Join e-groups. Yahoo is where you’ll find online communities on a myriad of subjects. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can always create your own. The purpose of joining e-groups is to let people know your e-book exists. Therefore, if you wrote a novel, you’ll want to persuade readers to take a look at your book. You don’t want to hard sell them, risking ejection from group, but you do want to get a feel of online community and ease into your promotional tactic. If you’ve written a non-fiction book about Civil War, you’ll want to investigate any group affiliated with that time period. Should your e-book be concerned with saving whales, groups that are environmentally conscious, along with whale lovers associations, are categories to check out. Fiction writers can become associated with other authors, but don’t expect to rack up too many sales from them! You will oftentimes receive excellent advice and probably make countless online pals. Always read what group’s rules are and follow them. For example, I’m a member of a few soap making e-groups and know which ones accept advertising and those that forbid any type of promotion.

Write Articles. You have a distinct advantage over someone who doesn’t like crafting words and wants to sell their product online but can’t even think up an opening sentence, let alone several hundred words worth of literate text. Depending upon subject of your e-book, you can always count on one thing – you’re resident expert when it comes to that book you wrote. Should you have a hide-under-the-covers horror story or a derring do romance/adventure saga, you can always find an online outlet to freely market your tale. You might write about geographical aspects of your book’s Scottish setting in a travel magazine or on a Scottish online site. Maybe your book on how to crochet will be widely received by crocheting community after you contribute an article [with a byline including your book’s URL of course!] to a crafting site. Well-written articles are always appreciated and as long as you have a byline, you’ll notice an increase in sales.

Yahoo Display Classified Ads While there are many places online that offer free classifieds, Yahoo display classifieds are definitely a good place to begin. Why? Yahoo is well known. The ads are free. You can include a photo of your book’s cover. And you can see how many people actually looked at your advertisement. Just remember it runs for 30 days and it has to be renewed monthly.

Due to space limitations I can only list other methods of online e-book promotion such as getting reviews, sending out press releases, posting on message/bulletin boards, and being interviewed. Remember, more time you devote to publicizing your e-book, more sales that are likely to result from your efforts.

You see where I'm leading by now. I wrote two new novels, and signed contracts to publish all three novels plus new short story collection in 2001.

It's a common sight among new writers, and really it's a bit sad. People who have story -- part that can't be learned -- but tell it badly. They rush in on adrenaline high that all authors know so well, then get rejected and give up.

What defines a great story? That depends on which reader you ask. If you're writing a story that moves you, someone somewhere with similar tastes will like it. Some stories will be more popular than others, but every story will be considered great by someone. But if it's badly written, reader will simply put book down and read something else.

As a teenaged author, gathering up enough rejection slips to wallpaper room, I didn't give up. I just got arrogant and decided "You don't understand me, ya eejit." That's no solution either. Nor is paying to be published.

Nope, if you want to get published, learn how to tell your story. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, pacing, dialogue... all that stuff that you may have slept through in high school will become second nature with enough practice.

I did quite well in high school English, by way, but it's not like they taught pacing and dialogue and real story-telling there. To learn that, you've gotta read. But that's no problem for an author. If you don't enjoy reading, I don't think you can write something that others will enjoy reading.

Also, you must listen to criticisms. Accept some and reject others, but always listen. I believe Internet makes it much easier to get those criticisms.

I work as an editor now, and one of my authors told me that he sees movies inside his head. It shows in his writing! I don't write that way, unfortunately, but I still know how he feels. When "the Muse" pays me a visit, I've gotta write it down as fast as it comes to me. That's one part that can't be packaged, taught or mass-produced. That part comes from you, author, and no one else can do it way that you do.

Kurt Vonnegut, whose works I greatly admire, writes one sentence at a time, and makes each one perfect before he begins next. But I don't write like that, nor do most of authors I know. We just let it fly, then go back and fix it later.

But if you don't want to get published, don't go back and fix it. Pass that raw copy around to your friends and family and let them tell you how wonderful it is for fear of hurting your feelings. Then send it to publishers and collect rejection letters. That's what I did "in my younger days," and I wasn't published.

It took me twenty years to learn my lesson. It would genuinely make me feel good to hear that most writers aren't taking quite so long.

Oh, and when day comes that you finally are published, it's best not to sleep until 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time and hear about it in wonderful but chaotic way that I did. (Not that you can know what day that'll be.) I barely had time to bask in moment before I had to fire up publicity machine and see how many copies I could sell.

I'm very proud of VIGILANTE JUSTICE, by way, and not just because it’s an EPPIE 2002 finalist in Thriller category. I wrote what I like to read; something that says what I want to say, and my readers are genuinely enjoying it. That's why I write.