Smashwords et al...

I spent several hours last night reading the blog of a certain author who has been very successful epublishing her books. I went right back to the early days and read the sad posts, the depressed posts, the hopeful posts, the 'I wanna get off this planet' posts, the 'agents don't understand me' posts, and finally the 'woo hoo I published myself and see how successful I am' posts! It was a long but very worthwhile read.

So, it got me thinking. There were several things that this author did to get better known:

1. Firstly, and most importantly, constantly pummeled all her friends into submission until they had bought a copy of her book and written a review about it
2. Registered with several other book sites and published copies of the book there
3. Submitted the book for review at a couple of Indie author sites
4. Relentlessly marketed the hell out of the book at every opportunity

Be warned, people. My campaign starts today! I already registered and uploaded my Xannu books to Smashwords and they promise to help market to the world too. I also took out a small ad on Facebook and am waiting for some other marketing materials to arrive.

That just leaves the 'pummeling all my friends' part. You are all hereby put on notice! All I am asking you to do is to fork out $0.99 to buy a copy of the aforementioned 'Xannu - The Prophecy' (which by the way is a very good read) and then write me an honest review on the site at which you purchased the book. That really isn't too difficult is it? Then, hopefully at some point in the not too distant future I can fulfill my ambition of being able to 'give up my day job' and write full-time. So, is $0.99 a big price to pay for this? I don't think so!

Later today I am going to publish an excerpt from the book, just so you can tell I can actually write a little :-)  And after that I look forward to reading your comments...