Step 3 to Indie-publishing your book-Tell People You Wrote a Book.

The next step I took was telling people I wrote book. I didn't tell anyone at first that I was even writing a book, because I had never done this before.

I mean who am I to think I can write a book?

No one from New York or London had ordained me a writer.

Who am I?

Yes, this is the beginning of marketing. But really, I am just talking about telling family and friends. My career began with this.

The simple math is that you will sell zero copies if you never tell people.

There is more than gaining sales when you tell people you've written a book, you also earn respect.

Here's the honest truth I didn't even tell my wife at first. I mean she had read an early draft of the book when I first wrote it several years ago, when I was shopping it to publishers and agents. But I didn't even tell my wife that I had hired an illustrator and was finishing a book.

Yeah, that's the kind of husband I am.

But after I got around to telling her, I used Facebook to publish a few illustrations from the book to tell everyone. Carla's illustrations made it look like a legitimate book.

By publishing the pictures people actually began to be interested in the book.

It took me by surprise.

As if by some divine intervention, Disney bought Star Wars, and the news covered my Facebook feed for the evening.

So I decided to jump on the wave and post the pictures the same evening.

My first press release. A full 10-12 weeks before it was ready.

In some ways it would seem that telling people that you've written a book would be obvious.

But telling people about a new project, especially something you've never done before, is a learning experience.

Telling people that you've made a book changes your life.

And it changes it in ways you didn't expect.

I received various questions from "where did you get the idea", "who published you?", "how did you do it?"

I was unprepared for the questions, in many ways I still am. But I realized if you not only write a book, but also format it, get a cover, and put it out there then you've done more than most people, and that separates you from the rest of the crowd.

They will want to know how you got there.

Okay, you've finished a book, and put it out there. You have done what thousands of people have wanted to do, but never got around to doing it.

So go ahead and tell people, you've earned it.

Other posts of mine I think you will like:

Dolbin School for the Extraordinary Chapter 1 Jake Cooper

Six things I learned from George Lucas-Lessons for Creators