You have a book idea, a manuscript, or a book soon to be published, and you have no idea what to do next. First of all, you want to keep some things in mind up front. You should write about something you know and are interested in. If you couldn’t care less, it will be reflected in your book. Second, it helps if you write about something that is in demand---something people like or care about. If you write a book about the Care and Feeding of Pet Snails, you’re not likely to get many sales no matter how much you promote it.

It is true that people often literally judge a book by its cover. So, better shell out the bucks for a professional, custom-designed book cover. Try out different titles on family and friends. Ask which title would grab them enough that they'd pick up the book and maybe want to buy it. Also, for non-fiction, use a sub-title that clearly presents what the book is about. Create the right mood with the colors on your cover---if your book is about a racy topic, choose bright colors, if it’s a business "how-to" use more subdued, dignified colors. Suggest nice graphics but don’t go for a cover that’s so graphic, potential readers hardly notice the title and sub-title. If you have any experience or credentials, include them in your brief bio on the back cover of the book and maybe in your book preface.

Be wary of publishers that hit you with a hard sell for their manuscript-editing service. They can easily charge $500-3000 for editing your manuscript, even after you’ve already paid someone to do so. If you’re far from a skilled writer, you know your manuscript is a mess, and/or you’re not too hot at grammar and spelling, then you might consider hiring an editor. But maybe you know someone who would do it for significantly less than the publisher.

Your publisher may offer quite a few different publicity options for your book. You need to be smart in which ones you select. A press release may not be very effective unless the publisher is targeting the release specifically at markets and media outlets that care about what you’ve written. For example, unless your autobiography is unbelievably sensational or moving, general media contacts will not particularly care about publicizing it. Many publishers offer to sell you egotistical junk like posters of your book, bookmarks, business cards, and postcards. Maybe I shouldn’t call the stuff junk; if you are a born salesperson, maybe you can enthusiastically disperse those bookmarks to enough people to create a real buzz about your book---maybe even a buying frenzy. However, after the initial excitement, items like these often end up buried in a drawer of your desk.

Don’t get too excited if your publisher offers to send publicity about your book to 25,000 bookstores. Bookstores rarely seek books published by PODs, partly because they cannot return copies that do not sell. You can pay some PODs $300-500 to make it possible for bookstores to return unsold copies. But before you shell out the $500, question the publisher closely about how many of their authors have sold significant numbers of books through bookstores. If it’s a rare occurrence, you might not want to invest the money. You may also want to question your publisher regarding what obstacles must be overcome before public libraries would seriously consider ordering your book.

If a publisher offers to build you a website, ask to see websites they’ve done, and compare these with other website designers or sites you’ve designed yourself. Also, see how enhanced and optimized they are. If few are ever drawn to the site, it is quite worthless. If a publicist campaign is offered or a personal marketing assistant, find out exactly what this person does for you. Is it worth the extra cost?

On the other hand, if your website is well designed, has plenty of interesting information, and enables visitors to buy direct or easily click to the Amazon.com bookpage, that’s a good start. Then you also have to be willing and able to spend the money monthly to keep the site optimized so you get plenty of hits.

Should you or should you not hire a publicist? A tough question. Not to wound your healthy ego, but you must be brutally honest with yourself about this. Have you done your homework to find the most effective and author-friendly publicist? Is your book really important enough to a niche of readers that you’d earn a lot more in sales than you pay the publicist? If not, of course you could end up seriously in the red. If your book is a personal memoir written primarily with your family and relatives in mind, it’s probably going to be really difficult for a publicist to help sell thousands or even hundreds of copies. However, if your book is the story of how you failed in business six times but then learned the secrets that enabled you to build a super-thriving small business enterprise in one year, it may well be worth hiring a publicist. There are tons of small business owners who may gladly pay for a book like that.

Another hugely important feature a publisher can offer is instructions and addresses of book reviewers you can contact well before your book is actually released. Also, any enthusiastic testimonials you can get from readers beforehand can also help. It is difficult to underestimate the value of testimonials and positive reviews from bona fide book readers, book blogs, and reviewers. These can go in press releases, on the back cover of your book, inside the front cover, on your website, and on fliers and emails you send out. Few things can create respect and a buzz about your book better than great reviews.

Lastly, any "people" place you can contact can be helpful. Book clubs, clubs such as Kiwanis, your church, your network of acquaintances, etc. Placing information/articles on blogs, ezine sites, and related websites can also help spread the word. If you have the means, you may also wish to place a brief video clip on You-Tube or My Space.

You may have gleefully imagined that as soon as your book became available on Amazon.com, hundreds of avid readers would immediately swoop in on it and buy multiple copies. But, the truth is, no one will ever know the book is available unless you or an excited reader tells them. Don’t despair. Just begin gradually with one of the methods above that has been found to work. Then, with time, you can increase your promotion and, in turn, expand your network until you will be prospering as an author. Believe me, you can do this thing.