by J. Michael Squatrito, Jr.

When I set out to write my fantasy series called The Overlords I never envisioned how many people
I would meet – and need. As I tell my students at my workshops and presentations, the easy part is
actually writing the book. However, marketing and promotion is another thing. With that in mind,
I’m here to tell you that in order to sell your books you need to interact with many people. My
collaboration efforts include professional editors, artists, website designers, school teachers and
librarians, and let’s not forget the Internet where interactions with social networking sites, newsletter
creations, blogs, and the millions of people that come with them all work to get my word out.

Does all this sound overwhelming? Well, it kind of should! But, while you should keep an eye on the
big picture, don’t be afraid of tackling these efforts one at a time. First and foremost, surround yourself
with good people. What I mean is, someone that can help with your website, your portal to the world.
Then begin building your fan base, usually starting with friends, co-workers, and relatives. Don’t forget
about your local schools and libraries – you’d be surprised at how many people are willing to hear
about you and your book. In tandem with all of this, you need to reach out to the Internet community.
Find other authors, work to help promote them and they will help to promote you. I have been doing
reciprocal blogs where I post a topic to a fellow author’s site in return for them posting on mine. It has
been a lot of fun and it’s another avenue for you and your book to gain exposure. The more people and
businesses you interact with, the more you can spread the word.

Having taken the better part of twenty years to figure all of this out, in an effort to further help other
authors like myself, I formed a self-publishing consultancy called Self Publishing Insight (SPI). SPI
furthers my collaboration efforts by joining the author to the various services that they will need to
succeed like editors, artists, web designers, social networking experts, one-on-one consulting, and much
more.

Make no mistake about it; no one is going to promote your book more than you will, but you can’t
always do it alone. Now go out there, make your connections, and tell the world about that book you
have just finished!

~ Mike

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Contact me by at mike@the-overlords.com

To purchase my books or eBooks, visit my website at www.the-overlords.com.

To purchase through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-
alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=squatrito+overlords

To purchase through Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/squatrito-overlords?
store=book&keyword=squatrito+overlords