70 You Have a Book in You What’s this got to do with your career as an author? From the moment you 昀椀nish writing your book, or even before you 昀椀nish it, I want you to think of that book as your dearly beloved child. A book is like your baby. You have a seed concept, it germinates inside you, and you go through the labor pains of writing it, delivering it, and sharing it with the world. In this process, you risk your self- esteem, and hope and pray that as you share your literary baby, it receives the loving reception it so richly deserves. Motivate yourself to tell anyone and everyone about the exciting things your book is doing in the world. You must physically introduce your book to people, just as you would introduce your child to a new friend or acquaintance. In the same way parents learn to include their children in a conversation without being crass, you must learn how to introduce your book without over- doing it. If you’re having lunch with a group of friends, you won’t talk about your book as if you were in front of an audience of three hundred people. But you will talk about your book. You will market your book 24/7/365 because (I have to say this one more time) the actual writing is only 10 percent of the book business; 90 percent is marketing, selling, promoting, sharing, telling, hustling and asking EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, TO HELP YOU GET THE MESSAGE OUT IMMEDIATELY. Marketing, selling, and