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Five years ago when my family and friends, after much prodding and encouraging, finally convinced me to write a book about my life, I thought that without a doubt it would be an instant success. The fact that I knew nothing about writing, publishing, promoting, or any other facet of anything to do with books meant nothing to me as I built an entire business empire by just jumping right in - into a trade I knew nothing about and yet made it my own.
Things however are very today than they were back in my day. Even with an assistant who did a great job of putting the book together, getting it printed, put in libraries, book stores, etc. we just could not seem to get things off the ground. I am sure that my severe ADD, my lack of ability to remember things, and the fact that I can not even turn a computer off and on contributed to these failures somewhat, but in the end the biggest reason I could not get things moving was because I was not reading, studying and listening to the people who were successfully getting their books noticed.
Of course all my friends and family told me it was a great book and they loved it, but what else would they say. They are my friends and family, you think they would want to be around me if they said my book stunk? Probably not!
After putting aside my own older ways of doing things, and although I can not really grasp the whole computer world, and the internet, I had my assistant build a website and began taking the advice of the pros.
We started by getting my book in the hands of people who might read it and give me some words of wisdom. They are called testimonials and you would be surprised at how easy it was to get just a few of them, and not just any testimonials, but from people such as Eleanor Vallee, the late Karl Malden, Danny Aeillo and more.
This was the first step in many that I have taken to get the word out about my story. To have those who know you tell you something is good, but to have people who have never heard of you before, especially when they themselves have had great success, that is a true marker of how good your work truly is.
Now we are pursuing reviews of the average individual. First we contacted all the book sites that we could find, especially ones that do reviews for authors who are willing to send copies of their work. Secondly we approached the multitude of Amazon.com reviewers as well as myspace and facebook members who have stated in interest in reading, and specifically reading my type of manuscript.
So far the results are simply amazing. In just a few short weeks I already have 2 great new reviews posted, my listing has jumped from the bottom to the top on an Amazon search, and there are less and less copies of my book for sale online as people are starting to buy them up. (Many people we sent the book to in the old days have since passed them on or put them up for sale on the web).
In the end, if I would have started off by just researching all these little things that the real experts in this field suggested, I would have saved myself not only years of time, but tons of money trying all the wrong ways to market my book and get it noticed.
It is an amazing feeling to receive a favorable review from someone you have never met, who took the time out to read and review your work and for free at that. I absolutely will not pay for a review as to me, if I am paying you I feel you will write favorably. If you are doing it just because you like to read, you are doing it honestly.
To have my work confirmed as being something great, something people love and want to read again, and who tell other people how great it is, well that is the best feeling in the world. My main goal in writing my story in the first place was to inspire other who have suffered in their lives with illness, injuries, and health problems as I had all of that and more, and still managed to overcome it all to become a success.
So to all the potential, and current authors out there, if you are not getting the results you want, then look a little harder, dig a little deeper, and study a little more because there are tons of resources out there with some really great advice on how to get a book noticed in today’s day and age. You just have to be willing to look for them. You can learn more about my book, and my life at www.gethisbook.com, or just look me up on Amazon and read some of my readers reviews as more are coming each and every day.
