All authors love writing, of course. That's the fun part: creating new people, new places, new events. Some authors can spin out books rather quickly. One I know in particular writes around forty-sixty pages a day. Others take many years creating their books, their work of art. One would think that actually creating the book would be the most difficult part of becoming a successful author. But it's not.

The most difficult part to becoming a successful author is promoting the book, letting others know the book is out there. There are so many authors and books out there today, and that's great for readers. More variety. There can never be too many books in the world. But this does make it a little harder for each book to get the attention they deserve. It's sad to think of how many amazing books have just sat on shelves, not often getting the opportunity to reveal their hidden stories when they were much better written than some of the best selling books.

What was the difference? Why did the best sellers get all the attention? Promotion, publicity. Some one spent a lot of time to get those in front of the right people, as many people as possible.

This step can never be started too early. As soon as the idea for the book comes, that's when the promotion starts. The best plan is to tell everybody, not enough to reveal too much and ruin the story for everyone, but just enough to get them wanting to hear more, to get them anticipating the release of the book. As the writing continues and the book gets closer to being released, the promotion gets even more important, and after the release, even more.

There are lot of opportunities for spreading the word about things today. With social media platforms popping up every day, blogs, Facebook, Instagram, and more, it's fairly simple to let people know who you are and what you're writing about, but that's not the only kind of publicity that has to be done. Word of mouth, in person promotion is still very important. Talking to everybody you meet, participating in book festivals, any chance there is to get the book in front of people, it's a good idea to take it.

Book signings are a great way to promote a book. Book store owners and managers are usually more than happy to schedule these events and encourage local authors. Some of them do like to see that the author has a pretty good online presence before they will schedule an event. There are also other venues that are great for book signings. Libraries, coffee shops, art galleries, and more. Sometimes it's good to dig a little deeper and think outside of the box, so to speak. But no matter where the signing takes place, readers seem to love meeting the authors and having a signed copy in their hand. E-books are gaining in popularity but to any book lover, there's nothing like holding the story in your hand, and meeting the author and having their signature makes it seem like it was written just for you.

And it was!