To self-publish, or not to self-publish, that is the question — Part 2

Remember the 1960′s film The Graduate when Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is taken aside by a friend of the family at his welcome home party and told one word for the key to success:

Plastics.

In the world of self-publishing it also comes down to one word:

Marketing.

For anyone who has self-published a book, whether an e-Book or a print version via Lulu or other companies, the challenge is how does one promote and market his or her book? Self-publishing is a breeze these days. For example, Smashwords has revolutionized the process of converting a document into the various e-Book formats. In a matter of hours one can go from their manuscript on their computer to an e-Book waiting to be downloaded. And recently, the integration of Google Drive™ with Lulu has made the process equally easy for POD purchases.

Inasmuch as the industry has revolutionized the ways authors can self-publish, authors are still on their own when it comes to marketing. There are numerous books on the subject: everyone sharing their success stories on how they have cracked the marketing conundrum. They tell you that you need to have a blog, have reviews written, and use Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest.

It’s getting really crowded out there. I know this one website that reviews books telling people they need to take some time off because they received hundreds of requests (including one from me) to have their books reviewed. I see it getting even more crowded and competitive as more and more people turn to their iPads, Kindles, and Nooks to read books.