You’ve finished writing your book. Now what?

The always helpful Writer’s Digest has a great post up: 7 Things to Do After Finishing Your Book.

Authors – fairly enough – consider their first job to be writing their books. But today you have to be a master-of-all-trades when it comes to promoting your writing career.

So you’ve finished your book and broken out the champagne – perhaps several times – to celebrate. Now what?

Here are some of the activities you should be investing your time in now that you’ve finished the writing:

• You all know the old adage ‘Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’. Unfortunately, it’s not true. If you’re  a self-published author, this is especially important, because it’s you who decides the final look, so be sure to have a good graphic designer working for you. But even traditionally published authors should weigh in on the final choice. Make sure your cover also looks good as a thumbnail, since many people are never seeing it displayed in a traditional bookstore, but online.
• Get the word out (face-to-face) – This means old fashioned book signings and opportunities to speak in public. Some authors don’t like public speaking, but it makes sense to work on this if it’s not something that comes naturally to you.
• Promote through social media – This doesn’t mean flogging your book through Twitter or other channels, which probably has the opposite effect. But it does mean being present in the cyber world. Have an updated site, social media channels, contribute articles in areas related to your books, author interviews, joint efforts with other authors, etc. The more you’re out there, the more potential readers you can reach.

As you see, an author’s work is never done…

So, congratulations authors on having finished your book! Take time to celebrate, and then take a deep breath before part two of your work begins… Good luck!