It seems ironic (and a little deflating, frankly) that now that the hard work's done, the hard work starts! Writing the book was a labor of love, and it had a very clear end-point in view: finish the book and get it published. That goal has now been fulfilled, which is great! However, the biggest down-side of self-publishing is that the marketing of the book lies squarely on my own shoulders. Of course, there are ways to do this, and I've already set some wheels in motion, which should hopefully bear fruit down the road. But it would be wonderful if something happened to make it "go viral" - always the marketer's dream.

The biggest challenge with this book is not that it's not interesting or captivating - everyone who's seen it says it's both - but that it address a completely new topic, one that nobody even knows exists. How can people be expected do a web search on a topic that they don't even know they'd be interested in?

The key to marketing, of course, is to get the book in front of audiences that are highly likely to be interested in observing time-varying light sources, once they're made aware of the field and its possibilities. To do that, I'm starting to reach out to key people who have websites and/or YouTube channels that a lot of people follow, but which are in closely-related fields, such as observing/enjoying atmospheric optics, or photography. These key people are known as "influencers", and are the lynch-pins to reaching audiences. I'm definitely hoping they'll be able to put some wind under the wings of my book.

Here's to successful marketing!

Comments welcome. :)