Writer equals publicist

Never underestimate the value of free publicity to a writer.  This week I've been in several coffee places where the staff have said they saw my piece about my book in the local free paper.  And fellow Pentangle Press author Carol Westron recently got a two page spread in the local News paid-for newspaper based around the angle of recovering from a stoke and self-publishing.

If we're serious about getting our work out to the world we have to become marketing experts as well as writers.  Many writers resist this, saying they're not good at speaking in public.  Oddly, statistics show that people fear public speaking even more than death.  

I did a law degree, and part of that was acting as a pretend barrister and representing mock clients in staged trials.  After freezing up on stage before an audience of 300 at a London University gig, anything a writing event can throw at me won't ever hold that amount of terror.

So do yourselves a favour.  Say yes to every publicity opportunity you're offered and panic about iit later.