• Austin American-Statesman, Monday, January 12, 2009 11 AM

Tam Thompson is an Austin publisher and writer who has ghostwritten nearly 100 books, writes Omar L. Gallaga, but a fitness guide for women titled Busy Sexy Body is her first under her own name. Thomson will be promoting the 60-page book at a local library on Saturday, but when it comes to signing, she'll be scribbling on a printout of the title page. There are no pre-printed copies of the book, which retails for $29.95; it's only available as a PDF file.

Thompson says a lot of authors are mired in the past, waiting for that big, fat publisher's advance to cross the transom (tell me about it). ""They are stubborn as mules. They will not come out of the 18th century," she says. "A good book with great marketing will outsell a great book with good marketing all day long."

Thompson is spending $7,000 on her e-book's promotion, writes Omar L. Gallaga. An Internet consultant and Web team helped her set up a blog and a payment system for selling Busy Sexy Body online. Other authors are using YouTube. Before you give up the day job at Acme PR and Mobile Marketing, however, know that there's a hitch to the story. In the first week of digital availability, Busy Sexy Body rang up total sales of 1.

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