Sharing her insights on her first Xlibris self-published novel, Xlibris author Genie Polower reveals her writing and book marketing tips. She walks us through the idea behind her novel eventually leading her to self-publish through Xlibris.
If you’re an aspiring author, read on to hear it straight from someone who’s been there and done that and find out how you too can self-publish your book.
How to write and market a book
Writing a book is a piece of cake really. All it takes is the ability to write. However, marketing a book is a horse of a different color. I’m beginning to believe that I will have to become involved in book fairs in order to get my book out there. I’ve been attending “webinars” (seminars on the web) about marketing. Yet, I’m confronted with a challenge which writers of traditional erotica do not have to face. Because my novel consists of “pornerotica,” I need to find my niche, i.e., an audience which will appreciate my writing in spite of its frequent use of pornography.
I also feel that I have to justify or explain why I wrote this book in the manner in which I wrote it. As an educator by profession, I would like to believe that my book is both entertaining and educational. Some of the graphic sex scenes in the book aren’t very entertaining or educational, but they are definitely real. My reason for writing my book is, however, educational. I would like to educate both women and men about what can happen when a person is pushed to his or her limits sexually.
Inspiration for her Xlibris book
My purpose in writing “MOTH TO A FLAME: FORBIDDEN LOVE” was to demonstrate what can happen to an adventurous and troubled woman who had been married to the same man for many years and who inadvertently falls in love with a man who takes her far outside of her comfort zone in order to satisfy his own base desires.
I would like women who are struggling with unconventional, confusing and complicated relationships to understand how they, too, can become moths to a flame, if they allow a complicated man into their lives. I want to show them how easy it is for women to fall prey to a very articulate but devious man who will introduce them to forbidden sexual practices and how they can learn from these experiences about what they truly want and don’t want from a relationship.
All of us want to love and to be loved in return. But, what happens when we love a man to death but our love is not returned? What do we do in such a situation? Do we cry and pine away for our unavailable man or do we eventually come to our senses and seek out other alternatives?
I will have to emphasize the educational aspect of my novel when I market this book. I will have to talk about my own experience with becoming like a moth to a flame and about how many of us mistake unbridled lust for true love.
Read the first part of Genie Polower’s Xlibris blog here.
More tips from featured authors are on the Xlibris Blog and the Xlibris Indie Authors Roundup. Get your free writing, editing, and book marketing tips from the Xlibris Writer’s Workshop.