Education Never Ends

"Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last." Arthur Conan Doyle

This famous quotation; by Arthur Conan Doyle, could I suppose be loosely applied to today's self publisher as, even without specialized knowledge or training; the more one does something, the better one becomes at it.

Let us consider a little more closely, some of the problems facing self published authors today. To begin with; self publishing requires a financial investment, a complete and utter dedication to writing, which, if nothing else, is time consuming, and the ability to market the finished manuscript in book form, be it eBook or in paperback version; for most of us the marketing aspect has to be learned.

If we were to switch our perspective now, from one of an author attempting to sell his work, to that of a passionate reader; searching for a particular genre of e-book to read, whilst browsing the countless book reviews to be found on the internet. But just how many book reviews will they read before finding; an inspiring title with a synopsis that thrills, a dozen... perhaps more? I doubt it. Book revues alone are not going to sell your book in appreciable quantities
.
For the author, on the other hand; finding a suitable market place to display their literary work; one that fulfills the criteria of being a hundred percent visible to eBook enthusiasts is becoming increasingly difficult, and due I believe, to the ever growing number of new authors across the literary genres.

Competition is rife, and invariably, authors today are spending vast amounts of time looking for the perfect solution; in vain I might add, as there is not just one solution, rather, what's needed is a series of carefully crafted solutions, which, when linked together; become the authors marketing stagey. How many of us, when we first put pen to paper, considered that; not only did we need to be proficient writers, but would eventually have to learn the multifaceted intricacies of global marketing; and these days it is global... I certainly didn't.

Social media groups are a good place to begin your campaign, but don't let it rest there. Free book days will help; as they will get your work read and possibly generate revues; which in turn will help to sell your book.

Creating an active and interesting Blog site where you can feature a synopsis and a chapter or two of your recently published book can work wonders. But how does one attract potential readers there? Well I can tell you that; "Come to my new blog site and read all about me, and my new book" won't do, you are going to need a far more subtle approach these days.

What you need to appreciate is; that the world and his wife are not clamoring to discover your literary genius, at least not yet. So you will need some form of strategy.

My own approach to the problem; was to create several Blog pages related to my book, and other writings, after which I focused on self publishing in a wider sense. That is to say; I provided useful links for self published authors who are in need of a high end cover image for their book, after which I ran an C G I artists "Computer Generated Image" spotlight, featuring a prize winning American C G I artist, and five of his most prolific works.

Once you have decided on a strategy, and created your Blog site, all that remains is to register with several of the more popular, and my case it was authors and writers' forums, and contribute to one or more of the topics related to; self publishing or whatever you decided on as your own area of expertise, and then, where permitted, leave a link to your Blog site. Do bear in mind though; that one visit only is hardly sufficient as a regular presence there will yield a better result.

Don't limit yourself to just one area of expertise either, explore other avenues, and broaden your horizons, and by doing so; extend your reach into that global market place.

Finally, beware of the Bear trap that offers; "10 sure fire ways to sell your book, for only $50" or, "Grow your audience by 300% in under two hours," and so on, because there are, without doubt; hundreds of, "sure fire ways to sell your book", gurus, all of whom will guarantee that their patent method is the best, which flies in the face of logic of course, as they cant all work.

The best way to sell your book is to do it yourself, and providing that you work at it conscientiously, with an unerring passion, you will begin to notice that more and more people are visiting your Blog site.

Have I sold more books since I created a Blog site? It's too early to say, but I have become more visible to prospective buyers, and the daily hits on my Blog site; do creep unquestionably, albeit gradually, higher.

Currently I am learning about "Search Engine Optimization"; S E O, as a method to make my Blog site more visible and, for those of you who don't understand S E O; as indeed I didn't, then do as I did; look it up on Google, and begin a new lesson...