Book Marketing – Advertising Challenges (part 1 of 3)

“…it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.” - David Ogilvy Ogilvy’s aphorism is absolutely true for books, one of the purist forms of creativity. Unless a new author composes only for themselves or is arrogant enough to expect that their readership will form spontaneously, they … Continue reading Book Marketing – Advertising Challenges (part 1 of 3) →

Book Marketing – Desperation

Future posts will explore book marketing’s complexities, but first let’s acknowledge the central challenge for writers after they’ve created their work: getting someone, please God, anyone to read it. Unless you’re writing for your bottom drawer, you’ll need to alert a potential readership about your work’s existence and appeal. This applies to both traditionally and … Continue reading Book Marketing – Desperation →

Book Marketing – Signings and Readings

Authors use signings and readings to promote their books. I’ll describe this impactful tool. Though I write literary fantasy novels (The Lords of Oblivion), the descriptions below are broadly relevant across genres, fiction or non-fiction, debut writer or veteran author. Like any other part of book marketing, planning is vital. Perhaps the biggest challenge for … Continue reading Book Marketing – Signings and Readings →

The Book Reviewer’s Role in Self-publishing

With about 700,000 books self-published annually and another 300,000 traditionally published, awareness of your book is a real challenge. No one reads most books. Reviewers may create visibility by validating your book’s quality, so they're an important part of your book marketing campaign.

What This Blog is About

This site’s postings are about 1) writing a novel; 2) publishing/marketing said novel; and 3) book reviews that inform me about how other authors have gone about writing their work. The creative and business worlds intersect awkwardly. This is particularly true for the literary scene. My posts don’t comprehensively look at this nexus; they do … Continue reading What This Blog is About →