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If you’ve ever wanted to become a published author but were afraid to send your manuscript after publishing to publishing and waiting for those inevitable rejection letters, then take heart. Self-publishing is not only hotter than ever, it’s easier than ever, thanks in no small part to platforms like Amazon Kindle. Do you have a book in you but don’t know where to start to get it published? Here’s everything you need to know so you can get your book published and seen by thousands of Amazon shoppers.

Step 1: Start writing your book.

This step is quite simple. Do you have a great story? Write it down, preferably in a word processing programme such as Microsoft Word. This makes it easier to format your book for publication, but if you’re using a different word processor, that’s fine too. Just write your book and make it as good and professional as possible. This may mean spending some time polishing it, letting someone else edit it, or rewriting parts that don’t make sense. Self-publishing isn’t an excuse for bad grammar or weak storytelling, but perfection isn’t necessary either. Just tell a good story, with as few noticeable grammar and spelling mistakes as possible.

Step 2: Prepare your book for the Kindle.

Amazon has a set of formatting guidelines that are long and can be confusing, but if you take the time to read through them and implement them step-by-step, you can get a perfectly formatted book that won’t look like trash when published. If you ask, “What is formatting?” simply put your book in a format that Amazon’s publishing system can understand and display correctly. Well-formatted books look nice on the page, don’t have strange spaces between paragraphs, etc. You can find Kindle formatting guidelines on Amazon’s Kindle Layout page*.

If you’re not sure about formatting your book yourself, you can try paying someone to do it for you. Freelance websites such as oDesk and Elance often have freelancers who will prepare your book for a fee. Fiverr is another platform where people are willing to do this service for you for the palatial sum of five bucks, but be sure to read the reviews of anyone you hire to make sure they’ve done a good job in the past.

Step 3: Make your book available on Amazon.

Once your book is formatted, you can go to the Kindle Direct Publishing page and start publishing your book. This can be exciting and nerve-wracking, but be sure to take your time when doing this. When you submit your eBook, you must fill out each piece of information correctly so that it can be approved and put on the right list.

Among the things to look out for when publishing your book, you must choose whether to publish under your own name or a pseudonym, you must choose in which category and subcategory your book will appear, and you must set the book. Amazon has two tiers of royalty, so it’s a good idea to learn more about each, and about the Kindle Select program, which makes your book available exclusively to Amazon before publishing it.

Be sure to enter your name and title information exactly as you want it to appear in the book and on Amazon, or you may have trouble finding your book once it’s published. You also need to choose a way to get paid for your sales, so make sure you enter that information correctly as well.

Upload your book and decide if you want to use a book cover you made with Amazon’s cover maker, or if you want to use one that you uploaded. Fiverr is a great place to get cheap covers, but make sure to be specific in your requests and only use photos you’re entitled to.

Covers are important, as shoppers only see a small version when purchasing books online. Bright, bold, and professional covers get more attention than messy, DIY versions with poor graphics and too many words in the title. If you need inspiration, check out the bestsellers on Amazon and see what their covers look like.

Submit your book and wait for approval.

Once you’ve submitted your book, Amazon will review it and let you know if there are any formatting issues or other issues preventing your book from being made available. The review process usually takes between 24 and 48 hours, and once it’s ready, you’ll receive an email notification that your book is available for sale.

Step 5: Celebrate and advertise!

Once your book is available for sale on Amazon, tell everyone you know! Ask friends and family to read and review for you, and offer free copies to unbiased people for honest reviews and critiques. Don’t be afraid of negative feedback as you can always make changes to your book and resubmit it if there are major issues.

Market your book on social media, build a website to promote it and your upcoming books, and generally tell the world about your book to generate interest and sales. The most important thing is that you are proud of yourself. Not everyone gets around to publishing a book, and you have something nice to celebrate.

You may want to consider making your book available in a paperback version so that people can buy it and have a physical copy. Amazon ‘s Createspace platform can do this for you too. It’s a great way to give your readers more options and build a bigger fan base by selling the book locally in bookstores.

Introduction

To become or remain financially successful as a self-publisher, you must be able to get your marketing message to your book-buying audience quickly and effectively. The sales page of your book is an excellent tool for this. It’s a perfect marketing tool for offline and online marketing because it’s easy to understand and straight to the point.

