Now that the novel's done...here comes the hard part

As you know, I've decided to self-publish a novel. On the upside, I've been able to decide exactly how the story unfolds, the word count, and even the cover art. With a traditional publisher, this probably wouldn't have been the case.

So here comes the difficult part. I'm on my own marketing this. I have no marketing department to help me - I've got to do this on my own. My work will rise or fall largely due to the work that *I* put into it. If you're considering this route on your own, you need to understand this going in.

This is at the same time scary as hell and liberating. I fret over whether I'll make my investment back, though I've luckily spent a fraction of what I see other self-published authors spend (I got pretty far without spending any money - but that's for another post). But on the other hand...nobody's calling the shots but me.

Tonight on the advice of a friend, I stopped by a local independent bookstore to drop off a comp so they could decide whether to sell my book or not. The meeting seemed to go well (I mentioned I was self-published and they didn't wave me off out of hand). I'm interested to see where this goes - there's the possibility of a book signing and getting my book onto the shelves. THAT'S exciting!

And I've sent a number of copies out for reviews...the reviews I'm seeing on Amazon.com and GoodReads have thus far been positive. Whether this trend continues (and what the people working for the blogs and newspapers think), time will tell.