(as featured on my weekly Huffington Post blog)

What to do if you’re not JK Rowling, you don’t have a big publishing house behind you and you’ve got a novel coming out in less than two months?

You get to grips with every digital marketing trick in the book. This includes: learning how to blog - so people race to read your posts; checking out Joanna Penn, one of the savviest minds on self-publishing and marketing books; getting down with Twitter, and (deep breath) understanding how Amazon works. Then you have a big fat glass of wine, and try to get over it all. 

After ten years of graft, a big agent and numerous near misses with publishers, I’ve finally got a book coming out in early October. With a weekly Huffington Post blog on Getting Published about to start, I need to make sure I don’t disappear in what, let’s face it, is a pretty crowded marketplace. In the last six months, I’ve done a whole heap of research, and in the spirit of new publishing, I want to share what I’ve learnt, because, quite frankly, if I don’t let some of the information out, my head’s going to blow off. And because I don’t want others to make the same mistakes as I have.

First step : Blogging – up until now a dirty word in my book – but not any more (funny that).

Top 5 tips.

1. Whatever your schtick is, be it self-publishing, saving the planet or making savoury cheese twists, give it your stamp. Make it funny, quirky and unique.

2. Make it snappy. Short is good. Long is dull.

3. Share information – websites, articles, interviews, podcasts… This is your chance to give.

4. Pictures. We want something pretty to look at. Ideally you take these yourself, but if you’re a shoddy photographer, you can get snaps off sites such as www.freeimages.co.uk

5. Call to Action (what you want reader to do) : buy your book / log onto www.savethefrog.com / visit your cheese twist emporium.

A good site for further info : http://www.mumsnet.com/bloggers/blog-fitness