And, as The Professor likes to say, it’s “no hassle, no fuss, no waste, no hassle” for you or the buyer. He’s got a lot of insightful gems like that. I hear them all the time. He’s got one for every situation imaginable. But he’s a very wealthy business genius, so we’re all listening.)

Here are the five essential elements to optimise your sales sheet:

The first optimization tip is to keep things simple.

The genius of a sales magazine is that it is quick and easy to read. It is supposed to convey the most important and relevant information about your book in a short, simple, and obvious format. And it should be attractive to look at and read while doing all that. All the information on the sales sheet should relate only to your book. No unnecessary information is needed. In other words, don’t exaggerate or exaggerate.

Ask yourself: “What information is absolutely necessary to help the buyer make the decision to learn more about my book, or to buy it directly?” Get to it soon. You only have about 30 seconds to hold the person reading your sales sheet. Use every inch of it very wisely.

Tip #2: Make your book stand out from the crowd.

You have all heard about differentiation a million times before. Set yourself, your message, and your book apart from your competition. You already know this. If you didn’t already know how to differentiate yourself, your message, and your book from your competition BEFORE you wrote your book, you have much bigger problems that a sales slip can’t solve.

Your message that you want or need to share with your readership, and how you write about it, should be reflected in your book’s sales page. Look at yourself, your message, and your book from the perspective of your audience, your readers, and your customers. Now show them that you and your book are different, or better, or more insightful on the subject of your book than your competition.

3rd Optimization Tip: Create a Visual Hierarchy

By “visual hierarchy,” I mean that the reader’s eyes should be drawn to the most important item on your sales sheet first. This item, whether text or photo, will likely be the largest item on the page. This could be, for example, the cover of the book. Or the title of the book at the top. You should get the idea here.

Then their eyes should be drawn to the second most important item on your sales sheet. Perhaps this is a word or statement on the subject of the book. The text here may be larger or more colourful than the other text on the page. Then on to the third most important piece of information you want the reader to see. And so on.

Usually, these items start at or near the top of the page, where most people view them for the first time. And when you look at a computer screen, it’s almost always from top to bottom. Your goal is to make your sales sheet easy to read and easy for the reader to find their way around.

Support Your Claims

The person reading your book will decide within seconds whether you are qualified to write this book and help them with their problems. Again, look at yourself, your book, and your sales sheet from the reader’s perspective.

Then ask yourself some questions: “Is this person credible? Does this person look and sound like they can help me with my problems? help me improve my life? Help me find the answers I need? ” Does he have credible credentials to prove he can write on the subject of this book? “

Remember that every word and picture on that sheet can help or hurt your credibility. It’s up to you to convey your claims about your book, and about you, to the reader in such a believable way. Too much embellishment, or boasting, and you’ll lose them-in a matter of seconds-and they won’t come back.

Optimization tip #5: Make the call-to-action (CTA) simple.

By ‘easy’, I mean KEEP IT SIMPLE. Offer the reader several straightforward ways to contact you and get more information about you and your book. This could be your phone number at your office. It could be an email address addressed directly to you. The bare minimum you must have is a link to your book’s website or landing page. It could also be a link to the book’s Amazon page.

If your book is for sale at bookstores, libraries, and universities, you should mention that your book is available through, for example, book distributors Ingram and Baker and Taylor. Keep in mind how your book’s demographics, or readers, buyers, customers, or customers, are most likely to want to contact you.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to have more than one sales sheet for your book. For example, you can create one that is more geared towards your customers who visit your office. One for the people who read your blog. And you can make one for libraries and schools. You wrote the book, so you already know who your audience is for your book.

Your book’s sales sheet can help you give your audience the right message that is most likely to resonate with them and help them make the decision to buy your book.

When people get bored, one of the coolest things they do is pick up a book and indulge in reading it. Since then, books have been made not only to teach people important things, but also to help people pass the time and feel calm.

Nowadays, you can find bookshops everywhere. Some are small bookstores, others are big enough to tour around in a day. And with the advent of technology, books have now become digital. There is no need for people to go to a bookstore to buy books because now they can buy them online and download the file and save it to read. It’s a lot easier these days than it used to be, and the way you want to read a book depends entirely on your own preferences.

For some, a bound book is the best read, but for others, they prefer a digital copy of it. Whatever your preferences, the most important thing is to know which book to read.

Of course, people want to read interesting books as people want to learn and be entertained at the same time. So if you are a book lover and looking for ways to find the most interesting book to read next, here are some tips for you:

Stay informed.

