As I mentioned in the last couple of posts, last weekend I finished proof-reading the proof copy of Documenting America, and began the process of making the minor changes and uploading it to Kindle, Smashwords, and CreateSpace. For each of these, a review by the distributor organization was required before it would be listed. Those reviews have been completed, and all three distributors have it for sale. Through Smashwords, this includes Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and some others.

I also have for sale paper copies I order from CreateSpace. I haven’t ordered any yet. I was planning on deciding this week how many the initial order should be. I have one sold already, to a man who used to work at CEI, with whom I’m Facebook friends. He saw my notice and said he would buy a copy. That tells me maybe I can sell some. That also tells me I’d better find out what I need to do about sales tax.

But the bigger thing to figure out is: Now what?

I’ve been holding off marketing Documenting America, either as an e-book or paper book, because I was waiting on the paper book, and on correcting a couple of typos I knew of. All that’s done, and it’s time to get marketing. An occasional shameless self-promotion on Facebook is probably okay, not more often than once a month. But I need to do more. Here’s some of the things I’m thinking about doing.

• dropping copies off at local coffee houses, designating them as copies to stay in the coffee house.
• seeing if I could give a few to the nearby Barnes & Noble. Let them make the sale and keep the entire proceeds. Then, if those sold, maybe they would order a bunch from CreateSpace. Or course, if they agree to take them, I might steer a few buyers their way.
• see if I could speak at some local civic groups: Kiwanis, Lions, Civitians, Rotary. Those that meet weekly are always looking for speakers. I have in mind a presentation I would make of the material, which could tie in nicely with the book, but not just be about the book.
• research blogs and see if I can organize a blog tour for the book. Blogs about history or politics are where I’d go to. This is a key way for many authors to promote their books. Having never done it, I suspect just the research of what blogs to target and how to contact the owners and scheduling and follow-up, etc.
• drop off paper copies at two or three local libraries.
• then, after a couple of months, maybe see about some radio programs.

I’ve been thinking about the marketing aspects of this for a long time, and have blogged on it before. None of this is new. What is new is the feeling I have. It’s a whole new world now. My book is out, fully out. The time to plan my marketing is over. Time simply to do.