Getting the Word Out

Getting the Word Out

Traditional publishers have something great going for them: distribution. They can get your book out in stores across the nation...well, the stores that still exist. Plus online, of course, with Barnes and Noble and Amazon and so on. The indie publisher doesn't have that.

However, if you're publishing a POD* or an ebook, the problem isn't exactly distribution. Customers come to you, or your POD publisher, for the books. No, your problem is letting people know the books even exist.

So what's the best publicity? Writers use Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, for one thing, networking to let people know. And Goodreads and other sites. However, it's slow going. We're still in the shakedown part of the cruise to e-publishing, and the fact is there is no really influential review site for e-books, at least not in the way the New York Times Book Review is influential in the traditional publishing scene.

It will come, somehow, in some shape or form. It's just not here yet. One way that the word can get out, I think, is by encouraging your readers to "tell two others." Word of mouth can't be beat for effectiveness and economy!

If only readers who read and like an author would do that - simply email two friends and say, "Hey, I think you'll like this book" - look how exponentially that could possibly grow. Maybe you should keep it in mind, and when you read a book you like, email two friends and recommend. I wonder what would happen.

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POD="print on demand," of course. I know you knew that, but possibly someone else didn't.