Leave long-published stories and information and check out the latest available books that are making a buzz among the book-loving community.

It would be worth an investment if you went for books that are interesting and fresh at the same time. You will be seduced not only by new writing styles but also by stories that are more relevant today.

Make time for research and note the interesting books that have been published recently. You can even try reading the synopsis of each book first to see if the book really interests you before hitting the “add to cart” button.

Read reviews

Once you have your list with you, the next thing to do is read reviews of every interesting book you find. Reviews are very reliable as they are mostly honest experiences and opinions written by verified readers. This should give you an idea of what the book is about and what to expect at the end.

It is also a good way to listen to and learn from the negative reviews. Especially if you are a reader with a lot of preferences, reviews would really help a lot in making a decision. Reviews help you know if the book fits your interests or not.

Unlike in the past, when reviews were hard to come by, people can now visit many review sites over the Internet and read reviews about a particular book written by readers. If you have internet access, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Recommendations

Aside from researching and reading reviews, one of the ways to find an interesting book to read is through recommendations. If you know someone, a friend, or a family member who is a book just like you, you might as well approach them and ask for recommendations.

Recommendations are the same as reviews, but this gives you the opportunity to ask in detail what the book is about. Especially if you know the person well, you can ask questions about the content of the book, the writing style, the author, and their general reading experience as a whole.

If you are not that familiar with the book that is recommended to you, no problem! Don’t forget to ask if there are any questions and do your research beforehand.

ads

Ads still work, which is why many people still rely on them. Advertisements can take various forms, such as online advertisements, media, and flyers. You would expect books to be advertised in different ways. So, to find out more about interesting books to read, try to pay attention to the advertisements you find.

They are certainly everywhere—magazines, newspapers, billboards, TV, social media, and online shopping sites. Advertisements often contain detailed information about the book; therefore, they are also a good source.

These are some tips for finding an interesting book to read. When it comes to finding interesting books, always remember that not everyone has the same preferences as you. You could say the book isn’t interesting enough, according to their preferences, but in the end, it might turn out to be interesting for you anyway. While information is helpful, the ultimate decision should ultimately come from you.

I am George Patt, a passionate writer, photographer, traveler, and addict to technology. Proud father of three wonderful sons. 

I have always enjoyed visiting bookstores. I followed my brother-in-law into used bookstores for years. He started collecting books in the 1980s when he was on the West Coast.

While I loved flipping through books, I knew nothing about what made a book a collector’s item. I didn’t understand then why my brother-in-law was interested in picking up Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses for a few bucks at a used bookstore… but now I am!

When the Internet took off in the late 1990s, my brother-in-law showed me how to look up book prices using Advanced Book Exchange (abebooks.com) and eBay. He gave me many more tips for collecting books.

So… in 1998, I decided to start collecting books.

Here are the book collecting tips I’ve learned since:

1) A book must be a first edition (also known as a first printing) to be collected.

How do you know that? Well, open the book to about the third page—usually the page after the title page—the copyright page.

Look near the bottom of the page. There will normally be a line with numbers from one to 10. (i.e. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0).

If you see a number line with a “1” in it, it’s a first edition.

Nearly 80% of modern publishers use a number line to show how many copies have been printed.

If there is no number line, look for the words “first edition” or “first printing” or “first published”. For older books, it is best to consult one of the many books on the identification of the first printing.

2) The condition of the book has a significant impact on its value.

Book condition is crucial to the value of a book. Reading a book only once can cause stains, tears, or chafing that can reduce the value by 30-50% or more. The highest grades in a book are called “Very Fine” (essentially flawless) or “Fine. The condition of the dust jacket is very important these days, as the dust jacket can account for up to 75% of the value of a book.

I always try to buy books where the book and dust jacket look essentially new (these are described as “fine” or “fine”).

3) An author’s first book is usually the most valuable book he or she writes.

The publisher is taking a gamble on a new, untested author. So only a small number of books are printed, possibly only a few thousand books. If the author receives rave reviews and the first printing is sold out, the publisher may request a second printing with more books. Also, sign the author up for a second book.

The author’s next book will likely have a first-print run of … two to three times that of the author’s first book. You can see that due to supply and demand, the value of the first book will be higher…perhaps much higher than the second book!

4) Collect hardcover books.

