"Please recognize: getting your beloved title noticed has approximately the same odds as finding a random person in the city of Chicago."

If you are lucky enough to have finished your novel, polished and perfected, and you’re poised to release it to the world, hold on. Don’t leave your marketing plan to the last minute! There’s no mystery as to why publishers wait a year or more to release a book. It takes time and a specialized approach to promote every work of fiction or non-fiction.

Pauline Wiles (brilliantauthor.com) has some down-to-earth advice on mistakes you can avoid when marketing your book. Here are some of the highlights:

Key book marketing mistakes that you can avoid

1. Lack of authentic, realistic goals

2. Publishing first, marketing after

3. Over-estimating how excited everyone else should be!

4. Not investing the time, tools, and effort that book marketing really needs, over a long horizon

5. Asking the wrong questions (in the wrong places) about book marketing

6. Trying to sell your book in the wrong places

“Getting traction for your book is not a piece of cake. It never was, and it certainly isn’t now.”

Whether you are traditionally published or self-published, the biggest lift on the promotion strategy will be on your shoulders. A traditional publisher will be key to your launch, but for the life of that book, you will be the main promoter.

Not everyone who has written a beautiful book has the skill to market it. Many reach out to marketing professionals who can use their expertise and contacts to target your audience. Take the time to research these marketing groups. Ask for references, especially past clients who write books in your genre. How were their sales? Were they worth the fees?

Check out PNWA member Jennifer Nilsen’s post: How to Avoid Book Marketing Scams