Author Insights: What lessons have you learned as a published author that would be useful for aspiring writers or those who’ve just had their first book accepted?

L. J. Bonham: I’ve learned a lot, and also not enough. Without a doubt, the need to promote one’s work is the foremost lesson. Other writers whom I know had warned that promotion was a full time job in and of itself, but I was still overwhelmed by the amount needed.

AI: What assistance did you get from your publisher?

LJB: Publishers are not in the promotion business, per se, their primary job is to produce product. Major publishers have very little patience with authors who do not promote their own work and as a rule only spend significant amounts on their top sellers. Everyone else is on their own for the most part. It’s a brutal business, less than forty percent of books from the majors earn back their advance. That’s a sixty percent loss rate, so it’s easy to understand why they are loath to throw large sums at marketing. They know that successful books take off because the author did most, or all, of the leg work. The non-performers are usually pulled from the shelves within a few months if they don’t generate immediate sales.

AI: That’s pretty grim. You’d think they’d be in it for the long haul.

LJB: Given the traditional publishing houses’ structure and overhead, they don’t have the three, five, or ten years it can take an author to develop a readership. They must have instant profit or move on to the next author in line; their stock holders are waiting, impatient for their money.

AI: So how did these hard facts of publishing affect you?

LJB: I am very fortunate that my work was picked up by a quality, mid-sized press who’s more interested in their reputation and author quality than immediate return on investment. They have a distinct advantage over the Big Five. Since they started as an e-book publisher first, they’re not saddled with a centuries old business model. They’re lean and agile. Unlike the majors, who are afraid to move outside the narrow genres that have worked for them in the past, my publisher will push the envelope and take a risk on new authors.

AI: What percentage of the marketing have you done versus the publisher?

LJB: I’ve done ninety-nine percent, which is what I expected. I take responsibility for my work. No one knows it better or is more enthusiastic about it than me, so no one is better qualified to promote it.

AI: That sound like a full time job.

LJB: It is, and I still have to write new material. The most common misconception among writers, in my opinion, is the idea that once your book is in print (or digitized) the hard work has been done and you can sit back to wait for the accolades and large royalty checks. The harsh truth is, once your book is accepted, the real work begins.

AI: If you had to boil this down to one sentence what would it be?

LJB: Write your best book, then get off your butt, hit the bricks, and tell anyone who will listen about it and why they should buy it.