The commercial hardcover is usually the first book sold. It will last much longer than the paperback, which will yellow over time and the pages will become brittle. Paperbacks can come out six months to a year later. Paperbacks are made to be read. Some may choose to collect them, but not me. The same goes for book club editions. These books are shorter, thinner, and have no price on the dust jacket.

I buy paperbacks to read, not to collect!

5) Choose books from the following categories: Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Mystery.

What does genre (pronounced zhahn’-ruh) mean? It is a category or style that can refer to movies (for example, horror movies), music, or books. Books in other genres, such as history or biographies, can also be very collectible. But they may not reach the heights of value that the genres of fiction can.

6) Book Costs

Books that have won book awards are often highly collectible and valuable. In particular… Be on the lookout for an author’s first book to win an award.

7) Popular Books Might Be Worth Collecting

A book collecting tip to consider is collecting books that have good book reviews, are on bestseller lists, or if the book will be made into a movie.

8-Signed books

Books signed by the author generally increase the value of a book by 20 to 100%. Early in their career, authors sign more books… and less as they become more famous. As a result, later signed books by well-known authors can be quite valuable — even if many first editions were printed.

Keep an eye on your local newspaper for author signing events. There are fewer independent bookstores today… But many are able to stay in business and prosper thanks to famous authors who come to sign.

9) A book is more valuable in the country where it was first published.

Often, the same book is published in both the US and the UK. If it’s published first in the UK, it’s called the “true first” and has more value. Books published in the UK and Canada are printed in lower numbers due to their small populations—this makes them more valuable.

10) In major bookstores, valuable first editions can be found on the bargain shelves.

Publishers give discounts on books that no longer sell well or that have been reprinted too often. First editions of authors’ first or second books can sometimes be found…for six or seven dollars. Often without a remainder character (which decreases the book value) at the bottom or top of the text block,

Let’s say you want to know how to self-publish a book, and you want to do it in the cheapest and best way possible. Is this contradictory?

On my website at Write and publish your book, the two questions I get asked the most are how to self-publish a book and how to do it on a small budget. Coincidentally, they also want to know how best to do this.

But now let’s focus on the question of the best and cheapest way to publish a book. In fact, these are two completely different questions. The first question is, “What’s the best way to get my book published?” Then the second question should be, “What’s the cheapest way to get my book published?”

See, most of the people who ask me this question are really just new to the business. It’s a perfectly legitimate question, especially if you’ve toiled two or three months writing your book (again, the timeline for writing a quality book is the subject of another essay). So let’s separate these two questions.

What’s the best way to publish a book?

Write an excellent must-read book that is unique, provocative, controversial, a literary masterpiece, or endorsed by someone like Oprah. No really. That’s the best way to publish a book.

Take, for example, Joseph Finder, author of Paranoia, the best-selling corporate espionage book. He’d had moderate success with his earlier well-written CIA suspense novels, but hadn’t made it big until he accidentally created an entirely new genre with Paranoia. In his words, “All I did was try something new—a thriller with a fresh setting and a new cast of characters.”

Or how about Nora Raleigh Baskin, a popular writer of middle-class novels such as In the Company of Crazies (HarperCollins)? She’d had a knee-high stack of rejection letters until she wrote the book she’d always wanted to write—not because she wanted to be published, but because she wanted to write this particular book. That one book, which she wrote from her heart, set her on the path to a successful writing career.

Many people have a great idea for a book, and many of these books come from their life experiences. They have no experience as writers, but the strange thing is that they almost always ask about publishing the book before it is written.

Even when they ask how to self-publish a book, they are still thinking in terms of publishing their bestseller before even determining if there is a market for the book!

For example, do you remember the story about the man who had to cut off his own arm with a blunt knife to save his life? Aron Ralston didn’t just come up with the idea of writing his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place. His story was popularised well before the book was ever written.

Compare that to the woman who wants to write about her experiences with domestic violence. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story. As much as I’d like to see an end to this terrible disease, the story won’t necessarily sell books.

And selling books, that’s what it comes down to. Is your book sold? That’s the ultimate question you need to answer if you want your book published. The question of the marketability of your book applies whether you are self-publishing your book or trying to sell your book to a publisher. Either way, it has to sell or it’s not going anywhere.

That said, let’s go back to the original question: what’s the best way to get my book published?

Self-publishing or traditional publishing?

There is no easy answer to this question, and the answer you get will depend on who you ask. I think a lot depends on you, the genre of your book, your experience as a writer and in sales, and your intentions for the book.

