I’m taking an online course on book marketing sponsored by one of my publishers. I figured it would be an easy thing to do. Guess again.

My first few lessons required one of the hardest things for a novel writer—at least this novel writer—to do. I had to condense a 368 page manuscript into a multitude of interpretations utilizing sometimes as few as one or two words. Keywords to be exact. Turns out these pesky and elusive critters hold a lot of sway over how and when your book shows up on purchase sites.

It was frustrating, informative, and mind weary to labor through these things. Not to mention it required me to divert precious time from my writing.

Was it worth it? Damn straight. Like most authors, I’m most comfortable writing. This forced me out of my comfort zone and into the deep end of the pool. And just like the deep end, once you get used to it, it opens up a whole new world. After all, these days writing requires more than just writing.

Still, I’m holding my breath as I wait to see what’s in store, next.