That's a load, and you know it. Writing the book is damned hard, and proofing it is ten times harder. I think once your book is finished, it's more fair to say congratulations...you're half way there.
But it's no joke that marketing your work is time and labor intensive, especially for the new wave of self-publishers (such as I) who don't have the luxury of an agent or publisher to push their work. Where an established author would be setting up a book tour, speaking engagements, signings, etc., we must start at the beginning...trying to get the world to recognize us with as little capital investment as possible.
For instance, to promote my book, Murder Behind the Closet Door, I have established:
• This blog
• The StarDust Mysteries Website
• The MBTCD Facebook Page
• Two Twitter Accounts
• Two additional Blogs, including Tiki Lounge Talk dot com (dedicated to retro/tiki living)
• A Facebook Page for Tiki Lounge Talk
• A separate website dedicated to MBTCD
• A separate email account
• Accounts on various internet groups, including writing and reading groups.
You can imagine how much time it takes to update all these vehicles on a daily or even weekly basis. And remember, I am creating content, not just re-posting other peoples' work. Add to that photos, artwork, and original short stories that I create to make my posts interesting...you can see where this is going.
So the point of this post is lay down (electronically) some of the things an aspiring writer has to go through just to sell a few copies of a book. Hopefully, these efforts will pay off...as more people become aware of, buy and read the book, and the more popular I as an author become, the better chance I (or any good writer) has of getting the attention of an agent or publisher.
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