What not to market

If you choose to self publish your book, before you send it out, proof the book as a reader reads your book.

As a professional book reviewer, I hate seeing books that have formatting errors, typos, the wrong word choice, and more.

If the only reason you are publishing is to see your name on a book and stroke your ego, than forget about errors and look like an amateur, that’s up to you. If you take writing and your book seriously, than you need to make sure that what you make available for readers is as error fee as possible.

How to make you best book the best book possible:

• Have an error free manuscript
• Before you print the book en masse, get a copy to proof
• Have a second person read the book
• If you notice any errors, have the printer fix them
• If the book is reprinted, check it again for any errors
• Repeat steps to ensure that you book is as error free as possible

If you follow these steps, your readers will enjoy your book more than if you don’t. Most authors want to have readers for subsequent books; you won’t if you turn them off by errors and wrong word choice.

Mark Twain said about articles, which is also true for book authors, "The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say." Just substitute book for article.

The idea of a story is for the reading pleasure of the person who spends money on your book.

Do you have a marketing plan?

Once you’ve written your book, how do you plan on marketing it? Today’s publishers will be asking about your following, various platforms that you use for promotion and sales. This is part of the process that will be part of your advance from publishers. The better your marketing plan the more money, it’s that simple.
An author must wear several hats in today’s publishing environment. The author is marketer, PR person, promoter, and book seller. It is up to the author to do all of this today. The publishing houses won’t. In fact, they may not work with you at all if you don’t have some platform in place.

You will also have to begin establishing a following before your book is completed. The time to begin promotion and marketing is before you begin writing your book. There are social media sites where you can begin, but consider creating a website for the book and promote the website everywhere you can. Network with people; establish relationships, and market, market, market without being pushy of salesy.
Welcome to the publishing world. Bet you didn’t know that you need to be a salesperson as well as an author, did you?

You must also ask yourself if you want to go the route of a publishing house of self-publish. This is the author’s decision. There are numerous places to self-publish or POD to get your book on the market.

Amazon has be playing hardball with printing houses as far as having a buy button for your book if the particular house doesn’t want to follow Amazon’s rules; Amazon also has their own publishing brand.

One of the problems with self-publishing is how much the author is willing to spend for an editing package. Also, some of the publishing houses for self-publishing create books that are sub-par in design, illustration, formatting, and printing. The books are easily recognizable as self-published and that will make them hard to sell in bookstores.

Whoever you chose to publish your book, make sure you have a marketing plan and followers to entice the publishing house if you choose to traditional route to publication, and if you choose to self-publish be wary of who owns the ISBN when publishing via this route. The person that owns the ISBN technically owns the printing and how/when the book is published.

Good luck with your book.