The road to publishing success is not paved in gold. No one can guarantee a smooth ride. In fact, there are often obstacles and detours along the way.

When you become serious about finally producing the book of your dreams, you envision hordes of people flocking to major bookstores and purchasing copies for everyone they know. You start practicing your acceptance speeches for the many awards your book will receive. And you picture yourself traveling from place to place throughout the world signing books for thousands of adoring fans.

It’s okay to dream. This is what keeps you focused on and excited about your goals. But there are points along your publishing path where reality checks are in order. One such “check” relates to promotion. For example, you’ve acknowledged your dream, now how do you propose to achieve it? As you know from past accomplishments, every goal requires carefully executed action steps. But first, you must look at the big picture.

Marketing a book requires more than a desire for sales. There are many considerations and most of them come into play even before the book is a book. For example,

Who is the target audience for your book? I don’t mean, who might possibly read this book if they happen to find it on a chair in an airport during a layover? You must have a clear idea of the individual who would go out in pursuit of this particular book after learning about it or who would buy it if they happen to find it while browsing. What is the demographic profile of your target audience? What do they have in common that would tie them to the topic or genre of your book? And how many people fit this profile?

If your book is a romance novel, find out how many people buy books in this genre every year. Maybe your nonfiction book targets parents of preschoolers. Locate statistics reflecting the numbers. And then find out how many parents and grandparents of infants and preschoolers purchase books on your topic. Is the audience large enough to warrant publication of this book? If not, it probably won’t attract a publisher. Nor should you bother publishing it yourself unless your reason for producing the book is something other than earning big bucks.

Perhaps you need to produce a book that will give you added credibility in your field. Maybe you have an important book idea designed to help a small segment of readers. Maybe you just have something to say and you want to say it no matter the cost. That’s okay, as long as you enter into the project with realistic expectations.

What’s your competition? Identify the books that compete with yours. How many are there? How are these books selling? Don’t make the mistake of believing that there are no books like yours. In fact, if this is true, there’s probably a reason; such as there’s no interest in this topic.

What makes your book better? Study other books in your category and determine what makes your book more enticing, inviting and/or useful than the others.

Consider adding value to your book. Imagine that you’re building a car or a kitchen appliance. You would certainly check out the competition. You would study public polls to discern what the people want/need in a car or appliance. You would comply as closely as possible AND you would add something more—another safety feature, added comfort and/or greater design appeal, for example.

Perhaps your research indicates a rising interest in historic novels. This information might prompt you to make yours a romantic historical novel. After studying the competing titles and demographics (such as the number of children in the U.S. in certain age groups, the number of parents reading self-help parenting books, etc.), you might decide to expand your book featuring discipline techniques for toddlers to include ages 5 through 8, as well.

Why would someone buy a book you wrote? What can you offer that will entice readers? For nonfiction, do you have a degree in your topic, a unique sort of hands-on experience or celebrity status? If you lack a built-in platform (or way of attracting readers), and you don’t have a degree, you might consider partnering with someone who has authority, credibility and a following in this topic.

What would make swarms of people go out and buy your novel? Again, celebrity status is useful. The next best thing is credibility and prominence in your genre. How do you establish a reputation in your genre? By publishing. Write stories in your genre and submit them to appropriate magazines, newsletters and websites—lots of them. Become involved with websites related to your genre. Become more well-known by participating frequently. Teach workshops in your genre at the local college, at writers’ club meetings and conferences. Write and self-publish several books. Promote the heck out of them until your name becomes to your genre what salt is to pepper.

How will you promote your book? You will find out early on that book promotion is not dressing up and riding in limousines, being swarmed by fans and signing so many autographs that you get writers’ cramp. Instead, it is having realistic expectations, a reasonable plan, a commitment to that plan and the energy, time and funds to implement it.

You must know where your potential audience is and how to reach them. And then it’s a matter of prioritizing, organizing, planning and follow-through. It also means being flexible and willing to shift gears when a plan is not working.

Writing, publishing and promoting a book is a lot to ask of any one person. The tasks involved in promotion don’t always come naturally to someone whose heart and soul is committed to writing. Few right brain literary types can easily handle left brain functions such as devising and implementing a marketing plan. Whether you’re promotionally challenged or you simply want to sell more books, take the time to consider the points above and follow the suggestions. Your success as an author depends on it.

Patricia Fry is the president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) www.spawn.org and the author of 27 books including her newly revised “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,” www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html and “The Author’s Workbook” www.matilijapress.com/workbook.html. www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog (to follow Patricia’s informative daily blog).

Last 5 posts by Patrica Fry

• Tap Into the Lucrative Library Market - April 17th, 2008
• Are You Writing a Bulldozer Book? - February 11th, 2008
• What’s in Your Subject Line? - December 5th, 2007
• Tips for Becoming More Media-Worthy - September 20th, 2007
• Publishing—The Raw Truth - August 22nd, 2007