I went to sleep on January 20, 2011 to little fanfare.  I was at a conference staying in a nice hotel on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  Oddly enough there was talk of snow for the weekend.  I awoke on the morning of Friday, January 21, 2011 and it was pretty much the same as any other morning. That is with one minor exception.

On the 21st my book, The Trust, was published. 

I began writing it in 2004 and it had been a part of my life for a long time. There were times I’d all but convinced myself it would never see any ink that didn’t come from my home printer. 

However on the 21st that changed.

Now all things considered the 21st was an arbitrary date. I’d known the publication date weeks in advance, had told people about it, had a website, a twitter account, a blog and the list goes on.  Even with all of this, I was curious if the 21st would be any different.

Lots of people went well out of their way to congratulate me on the publication, but there wasn’t really a lot that changed on the 21s.

Or so I thought.

Since that day, not a day has passed I haven’t talked to at least several people about the book.  Not a day has passed that I haven’t been curious what the book was doing on Amazon.  Not a day has passed that I haven’t been on Twitter or my webpage. I’ve started planning events for the book, I’ve visited bookstores, I’ve become all to familiar with the post office workers from sending out books to reviewers or others.

I’ve pretty much done everything but write.  Note to self here, I have to work on this and soon.

The biggest change I’ve noticed is that now I tend to look at virtually every situation I may find myself apart of as an opportunity to network my book.

I’ve also learned that I am and likely will be the best marketing tool I ever could have. 

No one told me this when I was sitting in random hotel lobbies all across the southeastern United States writing the book.  However, I find I really enjoy all that I’ve been doing since the book came out. 

I believe that is perhaps the biggest thing I could pass along to someone just starting out on writing career.  Start thinking early about your presence.  Stake out your own little corner of cyberspace and make it a friendly place and a place that people will enjoy visiting. 

I’ve found that alcohol is a good thing to have on hand.  Writers and readers seem to like to take a drink.

If you make your patch of cyberspace a place that people like to visit and work to spread the work, I’m starting to see that they will come back and might just bring friends. 

So start spreading the word. After all, if you don’t who’s going to want to stop by.

So long as you’re here, feel free to leave with a copy of The Trust.