For the past month, I’ve been busy with matters to do with my upcoming book release.  I completed the edits and then moved on to what I call the peripherals – editing the introductory chapter for the next book, which will be inserted at the back of this one, writing the acknowledgement, jotting the dedication, completing and sending off the synopsis for the follow-up novel.

The reality is now hitting me that writing a book is merely a first step.  The work only intensifies after that.  What amazes me is that I was so caught up in trying to find a publisher, that I never gave a thought to the actual marketing and promotion of the book.  In a perfect life, I’d have had a contract with a major publishing house with an unrestricted budget to spend on my book.  However, the reality is this book will be as successful as the amount of work I put into promotion.

So, yesterday I went and had the book markers done.  I was going to do a one sided marker with the book covers for the novels to be published in April and October.  However, when I got back to office, I got an email from the other publisher with whom I have a contract.  That book is still in the editing queue, so I thought it wise not to include that cover on the bookmark since I hadn’t heard from them.  Since then, I’ve decided to go two sided on the markers.  I’m going to shut my eyes real tight, spend more money and use a soft laminate so these souvenirs will have a longer lifespan.

Today, I’ve been busy checking out bookstores and the procedure to get them to sell my book.  Again, I had some kind of pipe dream where this is concerned.  For books written by overseas writers, I’m sure there is some kind of online catalogue where Jamaican book distributors make their selections.  Not so for local small-fry. I’ll have to send some of the stores a copy of the book for them to review and decide whether they want to stock it.  After that, they take the books from me on consignment and they get a commission on the ones they sell.

We don’t have a lot of writers in Jamaica, so I’m hoping the book will do well simply from the ‘home-grown writer’ angle.

I’ve set myself a target of Friday February 13, to start sending out the press release.  I’ve also done up an Excel worksheet with all the information I’ve collected from the bookstores.  I now need to do the same for the media houses.

After that, I’ll look at magazines where I can place ads at reasonable prices, and on the net, I’ll be looking at banner ads.

Something else I’m coming to realize…there’s going to be a significant monetary outlay, so I’ll have to pace myself to do this again in October for Dissolution and once more for Hardware.

Am I still satisfied that I’m a writer who has leapt the publication hurdle?

You betcha.