Self-publishing is ideal for a businessman who wants to use the book as part of his or her overall business strategy. It’s a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field (assuming the book is well written and informative). The book can be “re-used” in e-books, teleclasses (conference telephone calls), webinars (seminars held over the telephone and the Internet), and ultimately advanced courses that sell for thousands of dollars. So, the book is printed at a loss and is usually given away to people who attend the seminar.

Self-publishing is also an option for novelists who truly believe in their work but are unable to find a publisher because they are new.The key here is that you have at least tried to sell your book to a traditional publisher.

Self-publishing with the goal of eventually publishing with a major publisher will take a tremendous amount of energy and perseverance to market and sell your book. If you can prove that the book sells, you will find a publisher. Just putting it on Amazon won’t do anything. You definitely need to work on the marketing of your book.

There are many self-publishing options, ranging from “free” (Lulu) to several thousand dollars. Perhaps the worst option is to go with the so-called “Vanity” press. These are companies that will publish your book for two to ten thousand dollars, print 2500 or more copies, and do a minimal amount of marketing. You’re stuck with a garage full of books and an empty wallet. Beware of companies that want to print your book in bulk.

Lulu is the most popular, but has its own cost. Most books published on Lulu don’t sell more than 10 copies in total. The books are amateurish, with homemade covers that look like something the dog has chewed on. The printing quality is good, but the printing prices are steep. For a fee, you can have Amazon list your book and give it an ISBN.

On the other hand, you can buy your own ISBN for a little more money and have your book printed at Lightning Source for a lot less money per book. You will earn back your investment with less than 100 printed books.

Then there’s everything in between, including “Print on Demand” book publishers who create the cover, edit your book, and format the inside of the book to look professional. Some POD publishers simply publish your book as is. You take care of the cover and the layout of the interior.

Keep in mind that you generally get what you pay for, although some POD publishers charge you high fees for what is somewhat like a marketing plan. Make sure you compare the options properly.

Traditional publishing

Expect rejection. Seriously, the vast majority of books submitted to both large and small traditional publishers (publishers that pay you upfront or don’t charge you upfront) are rejected. It is a fact of life simply because they are in it to make money. If they think the book won’t sell, they’ll turn it down.

The best way to ensure success is to write a beautiful, clever, provocative, inspiring, and brilliant book. No, let me take that back. The best way to ensure success is to already be someone who is popular, well-known, famous, or influential. Think of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, or Paris Hilton (fear the thought).

If you’re writing a nonfiction book, it’s best to be someone important, have a sales track record, or have excellent references. If you’re none of these, consider co-authoring your book with someone who fits the criteria above.

Do your marketing research beforehand for non-fiction or a memoir. If you can go into your book proposal or query letter armed with documented evidence that people are buying your type of book AND that yours puts an interesting and unique twist on a highly relevant topic, then you will grab their attention.

You must write an excellent proposal. I’ve been billed thousands to write nonfiction book proposals (and I have a track record of success). It takes time to write a compelling lead that draws them to the benefits of publishing your book and to follow that up with a comprehensive plan for marketing your book. For non-fiction, you should have written two solid sample chapters.

But what about writing fiction?

The first thing you need is a good, well-written, and interesting book. We recently had a novel writing contest on the site, and you’d be amazed at how many of the books were grammatically flawed and poorly written.

What do people think? This is clearly not you. So take your great book and write an even better question letter. You have to get your book written. Don’t say “it’s almost done,” or that “I’m considering writing…” Ideally, you’ll have read about a dozen draughts of your book before sending it to someone.

It’s much easier to get your book published if you’re already published. But don’t worry if you are new. There are ways…and there are certainly ways to do it on a shoestring budget. You can have the cheapest and you can have the best, but you’ll have to work to have both!

Too many authors spend all their time writing and then cut back on book design and book marketing. They hope their publisher takes care of all the details of book design and book marketing so they can sit back year after year and bring in the millions.

If those same authors then decide to self-publish, they will quickly get lost in the quagmire of print-on-demand publishers and the time and money gap of self-publishing. In fact, most authors would rather die than think about book marketing or spend money on book design.

Facing Your Book Marketing Competition

According to Bowker, who collects publication statistics, about 172,000 books were published with an ISBN number in 2005. An ISBN number will get you into Books in Print, and your book can be distributed to bookstores and online sites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. According to some sources, nearly a quarter of these books were printed by Print-on-Demand (POD) companies.

