You have a great education, but your training wasn't in creative writing! Still, you're feeling a strong push that won't leave you alone. Something tells you to begin forming your story in every spare moment you can find. Writing your book awakens something hibernating in you. The idea of being an author is exciting and confusing, but you're willing to learn.
Authors like you are born every day. I'd like to introduce myself by sharing my own Publishing to Sales story....maybe you can relate.
I was one of those spontaneous authors. I wrote Help Is On Its Way because I had to. I had no training in composition or marketing. But still, I wrote. I wrote from many places over a nearly two year period.
I learned how to write a query letter, and sent a few out to a agents that were listed through online networks as being interested in the subject matter of my memoir. (More details on this in future blogs.) Out of about 15 queries, I received one inquiry from a small publisher called Kunati. I mailed in my manuscript.
I wondered, if Kunati had taken 8 months just to respond to my query, how long would it take them to review and publish my manuscript, if (and that is a big if) they liked my full work?
While I waited on Kunati, I continued to edit and refine my work, feeling like the story needed more improvement. I paid two award-winning editors to review the story for its public appeal. It took me another few months to incorporate their suggestions. By the time I finished my revisions, I still had not heard from Kunati. That's when friend invited me to a local author's meetup where Lulu.com reps just happened to be present. During that meeting, I got to talk to Lulu authors, and decided to publish with Lulu.
It took many weeks to get all the print mistakes and cover art corrected. Once I did, I switched to publish with Booksurge, an Amazon.com company so that I could choose a more shelf-friendly book size and be listed on Amazon easily. It was very inexpensive to sign with Booksurge because I did all the typesetting and page numbering myself and downloaded the book as a print-ready PDF.
After the book was listed on Amazon, I worked to make a name for myself - to develop a website and brand that readers could identify with. I wrote articles, developed professional partnerships, and built a website community until my name became synonymous with the topic of childhood sensitivity and personal empowerment.
I will expound on forming partnerships, writing articles, etc. in future blogs. If you have specific questions about these free forms of marketing, please ask them in the comment section of this blog.
After 14 months, I had the fortune to be asked to speak and write on the topics of empowerment and childhood sensitivity.
This coincided with the re-release of a third edition of the memoir that included more revisions to the story and photos, based on professional feedback and experience I'd gained from the year I'd spent marketing and studying successful authors in the field.
In April of 2008 I ran a one-day Amazon.com promotion. This was a good way to form lasting partnerships with professionals in the field associated with my brand.
All along the way I studied the industry from successful authors. I now enjoy helping other authors find success much more easily and even more profitably than I did!Labels: Amazon.com, Amazon.com promotion, authors find success, Booksurge, Kunati, Lulu.com, publishing to sales, Query, successful authors
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