Congratulations on writing your first book. That is quite an accomplishment. Many people dream of writing a book, but you actually did it. Way to go.

At this point you are probably wondering where to get started, who to contact, how to even take the first step. Don't worry, that is very common. And now you've found a great resource to help you.

Step #1

Create a map for yourself.

If you want to get somewhere you need to know where you are and where you want to be. Then you figure out how you are going to get there. Yet many first time authors jump in with the how to get there specifics ? getting reviews, making it onto bookstore shelves, creating a website.

Instead, start by figuring out your goals. What do you want to happen with your book? Be very specific. Try writing down at least 10 goals for your book. If that was easy, write down 25.

Next, figure out what you have to bring to the project. How much money are you able to invest? How much time can you spend doing marketing? Be realistic. You can make your marketing work with whatever budget you have and time you can allocate.

Then you can start finding specific marketing actions that match your goals and resources. By knowing your goals and resources you can find the exact marketing tools to make your goals a reality within your time and money budget.

Step # 2

Avoid the common mistakes.

Hundreds of thousands of people write books every year. Tens of thousands of these authors are doing it for the first time. It is only natural that some of the same mistakes are made over and over. Once you know what they are you can avoid making them and get ahead with your book faster.

The single most common mistake we see is authors who fail to clearly define their target market. They believe that "everyone" will buy their book.

They waste their valuable resources trying to market to an audience that is too broad. Let me give you an example from the TV show The Apprentice.

Two teams are in New York trying to sell wedding dresses. One team goes to Grand Central Station where there are tons of people and hands out flyers to everyone walking by. The other team stays in the office, goes online and buys an email list from a popular wedding site (theknot.com) of couples getting married who live in the New York area.

The first team trying to sell to "everyone" is reaching tons of people who simply do not care about what they are selling for one very simple reason - they are not getting married.

Will any amount of marketing on the team's part convince them that they need a wedding dress? NO.

Does it even matter how great the wedding dresses are made? NO.

The other team however, has found the perfect target market ? people who live in New York who are getting married.

Do you see the difference? Marketing to people who ALREADY CARE about your book's subject and forgetting the rest of the people who don't care is the ONLY smart way to do marketing.

Kim Dushinski is a partner at MarketAbility, a book publicity firm located in Colorado that specializes in cost-effective, results-driven PR Campaigns. You can find more tips, strategies and techniques specifically designed for first time authors in our First Time Author Toolkit at http://www.marketability.com/first-time-author-info14.html