Get the Word Out--Promoting Your Book

Promotion is the subject today. Promoting your books, that is. Big Publishers get their books into bookstores. Even some independent publishers can do that. But not small publishers. Particularly not small POD publishers. Or even big POD publishers. That's because bookstores don't want to pay upfront for the books they stock on their shelves. And that's just what you have to do for a POD book. Pay first, that is.

Bookstores also want to be able to send back any books that don't sell after a particular amount of time. You can't do that with POD books. So if you are published with a POD publisher, (like I am,) then you won't have your books in any bookstores.

So what can you do then? Here's what. Get the Word Out. You have to tell people about your book. But then those people have to read it. And after they read it, they have to tell other people about it. Then those people have to read it, and so on and so forth.

You see, if you tell people about your book, but then they don't read it, that's the same as if you never told them in the first place. It's as if you said, Hey I wrote this book, check it out. But then that person said, Oh that's great, but never checks it out. It was all for nothing. No progress, no promotion, and no word getting out.

It only works if the people you tell about your book actually buy and then READ your book. Of course it will help a lot if they then LIKED the book. I mean REALLY liked it. Not just say they liked it. It's like they might say, Oh, yeah, I read the book, it was great, but they really didn't give a darn about it at all, and they won't tell anyone else anything. Again, no progress is made, and no promotion is ongoing.

They really do have to 1-BUY your book, 2-READ your book, 3-LIKE your book, and 4-TELL OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT your book, which is a very good reason your book better be a story that people will like and want to tell other people about.

It goes without saying that the author likes it, Otherwise that author wouldn't have written it. But there's another factor involved. It might actually be a good story, but not written well or not written well enough to tell the story in a way that will make other people like it. That's up to the writer, the talent that writer has in his or her ability to write well. But that comes with experience, too.

It's like I've said about everything. The more you do it the better you get. That goes for writing, and I suppose for promotion, too. I just need to get better at promotion now. Hopefully I can. But HOW? Keep telling people about the books. Use FACEBOOK, and don't be like I was before, meaning very picky about who I friended on Facebook. The more friends the better. Even people I've never met before. Even complete strangers. You never know. That one person who you never knew before might just be the person who was the catalyst at getting the word out about your book!