What do we do first?

Well, I've got my outline of actions done. My first steps to implementing this plan involve putting the marketing channels in place to promote the book even while I'm still muddling through the final edit. I've built my author website and have begun researching additional avenues for establishing a web presence.

Getting past that non-existent feeling when you realize that basically no-one knows anything about you or your little book can seem overwhelming. Having a web presence is going to be vital. People need to be able to find you and your book easily, once they do find out about it. That's step 1 - making it easy to find you. Taking your marketing to the next level of wide promotion is step 2.

What gives the big publishers their advantage is they already have lines of communication into bookstores, convenience stores, other chains, etc. where they'll place your book in front of the nameless thousands. The downside of these avenues is bookstores and chains like Target typically want to order books in quantity at a significantly discounted price. So while you may sell more books by having them in these stores, that isn't necessarily going to result in an equal return on your investment.

The big publishing houses also have marketing channels already in place. Coming in as a new author with a new book publishing on your own, you have to create a lot of those channels. Some of the Print On Demand (POD) publishers will sell marketing packages to their authors to help with some of that.

I think it's true for any book that much of the sales will be driven by the promotion each author creates on their own. There's no reason in this media-rich environment that one author can't promote their book and reach as many people as the big publishers do (assuming your novel would be one of the lucky few that such publishers choose to design a big promotional campaign around, which is actually very few of their yearly total). Many of the POD publishers actually do make your book available via Ingram or other wholesalers, so you may still see your book in Target one day.

Perfect tea to contemplate having the best of both worlds: Harney & Sons Wedding Tea (Mutan white tea with lemon-vanilla)