Thank you for the quick reply and interesting links. :-S Obviously, the marketing and social media parts are going to be harder than writing the book. We’ll see where this long, windy road actually goes.

HI Kevin,

it depends on your comfort zone. If you are looking to get known online, you need to start building a platform, improving your reach using social media. If you want to stick close to home, you would want to start networking with local groups, organizations, libraries, etc that best serve your exact target audience (and understand who they are is really step #1). Here are some articles I recommend:
https://janefriedman.com/how-authors-can-find-readers/
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2013/08/marketing-for-introverts/
https://writershelpingwriters.net/category/social-networking/platform/

“If a book is sub par, even the strongest marketing will only work so well.”

I could not agree more. I have a wonderful relationship with a brutal editor, who is sage enough to tell me exactly where my manuscript falls short. I’m still working on getting my first book “publishable,” three versions and hundreds of thousands of words later.

I’ve had to develop a pretty thick skin.

What I can’t seem to gather from an otherwise good article… what is step one? What would an introverted new author with his polished manuscript do to get “out there”?

True pride comes when an author knows without hesitation that they have done everything in their power to make the book as strong as it can be…not when an author believes it’s good enough, or even ‘pretty close.’

Taking the time to workshop a book, solicit feedback from strong critique partners (multiple ones), running it through the revision process many times and getting an editor…these are all necessary steps all authors should take before even thinking of uploading their book.

A great many authors see self-publishing as a wonderful work-around that allows them to publish faster. And while self publishing can be used this way, it shouldn’t. Rushing a book never ends well. Not understanding writing craft, story structure or honing one’s skills (something that often takes years of practice, study and hard work) will not produce a book that sells well. So all I am saying here is to take pride in yourself as a professional author, take pride in the job you do, and respect the reader. They deserve the best product we can put forth, and so the words “it’s pretty good” should never be the goal we strive for.

If a book is sub par, even the strongest marketing will only work so well. I hope that clears things up a bit.