Polishing my novel

Hi all,
During the last couple of weeks I have been polishing up the manuscript of my novel. I've been tightening it up, removing adverbs and generally making it as good as it can possibly be. "Boosyboots" is my first novel and I'm trying to attract the attention of a good agent who will be able to represent me and my fiction books in the traditional publishing arena.

Some of you may wonder why this should be, especially as I have already self-published two books, one of which, shows authors just how attractive this option can be. So what is going on? Have I lost the plot or what?

Well, I don't think so and I'm not a traitor to the self-publishing cause, so there's no need to lop my head off just yet. I am though, a realist, and after working for many hundreds of hours on a novel I want to give it the best possible chance to be read and enjoyed by the world.

Some authors may not realise it, but there is a great deal of difference between fiction and non-fiction especially when it comes down to marketing. Most self-publishing authors rely on the Internet to achieve sales through on-line stores like Amazon. But sales will only come if readers can find their books, and this is done by searching.

If they don't know the ISBN or the name of the author, the only way they can find the book will be by searching for keywords on the subject.

Here's an example. My first non-fiction book is entitled "Fishing: Learn from the Tips & Laugh at the Tales" which can be found on Amazon etc.

Because it was my first book, my name and the ISBN would have been unknown to any potential buyer, but they could always find it by doing a search and using one of several of the words contained in the title. If they just put in the term "Fishing" they will get over 100,000 results, and you might not be surprised to know that my book isn't in sight. However, if anybody uses the search term "Fishing Tips" my book manages to come up in the number two spot. It's frustrating not being able to get to number 1, but I don't suppose number 2 is that bad out of over 100,000.

Anyway back to the plot, and consider "Bossyboots" my debut novel. If I was to self-publish it, how are any potential buyers going to find it? answers on a postcard please. The simple answer is, they won't. I would of course do as much marketing as possible, but it would be an uphill struggle with little chance of success.

So there you have it. If you are writing a non-fiction book, then self-publishing is a perfectly good option, especially if you can work hard on the marketing side. However, if you are writing a work of fiction, then getting a traditional publisher behind you is the best way forward. With their expertise and marketing clout and your hard work, it should be possible to make it into a winner. By winner I don't just mean in terms of number of readers either, I'm talking money. Publishers don't do it for fun and neither do agents. So, that's why I'm busy polishing my book up, because if they can't see a profit in it, I'm wasting my time.

I will be posting an article on my website shortly which will go into the subject in more detail. If you want to check it out or find out more about my non-fiction books click here.