The Perils of Self Publishing-Part III

It nearly takes a miracle to get national attention. Unless you have an agent, or a publisher with a marketing department to make the necessary contacts, you are left to your own devices. Self-publishing still carries something of a stigma in the eyes of the national press. Getting reviewers for national magazines or newspapers to look at your product is next to impossible. But not totally. Sometimes the most unlikely sources will actually want to take a look at them. When my stepson read my book, Double Trouble on Corned Beef Row, he interpreted it as a spy novel. I did not write it as one even though it contains spies. He suggested that I contact Eye Spy Magazine, which is circulated internationally, for a review. At first, I passed this off as an impossibility, but when I contacted their website, they wanted to take a look at it. I mailed the book, per their instructions, to England, where the magazine is published. A couple of weeks later, I received a phone message from the editor saying that he liked the book and would recommend it (which he did in the July/August 2011 issue). Whether or not this will mean a boost in book sales is yet to be seen, as it is too early to tell. However, one good magazine review can lead to another, and that is what I hope will happen. The task now is to spread the word of this review to other publications. Other attempts to publicize the work are still ongoing. Attempting to get coverage by local television and radio, doing book talks and personal appearances, and reviewing works by other authors are other ways of getting your name and product into the public eye. Using blogs like this one and social media such as FaceBook and Twitter are other useful ways of spreading the word. If you are a self publisher, you cannot rest on your laurels, you must keep plugging away at every opportunity. If you snooze, you lose, and, if an opportunity is lost, you may never have it again.