The biggest step in the process is layout of the entire book. This will determine what my book feels like, inside and out. It is going to take four to six weeks, so basically I just have to sit back and wait. I'd chew my nails in anticipation, but they are gel and they cost me a lot of money. So I'm not going to do that. I'm going to drown myself in learning.

Learning what? You ask.

Marketing. Target audience. How to make this my business.

It's literally a whole new world for me.

The following are things I need to consider, and I ask all of you for a little help on the following. If you have any suggestions, thoughts, ideas, please let me know!

Pricing. What is a good price for a book? My book will be printed-on-demand, which means whatever I charge over print cost (which I don't know that number yet), I will earn in royalties.

The book will be average size, (5.5X8.5? I can't remember the exact size right now, it's early and I am only halfway through my second coffee), approximately 180-210 pages. It's a Young Adult Historical Fantasy, and the first of a series of four.

What would YOU pay for a paperback of a book this size?

A hardcover?

I can do a Full Distribution or a Soft Launch. I am still learning what these mean, but Full Distribution means I can go right into publication after I have approved the layout.

A Soft Launch allows me to distribute copies prior to publication, for things like review exchanges and all that.

I'm debating what the best option is here, because to gather reviews and perhaps do giveaways on Facebook and Instagram, to garner support before my book hits the shelves.

Return Insurance.... Scary. Expensive. Has anyone gotten this? Not gotten this? Pros and cons to this? Help me.

I have to come up with unique selling points, particularly in this scary Covid World. Can I do book signings? Perhaps in small venues, though many small venues have closed for the long term around here. There are lots of outdoor spaces, though, that I could manage this. Get a tent, make people wear masks, that sort of thing. Where I live there are only 6 confirmed cases, so it's not like I live in a big city. But that also means I can't really GO to any big cities. The mainland has been swept into the second wave, so hopefully by the time my book is out we'll be out of the second wave? I don't know.

Virtual signings are something I have considered. As in, Instagram Live or something (Ugh I have so much to learn and will definitely have to get my eyebrows done LOL), where if people buy the book directly from me I will mail them out signed perhaps with a little bonus thing (I am considering reaching out to a bookmark maker I've purchased from many times and seeing if we can do some sort of deal? Am I thinking out of the box enough?)

There are heaps of Little Libraries in the area, I could put my book in there, but that is just me buying my own book to distribute and hoping it works LOL. Maybe I'll hide one signed one and have people try to find it?

The local book store I go to at least once a week said that whenever someone publishes their book and wants it to be on their shelves, the owner purchases three or four copies to put on the shelves. That means I would get paid right away, and the owner doesn't do commissions. Some pros and cons to that way of doing it, but I live in a really really small town and my target audience does NOT THRIVE HERE. I live in a senior community. Literally, people move here to retire and die.

ANYWAYS I am rambling.

If you have any tips and suggestions on how to market in this world where we cannot really go outside and gather for events, please let me know!