Birth Pains!

It has become painfully obvious now, that self-publishing The Road Not Taken: Memoirs of a Reluctant Guerrilla was the easiest button to button. Writing the manuscript? A cinch. Organising the cover and layout? Like taking candy from a baby. Setting up the printing with the printer? As easy as A-B-C.

Well, at least compared to marketing the book. When the first edition was published, the writing was all I was concerned with. Now I am trying to do a PR campaign on the cheap: using social networks like MySpace and Facebook to broadcast information about the book. This from a guy who isn't terribly social and who is intensely private.

So far I have sent press releases to a few outfits including booksofsoul.com and I have sent a draft of the manuscript to Patrik Henry Bass, Essence magazine's book editor. A few good women have promised to contact Oprah about the book. I am not holding my breath for anything to happen there. But I have started another blog, The Guerrilla Journal to track my progress along the path of becoming a bestselling author! Aha.

I am proud of the book, of course. It holds the keys to my future and to the achievement of the goals I have set for myself. I have likened the process to grunge publishing (akin to grunge music) which is probably unfair because this edition is much better than the earlier one. Now I have to employ "guerrilla marketing" to grab some eyeballs.