The publisher’s publicity machine is focused on their accounts, and getting your book reviewed in outlets those accounts pay attention to. This includes the big chain bookstores, wholesalers (like Costco) and distributors that sell to grocery stores, independent booksellers, and other, smaller outlets.

I work with a publicist to reach those outlets the publisher does not focus on. We send advance reading copies to independent bookstores and online reader groups for review. We send cover flats to stores that like to post them for their clientele. We do hit some publications, but most of them are geared toward the romance community. Mainstream publications are reached through the publisher, if at all.

The other thing my publicist does is work past the point my publisher will work on a book. By the time my book is published, my publisher has already moved on to the next month’s book. My publicist follows up with buyers and booksellers. Do they need more bookmarks? Do they need a gentle reminder to reorder stock? We only do this for a couple of weeks, but it seems worth the effort.

Now having said all of the above, there is a huge debate in any writer community whether or not any promotional effort will make a difference in the number of books sold. I do believe that any author will reach a point of diminishing returns, and I may have reached it in my own career. But I think that my efforts to reach booksellers and readers when I was starting out made a difference in my career.

Of course I cannot quantify it, but think of the odds: In any given month, there are 150 romances alone being published. Stack that up against chick-lit, mystery and suspense, sci-fi and everything else, and that is a lot of books. How does someone without a name get readers to pick up his/her book? By word of mouth, I believe, and that can only happen if enough people are aware of you and your book to pick it up to begin with.

So how much promotion should you do? Do something. I know there is something for every budget. My advice is to talk with your publisher’s publicist and find out where they are sending information. Start by supplementing that, if even in your hometown. Make up little excerpts on your computer and mail to romance-friendly bookstores in your area with a personal note. Go by bookstores and ask if any staff member is really into romance. Chances are they will read your galley and put a "staff recommends" on the shelf. Every little bit helps. Start small, think big, and remember, write a damn good book.

I was raised on a ranch in West Texas, where I had an enormous amount of time on my hands to dream of swashbuckling adventure with to-die-for heroes. That went for some years until my parents forced me to acknowledge that such dreams did not produce income all by themselves. I conceded and moved to Austin to study government at the University of Texas. Do not ask me why I would consciously choose to study government, but whatever.

Somehow, after years and years of working on 6^th Street and going to school, I ended up in Washington, D.C. where I eventually ended up working for the White House. Sadly, life inside the Beltway did not exactly mesh my propensity for dreaming—or with President Clinton, who fired me along with everyone else. I came back to Texas to be a public administrator for a local government, in which I discovered that spending taxpayers’ money was really fun—if you like shopping for really big stuff like trucks and jails.

Fortunately, I finally got the idea to write down my daydreams, and no one was more surprised than me to discover how many people out there wanted to share in my daydreams. I am now a USA Today, national best-selling author of eleven published novels. I still live in Austin and frequently write angry letters to the local government about the frivolous use of my outrageous property taxes.

I currently write historical romance for Pocket Books, and contemporary romance for Berkley Publishing.