Non-traditional marketing is the process of writing quality content in response to an identified need, publishing it in the form desired by the reader and then selling it to people in defined groups of prospective customers. Doing this is not dramatically different from what you are probably doing now; it simply requires a change in focus.

The publishing question I am most-often asked is, “How do I publicize my novel?” Publicizing a novel is not much more difficult than publicizing nonfiction

This is a sad story. Sad but true. It was a real conversation, ostensibly a sales conversation. This sales conversation, and many others just like it, are happening all over the world. I recount this sad sales conversation here in hope that we may all learn from it.

No one ever said successful self-publishing was easy. Yet, so many authors, by making a bunch of typical, easy-to-avoid mistakes, make it far more difficult than it needs to be. No, getting all the following right won’t guarantee riches beyond your wild imaginings, but it’ll clear some of the most common stumbling blocks from your path. After all, if you’re going to crash and burn, why do it for a dumb unnecessary reason?

I find it’s critical to analyze your niche, roll up your sleeves, and find out where your customers go. For example, I publish books on Lyme disease, so I went to the Centers for Disease Control Web site, learned which states had the highest incidence of Lyme disease, and targeted health food stores in those states. Since my books were refused by the primary health-food-store book distributor (NutriBooks), I was at first discouraged, but I decided to call the health food stores myself. Scary? Yes! Successful? Yes!