I would estimate that number to be much higher, as many small publishers have their books printed by Lightning Source, which also handles many of the larger POD companies.

In addition, Lulu Press, which publishes more than 1,500 books a week, says that only about 5% of their books are given an ISBN. That’s another 80,000 books on the market every year, though most of Lulu’s books are only sold on their website, Lulu Press.

The definition of “bestseller” has changed.

It only takes 300 book sales to make it onto Lulu’s top 100 bestsellers list of all time. 300 books! For some people, that can be accomplished simply by selling books to their extended family. While AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, and other major players in the POD market may be printing more books with ISBNs, their sales records aren’t much better.

Some sources estimate that the average book sells no more than 150 copies, and other sources estimate that number at fewer than 50 copies. In many cases, authors lose money on their books, which is why Lulu Press is so popular. At Lulu, you can upload your book’s interior and cover (you do all the design work), and you’ll have a book on your doorstep in a matter of days—all for the “printing costs” (which are very high, by the way).

The services and prices of POD companies vary widely, which is why we are in the final stages of creating a comprehensive guide to self-publishing. It can be a confusing morass of information and data with many unsubstantiated claims. The truth will be revealed.

Will you be one of the winners, or part of the majority?

Will your book be dead before it hits the streets? If you plan to sell more than 50 books, you will need to invest time—and money—in producing and marketing your book. Here are the basic steps to consider:

1. Create a great book with an audience.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming that people read their books just because they’re “good.” People will read a book if it either applies to their lives (non-fiction), or if it’s a really good book (fiction). Even then, you need to market your book. “How to sell a book” or “How to market a book” are two of the most frequently asked questions we get, and search engine analysis shows these are common search terms. If you didn’t write your book with an audience in mind, then you’re sitting on three legs on your four-legged marketing stool.

2. Spend some money on book design and editing.

The second leg of book marketing is the interior and exterior design of the book. People judge a book by its cover, so if you don’t spend some money on an excellent cover, you lose business. Then people will open the book and read the introduction or the first few pages. Is it well written? Easy to read? Is the interior book design clean, consistent, and well implemented? I’ve seen a lot of POD books where the margins were too small, the fonts poorly chosen, and the images blurry. Who is going to buy such a book?

There are many great book cover designers out there. Then contact Charity at Mighty Pen Editing for your editing needs before editing. Don’t skimp on the editing, because you WILL make mistakes (trust me on this-there are probably a few in this article).

3. Select a high-quality publisher.

Lulu Press is great if you just want to print a few books for your friends or make an inexpensive galley to send to editors, agents, or distributors. You are often asked to send a “galley” of your book. This is simply a printed copy of your book with a blank cover. Lulu Press is great for making galleys at a minimal cost.

As we’ll show you in our forthcoming comprehensive guide to self-publishing, which POD company you choose will depend on your intentions and desires. If you want to have your book professionally edited and the cover professionally designed by your publisher (rather than outsourcing it to an unknown person), companies like Cold Tree Press may be a good choice. Other companies offer a varied level of marketing packages. Personally, I’d rather not have these publishers market my book and instead go to a good book marketing expert or media specialist.

But there are a few small publishers (like Cold Tree Press or Arbor Books) that have excellent book marketing packages ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars (you get what you pay for!).

4. Approach book marketing with no holds barred.

Spend some money on publicity and book marketing if your book is your life or an important part of your business marketing plan. Too many people, especially business people, write a book, put a page on their website (and on Amazon) and hope they sell something. Your book is like a 250-page business card and should be used accordingly.

If your book is your life story or a novel, you will still have to spend some money on marketing, although your approach will be different. Be sure to check in with a media relations specialist (Marika Flatt at http://www.prbythebook.com) or a book marketing specialist (Penny Sansevieri).

5. Market Your Book on the Internet.

The old ways of marketing books, such as book tours, are dead and gone. Sure, you can still do them, but if you really want to sell books, you need to go online — and not quietly.

Use techniques such as blogging (blogging), podcasting, and videocasting (something like online infomercials). Be sure to check out the advanced book marketing teleseminar series at http://www.writeandpublishyourbook.com. You should also learn how to do a virtual book tour (a class that Penny Sansevieri will teach through Write and Publish Your Book).

So write a great book, find a good book cover designer and book editor, partner with a quality publisher, market your book, and use the internet to market your book with podcasts, blogging (an author’s blog), videocasts, and virtual book tours .