Market My Novel

The husband and wife writing team of Christine and Ethan Rose have two terrific posts about publishing today and it's future thanks to Amazon, e-books and other electronic mediums now available to struggling authors. One of Christine's most poignant comments comes in Amazon & the Future of Publishing:

The more I read, the less I want to find an agent and big publisher.
Unless a publisher offers us a HUGE advance (like $500K or more for a 5
book series + a huge marketing budget & media connections/movie
deal, all of which over 95% of their authors DO NOT get), I really
don’t see what they can do for us that we can’t do for ourselves…
except print larger runs (and accept larger returns) and take 95% of
the money.

We’ll *still* will have to do our own promotions with our own money.

I think we’ll stick with the little guy for now.

I know for nonfiction, I will self publish. That is a given. But when it comes to fiction, more and more I lean toward an electronic beginning – one that builds a fan base and  allows me to control my content. Not only that, I'm marketing myself – just like I do as a freelancer – so feast and faminine times will be expected. I'd be doing the same thing if I signed with a major publisher because newbie authors just don't get the help they need.

I know that self publishing in any way will be an uphill battle – especially for fiction. But I really don't care. Not at this point in my life. I have a business plan, a marketing strategy and copy for fans. That's all I need.

That's all YOU need, too - and the larger-than-life confidence it takes to forge ahead in this overcrowded marketplace.

Every tip and trick you see at Market My Novel and other blogs are here to help you become a literary star in your own right – whether you are with a major publisher or not. You just have to tackle marketing every day of every week.

Ethan Rose also wrote a terrific follow up post titled Industry Sub-Standards, where he rants about the state of the business today – and offers some terrific thoughts for struggling authors.