It also helps that I have past experience as a visual artist, a painter, and an art director in the film industry. I learned how the systems work and also overcame many of the the ego problems that can plague and destroy an artist. I feel more confident and self-assured now.
So my suggestion is to work with publishers for mutual purposes but always keep artistic vision and purpose first. That is what we are about and what will keep us sane.

I am assuming you have gone with a self-publishing company, and this sounds like a horrible deal. In fact, it sounds like a scam to me. I strongly advocate doing more research about your publisher, and, frankly, doing more research about self-publishing option (and traditional publishing options).

If marketing is not a writers niche , he must spend time learning and that changes the entire scenario. Publishers should at least provide a list of contacts for media comments, and along with the author should prepare an announcement that canbe sent to approprioate reviewers. Getting a book reviewed is mindboggling and may take a year even if you pay a reviewer. A book signing tour is out of the question for 99% of writers.Doing local and immediate surrounding areas is also expensive, . What all the comments lacked or refused to say is that the one and probably only way to get publicity is to hire an agent. If that is what publishers expect an author to do, most of us will just fade away.Internet publicity is also oversold. You may get lots of hits by people who scan for no other purpose than curiosity. I believe there is a market for most books and the publisher and author should concentrate on that market rather than reaching for the stars.
Thank you for listening. Roger Neetz

So ultimately you’re your own best PR. Taking part in booksignings and interviews, selling copies to your friends, carrying copies in your trunk to sell in case you meet random individuals who may be interested, leaving business cards, etc, are all useful tools. These are all things that can have a direct impact because if you meet a potential reader, you can tell them as much as you can about the book without it sounding like corporate hard-sell. You can discuss it with people individually. A publisher doesn’t have the time to do that. You also have the opportunity to tap into an important market: your own friends, colleagues and family; your local community; people whose expertise or interests are similar to your own.

Ergo, you need to market if you want to maximise the results. If you don’t, you’re leaving your destiny in the hands of a publishing company which has twenty or a hundred other titles to publicise and whose authors are far more helpful. Make it easier for themselves and for you.

Imagine this: one in ten people who find your book will be interested in it (this is being generous); one in two of those will buy it straight away. But let’s say you’re listed alongside 1,000 other books and your potential customer only has 10 minutes to find a book and buy it. They can only look at three or so books before they log off the PC. That gives you maybe a 1/300 chance of them finding your book. Factor in the figures above (10% like the sound of your book; 50% of those buy), you have a 1/6,000 chance of selling a single copy. It would take everyone in the world to log onto Lulu before you’d become a millionaire, and I’m sure that, in the real world, the figure of 1/6,000 is still way too optimistic.

Every time you tell someone from your target audience about your book, you’re marketing it. You’re publicising it whenever you tell _anyone_ about it. Even if you tell 100 people about your book, how many do you seriously think will pick up a copy? That’s why marketing is essential. Telling 100 nuns to buy a book about Satanism would be a waste of time. It’s publicity, but not the right kind. If you sat down and planned things a bit (this is the difference between marketing and publicising, BTW), it then becomes marketing. Don’t tell the nuns when you could be with the local infernalists’ cabal, helping them sacrifice a bull so that when they all take off their robes and have dinner, you can mention your book.

Marketing isn’t as difficult as you’d think; it’s just time consuming. Most marketing is common sense. You need to get your book into the right hands at the right time. Publishers will help with this, and do everything they can, but if you don’t play along with them, you shouldn’t expect wonders. Whether you like it or not, you are your book. You’re part of your brand value as much as your book is. No one can be more enthusiastic about your own book than you can. You know it inside out (or you should do).