Now That You’ve Written the Book

By Rick Frishman - Nov 23 , 2007

How many times have you heard so-called experts on book publicity solemnly warn, “Now that you’ve written your book, the hard work begins.”

We’ve all heard that comment over and over again—but don’t listen to it! Don’t let the doomsayers scare you off!

We’re here to show you the other side of the picture, the bright side—that promoting your book can be lots of fun. And, when it’s fun, it can be more successful, considerably more successful.

After authoring and promoting many books, we’re here to testify that the writing is the hard part; it’s slow, solitary, exacting work. It’s constant writing, rewriting, checking, rechecking, editing, and re-editing deep into the night until your mind is mush and your fingers feel like linguini as they bounce off all the wrong keys. Writing a book requires intense concentration, dedication, and discipline. Plus, when you reread it in the morning, it often makes no sense.

After you’ve written your book, the real fun begins—if you let it. The load gets lifted, the juices kick in, the adrenaline flows, and the best ideas come screaming out of your mind at incredible speed. Your focus becomes sharp, all that creativity you had when you began writing (and you feared was lost forever) pops back up and soars to absolute peaks. Finally, after what seemed like eons writing your book, you’re no longer glued to your computer; you can break loose and end your confinement. Suddenly, excitement reigns, and it’s time to throw off the shackles and have fun.

Be Imaginative

Yes, promoting a book can be a big, even a huge job. Jerry Jenkins, chairman and CEO of JGI, a family of publishing service companies, says, “Producing the book is 5 percent of the work, but promoting it is 95 percent.”

Why does it take so much? Because creating and running a publicity campaign involve planning and focus and require you to seamlessly execute a million coordinated steps. Yes, it can be plenty of work, but it may be the difference between making your book–and your writing career–a success or a bomb.

Without publicity, most readers will probably never learn about you or your book. But with publicity, they can. Through publicity, you can sculpt your campaign to create the exact impression you want the public to get and sell lots of books.

The key to successful book publicity is approaching it positively, with excitement—to open up and expand that creativity that you may have suppressed or never even knew you had. Turn the work that lies ahead into an enjoyable, creative experience, to eliminate the drudgery and increase your chances of doing a fabulous job. Produce a campaign that truly reflects you and will become a big hit with the media and the book buyers.

Unleash your creativity. Break free of your chains and open up your mind by following these simple guidelines:

1. Forget about ‘reality,’ logic, and limits. Instead, focus on your dreams, your wildest, craziest, most unrealistic ideas.
2. Expand upon those thoughts. Let your imagination fly.
3. Picture yourself on Oprah, being featured in People magazine, presenting at the Academy Awards or being honored as the person of the year. Unleash your imagination, break through all boundaries, shoot for the stars, and go for the gold.

Visualize Your Dream

Actually see and feel every detail of your vision. Picture yourself in your dream situations: standing in response to thunderous applause from the balcony of the Kennedy Center, while your three favorite entertainers salute you from the stage before they begin reciting passages from your books. Seated around you are the other award winners and the President and the First Lady; they’re all smiling, staring admiringly at you, and clapping loudly.

Visualize what it’s like to sit behind a table at a bookstore and see a long procession of people waiting to have you sign their copy of your book. Imagine the thrill of seeing your book being read by total strangers and stumbling across rave reviews in the press. What could be better than hearing Katie Couric tell you how hard she laughed at page 43? Think how proud and happy your mother would be!

Robyn Says

My appearances on an Atlanta talk show helped to position my career in the media. After paying my dues with many highly rated appearances and years of hard work, a CNN producer contacted the local talk show I was on to find a seasoned gift-and-toy reporter and my producer recommended me.

I prepared nonstop for my CNN debut. I made sure that I knew my material cold, that I triple-checked all facts, and that my delivery was crisp and had pizzazz. The news anchor introduced me as the author of my latest book, and we had a terrific interview. After my appearance, congratulatory calls poured in and I began receiving invitations to appear repeatedly in the national media. Five-minute segments turned into hour-long shows on Talk Back Live and even specials with me focusing on my books.

I feel fortunate to have received such wonderful attention and I’ve worked to establish a strong national platform.

It’s given my books quality attention and features on many print, radio, and television outlets, including the Today show, CNN, and an endless array of media. While it was important for me as an author to have venues to share my books, I have always focused on the benefit of the content that I offered viewers. If your take-away message is strong and you provide a prescriptive insight into a subject area, that’s the key to being a success in the media.

It’s also a marvelous opportunity to connect with wonderful individuals who are dedicated to educating others. I feel truly lucky to be an author and am grateful to all the talented people who have helped me throughout the years.