Relationships are everything to a writer. As the old saying goes: “It’s who you know.” And who knows you.

If you have no editorial contacts at all, and are starting your career, your primary aim should be to build relationships.

When I started writing, around 30 years ago, I knew no one in publishing, and yet my first sale as a novelist was a series of romance novels to an English publisher. (I live in Australia.)

I did it one letter at a time. I wrote to publishers, and when the response was positive, sent requested material, usually a couple of chapters and a synopsis.

So start getting to know people. Send an email message. Send a letter. Create a Web site or a blog.

It all starts with you. Make contact, and before you know it, you’ll acknowledge the wisdom of “It’s who you know”.

This press release Cookbook Author Sues Jessica and Jerry Seinfeld for Copyright Infringement and Defamation states: “Attorneys for Missy Chase Lapine, author of ‘The Sneaky Chef,’ today filed a lawsuit against Jessica Seinfeld and Jerry Seinfeld for copyright and trademark infringement and defamation in Federal District Court in New York.

The lawsuit alleges that Jessica Seinfeld blatantly plagiarized Ms. Lapine’s book, ‘The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals,’ a critically-acclaimed and commercially successful cookbook with an innovative approach to improving children’s eating habits. ‘The Sneaky Chef’ shows parents how to, among other things, camouflage purees of carefully selected fruits and vegetables as ingredients in less healthy foods that kids like, such as cheeseburgers, pizza and brownies. Running Press Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, published ‘The Sneaky Chef’ in April, 2007, generating positive reviews and quickly becoming a New York Times bestseller.”

You have to wonder whether this is a publicity ploy.

PublishersMarketplace notes that “Bookscan figures for 2007 tracked sales of approximately 581,000 copies for Seinfeld’s book through mid-December; Running Press says The Sneaky Chef currently has approximately 190,000 copies in print.”

You’ve written a book. That’s great! Many, many kudos to you. It’s an immense achievement, and one you should always be proud of, because it takes a lot of time, energy and commitment.

Now comes the fun part – promoting your book. BTW, I tell my students to promote as they write, but most writers just want to get the book DONE.

Book promotion has many pitfalls. You can waste a lot of time on promotion – time which would have been better spent in writing another book.

How NOT to Waste Money & Time When Promoting your Book By Marion Cuba offers excellent advice: “Time & Money Waster: a Fancy, ‘Flash’ Format Website

Having a website is a definite plus. BUT – the flash format, though gorgeous – it moves and spins – unfortunately registers only as an image. That means it does NOT register as words and phrases. So, people surfing for information on my subject will not be drawn to my website.”

A Web site is essential for any writer, but don’t let yourself be talked into an all-singing or all-dancing Flash extravaganza. You just need a SIMPLE site, the simpler the better. And you can easily do it yourself.

Sensible promotion for your book includes: a simple Web site, a blog, regular news releases, and schmoozing online in discussion forums dedicated to the subject of your book. Many writers want to schmooze with other writers, but remember who’ll be buying your book, and interact with them.

Please don’t go overboard on promotion: spend most of your time writing your next book.

Chris Anderson, the author of The Long Tail, plans to give away several versions of his next book FREE for… well, free.

He’s hoping that the free versions will help him to market his services.

In Free is more complicated than you think he says that by giving away the book he wants to: “Give speeches, customizing my analysis and research for specific companies and industries. The free book is simply marketing for that, which can be more lucrative than book royalties. And who knows what else? Free distribution will put the book, in one form or another, into the widest number of hands possible. I’m not quite sure how I’ll monetize that reach, if I can at all. But the problem of making money indirectly from attention seems like a great problem to have.”

Read the entire blog post; it shows that even Dilbert’s creator has problems monetizing “free”.

When you’re giving stuff away, you need to have a plan. Several years ago “free” was all the rage. However, Giving stuff away without knowing why you’re doing it is madness.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use “free” if you decide it’s worth it. For example, you can blog your book, and see what happens if you’ve never published a book before and have no editorial contacts. Blogging your book can hep you to get attention and rise above the slush pile; but you need to have a plan.

So many books, so much competition, you’ll think as you walk into a bookstore. With so many books published each year, while writing a book is an achievement, promoting your book is vital. If you don’t promote your book with your own fair hands, it won’t find readers.

The promotions (marketing) aspect of book publication comes as a nasty shock to many writers.

Relax, promotion is fun, when you approach it in the right spirit.

An author who’s definitely doing just that blogs on Half of Me.

On her About page, the author of Half of Me says: “I am writing a book about my weight-loss experience called Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoirfor Seal Press which will be published in May 2008 (click to pre-order from Amazon at the discounted advance price of $10.85!).”

As her book’s title suggests, this blog is both humorous and useful.

Does your book need a blog? Yes indeed. Writing a blog is the easiest way to get publicity for your book. Ideally, you’ll start to blog when you get an idea for your book, and will continue to blog long after your book is published.

We’ll be discussing blogging your book on the membership site; giving you lots of inspiration, a guide and on-going tips.