Now the Real Work Begins

Now that my first novel has been published as an ebook, the hard part of writing is going on.  Marketing.  Networking, getting the word out that a new book, my book, is available and ready for reading.  There is a lot to it.  From what I've read, even if I had gone with a traditional publishing house a lot of the marketing would be up to me anyway, so this is a good experience in what to do.

My younger son is a videographer and will be making a book trailer for me.  Also, I wrote a short story with the characters and situation from my book and offered it for free on Smashwords.com.  A lot of readers have downloaded that, and I am hoping that they will enjoy the characters of Maeve and Kate and want to read more of their adventures and get the book.

I am also planning on a giveaway contest sometime in the future here to generate more interest in the book.  I'd like to see if anyone would be interested in seeing this as a series.  I already have three outlines for these characters and am anxious for the opportunity to revisit them.

And on top of that I did something I swore I'd never do ... I joined Twitter.  Mark Coker, president of Smashwords, says it is an excellent marketing tool.  I'm still exploring how to use that effectively, so the jury's still out on that.  So if my time wasn't tight enough I'm revising my next manuscript, which is a romance novel, and preparing it for publication, and trying to find time to work on my next novel. 

Too bad I have to do laundry, fix meals, clean the house and -- oh yeah, sleep.  Wish me luck!