Self-Publishing: Book Prototype for Publicity and Advance Sales

So far we've talked about the need to hire a book designer and editor. I took the step of developing a prototype for Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons From Friends Who Faced Cancer.  Mine is in a PDF and included the cover, introduction and first chapter, but you could include less. You'll see that I used the Flash capabilities of Scribd to embed it here.

Intro and First Chapter of Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons From Friends Who Faced Cancer

Nine ways to use your book prototype

Send it to possible reviewers to see if they'd like to provide a blurb
Include a link to it in your social-media and traditional press releases
Query with it for interviews with podcasters, bloggers, radio, TV and other media
Post it on your social media outlets to build buzz (including LinkedIn). While we're talking about social media, listing it on Scribd will help it gain a wider audience and Scribd provides great statistics on readcasts.
Get your book listed in catalogs by the time it's in print. For example, there are motorcycle accessories companies that carry books and I'm using prototype to go through their screening process before they'll  include it in their inventories
Want to speak at a conference?  Most will ask if you've published a book. Send a link to the prototype with your speaker/panelist proposal
Going on tour? Send it to interested groups to get on their calendar by the time the book is back from the printer
Send it to professional magazines/journals for possible syndication
Use it to generate advance sales (speaking of which, you can do that today!)