Mike Kowis, Esq.

Mike Kowis, Esq. is a corporate tax attorney, college instructor, speaker, and award-winning author. His nonfiction titles include an amusing college teaching guide (Engaging College Students: A Fun and Edgy Guide for Professors), a self-publishing guide for aspiring authors (14 Steps to Self-Publishing a Book), and a book marketing guide for self-published authors (Smart Marketing for Indie Authors). Mike earned a bachelor's degree plus two law degrees and currently practices tax law in Texas. For more information about Mike’s books and speaking engagements, please visit www.mikekowis.com.

Excerpt from Mike’s latest book for authors, Smart Marketing for Indie Authors: 

Whether fiction or nonfiction, every indie author must complete the same three-part process to create a successful book: writing, self-publishing, and marketing. Most seasoned authors will readily admit that marketing is the hardest part of this process. This is true for two reasons.
  1. Writing and self-publishing activities are controlled primarily by the author, whereas book sales are controlled primarily by readers. As an author, the only control you have over the buying process is the ability to spread the word about your book and hope that readers will notice it among the millions of other ones already on the market. Like it or not, the ultimate decision to buy a book is largely out of your hands.
  2. The typical author’s personality is more akin to an artist rather than a salesperson. Writers are essentially word artists and as such, they tend to enjoy sitting alone in a quiet coffee shop where they can gather their thoughts and lose themselves in a world of creative expression. On the other end of the personality spectrum are salespeople who strive to make as many personal connections as possible to increase their odds of making sales. For many authors, the mere thought of talking strangers into buying their book sounds sleazy, like a high pressure sales pitch from a time share salesperson. In other words, marketing doesn’t come naturally for most authors. 
Now let’s talk turkey. The reason you are reading this book is to find out what indie authors can do to get consistent book sales day in and day out. To answer that question, I carefully evaluated the various marketing techniques that I’ve tried and their effect on my book sales over the past few years. Then I condensed these results into a simple book-selling formula that anyone can follow:

 BOOK SALES  =  An Appealing Book  +  Social Proof  +  Visibility
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Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers
  • 14 Steps to Self-Publishing a Book, Mike Kowis, Esq.
  • Smart Marketing for Indie Authors: How I Sold my First 1,563 Books and Counting!, Mike Kowis, Esq.
  • The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, Arielle Eckstut & David H. Sterry
  • The Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook (2nd Edition), Helen Sedwick
  • Business Tips and Taxes for Writers (Volume 2), Carol Topp

​Teaching Philosophy
As explained in my debut book entitled Engaging College Students: A Fun and Edgy Guide for Professors, I am most effective as an instructor when I focus on the following five roles: 
  • Entertainer (to grab my students’ attention)
  • Coach (to inspire them to work hard)
  • Parent (to show that I care about them and their success in my class)
  • Law Professor (to apply the Socratic-lite teaching method), and
  • Classroom Teacher (to give effective lectures).
When I fulfill these roles, my students tend to show up with a positive attitude, have lots of fun, and are fully engaged in classroom discussions. At least that has been my experience teaching 3-hour night classes at Lone Star College - Montgomery since 2001.