Recommendations About Publishing and Marketing For New Writers

Have you written or are you now writing a first book? If this is the first time you have been an author, the following advice may be for your.

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Find the easiest place to publish your book.

I am not talking about a vanity publisher, (a publisher that makes you pay to have your work published), but I am talking about a publisher that might not have the name recognition of Random House or some other well known publisher.

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Regardless of the publisher you find you will have to do most of the marketing yourself. Marketing a book is hard work and anyone that tells you different is not being entirely truthful.

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Find a publisher that accepts your book without costing you a cent. A benefit of many small publishers is their ability to get your book listed in places like Amazon, Buy.com, and many other outlets. This type of exposure is difficult, (but not impossible), to achieve on your own.

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A draw back is you may get a very small royalty, (typically in the eight to twelve per cent range). A plus is that you can probably purchase your book at a discount and market it yourself for substantially more than eight to twelve per cent, (ask the publisher before signing a contract).

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CAUTION!

Do not purchase more than fifty to one-hundred books initially. This will keep your costs down until you find the most effective way to market your book. With print on demand technologies (POD) utilized by many publishers smaller lots can be ordered at a decent discount.

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Check your contract with the publisher and give only those rights you are willing to give. My first book contract the publisher received printed book rights and e-book rights. I retained audio rights, movie rights, and all other rights. (Most books do not receive movie contracts?but you might be one of the lucky ones).

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Publishers will not spend much money to promote your book. You will be responsible for marketing.

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Get an online presence. If you don?t have a website?get one. If you cannot afford to set one up yourself get a free site. Offer an excerpt of your book, short stories, and articles. Showcase your writing. As soon as possible create your own site. You will not make much progress until you do.

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Do article marketing. Article marketing helps bring targeted visitors to your site.

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Keep submitting stories and articles to publishers. Nothing impresses an agent or a large publisher like a writer with a track record and a following.

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One last word

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Writing a book is the beginning of the adventure. Publishing and marketing is hard, but it can be rewarding for those who continue to learn and grow. Remember?this advice and three dollars will buy you a cup of coffee almost anywhere.

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Copyright 2010 J-me

Award winning author, Mark Brown, who writes under the pen-name, J-me, invites you to receive your free subscription to the Mason Bricklin Newsletter. Each family friendly monthly issue features a humorous short story, and articles about family, writing, internet marketing, and the amazing creation. Or visit his humorous books and stories site which features his award winning humorous book, Mason Bricklin: http://www.masonbricklin.net.

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