{Originally published at lisaakramer.com}

I won’t deny it. I had this fantasy that I would wake up sometime during the month of December to discover that I had become an overnight best-selling author sensation.

Of course that is pure fantasy in a world where hundreds of thousands of new books are published daily; the chances of one tiny novel standing out are phenomenal.  This article from the Huffington Post explains it all: “The Ten Awful Truths–and the Ten Wonderful Truths–About Book Publishing”. After the first surge of sales (which in non-famous, newbie author terms was about 25 paperbacks during one week), it has inevitably slowed down to a trickle (6 paperbacks last week, but up from the week before). These numbers don’t include the books that I have personally sold (which is about 30, or the electronic downloads.

These numbers, of course, have nothing to do with the quality of the book, and everything to do with publicity and spreading the word. I was competing with Santa Clause last month . . . and while I believe P.O.W.ER would have made an extra special holiday gift (especially since some of the proceeds will be supporting good causes) I didn’t know how to make myself stand out in the advertising chaos. Nor did I really feel comfortable doing that.

That is one of the lessons I have learned about myself over the past few weeks. I am not good at marketing myself and my own work. I am great at promoting others, but when it comes to myself the voice of doubt always creeps in. However, if I want this book (and any of my writing to follow) to be more than just a blip on the radar screen of reading, I have to get over my fear and doubts and publicize, publicize, publicize. See wonderful truth #5 in the above article:

“Achieving publishing success is 5% writing a good book and 95% marketing.”

I am not giving up on myself or P.O.W.ER. Today is the first day of my month-long blog tour with Pump Up Your Book! including a first chapter reveal at PUYB.

Haven’t decided if you are really interested in reading it yet? Head on over and read the first chapter. Throughout the month, I will be found all over the internet with guest blog posts, interviews, reviews and other events. The full list is in my events calendar and I will be posting about what is happening each day. At the very least, you might discover some new, interesting, and fabulous blogs to follow . . . or maybe you will learn something about me that you never new.

I hope you will join me on my virtual tour. I also plan on writing more about lessons learned as I journey further into the world of publishing. Stay tuned . . .

What are some of the lessons you have learned from writing/publishing books?