If you want to become an author, the first thing you'll probably have to learn is how to publish your book on your own. Remember that any kind of marketing will eventually boil down to one simple thing: creating and maintaining relationships. If you haven't got the hang of this basic principle, then you will ultimately fail as a publisher. In fact, you will fail as a writer itself!

So, what exactly is publicity? Simply put, publicity is the ability to create relationships with people who are involved with the media who, if they happen to like your book, will pass on this information to the public in the form of interviews, reviews, notices or stories. So, what is distribution? It is the process of creating relationships with wholesalers, bookstores or even sales representatives who can make your book available to the retail consumers. Think about it: what exactly is editorial? It is the process of creating relationships with literary agents, other authors and people who can provide you with the right material to upscale, polish, design, redesign and promote.

All in all, writing and publishing a book ultimately comes down to creating long-lasting relationships. Or rather, all of business operates in this same way. When you're in the book writing business, relationships are what can make or break your writing career: from networking, the new girl network, the old boy network, sales reps visiting customers, customer lists and publicists talking to the media to lunch meetings, trade shows, newsletters, conventions, and blogs, building good relationships can make things happen.

Here are a few basic principles to help you create long-lasting relationships and to market your books effectively so that they become bestsellers:

* Create your own special list - It isn't humanly possible to become friends with hundreds of thousands of people, so the best thing to do is to focus on 100 or more key marketing and media contacts. Develop this database on your own. Find out all their personal details. The aim is to find out what they like and what they don't like, what affects them, and what exactly they are looking for in a book. * Persist, persist, persist! - Once you have a database of good contacts, you should stay in touch with them on a regular basis. Keep following up with your contacts and you'll see the difference it makes. * Word-of-mouth - Since a large majority of books are sold by word-of-mouth, nearly 80%, your main aim in marketing your book is to create a group of will get that word-of-mouth process started. * Become a people's person - In order to promote your book, you can't be shy and reserved. You need to be a people's person, someone who enjoys interacting with the public and who can grab everyone's attention.

The reasons for writing and publishing a book vary from person to person, or rather author to author, but the way you go about doing it should be right. Building rapport and creating good relationships is the best way to start off promoting your book. So whether you are writing non-fiction or a fiction book, or writing memoirs, your method of publishing the book should be absolutely perfect, that is if you're aiming at creating a bestseller.

The first rule to publishing your own book is to make friends: every good marketer knows that if you're looking out to create a bestseller, you have got to have friends in the industry. What's more, while marketing in this way, everything about marketing and publishing of books becomes a whole lot more fun. It's a talent that we all probably have since we were kid. So, use it.

About the Author

Jason Oman is the author of #1 best-selling Conversations with Millionaires. As well as being the President of Money Systems Technologies, a marketing firm that focuses on book marketing, author publicity and writing resources. Jason is an author's strategist specializing in helping clients achieve their goals of becoming a best selling author. Sign up for Jason's newsletter at http://www.bestsellingauthorsecrets.com