Every published author had to be a “first-timer.” What many of us don’t want to admit is that writing is a solitary exercise, often filled with self-doubt. How many times have we shared our writing with someone only to hear a thundering silence, or maybe a lamely worded comment like, “You’re story is okay, I guess.”
A writer said, “One of my favorites was having some say, ‘I didn’t know you could write a good story like that.’ Not only did that feel like I was being damned with faint praise, what really hurt was hearing that kernel of surprise in the question.”