I do have a day job, but I'm also the managing editor for a little press called Adventure Books of Seattle.
Book Promotion 101
First, I noticed you said you spent a lot of the budget actually publishing the book. I hope this was for professional editing and formatting, and not just for printing copies. Self-publishing is tricky, but a self-published book that was not gone over by a pro editor is almost impossible to market.
1) Start local...then move outward from there. Establish a slick website about the book and include it in your signature on all emails. Make sure the site has good images of the front/back covers and a pdf excerpt from the book. Print up some really nice business cards and give them out to anyone you meet. Set up some book signings. Hopefully, you are obtaining your books from a source that can provide copies to you at below wholesale rates, such as Lightning Source, who are the best in the business. Definition of wholesale: A six-by-nine inch paperback of 200 pages should be costing you less than $3.60 per copy, plus shipping. Trade size paperbacks should cost you even less. If you are paying more, you need to go to Lightning Source or another printer. I highly recommend LSI, because they are THE pros...however, they are NOT free. (See AB video on this subject)
2) Bookstores. I have spoken to bookstore managers by the score. They will try a new book...if they can get it at 50-55% off what is called 'normal retail' for that size book. This is standard practice, and they will a want a 90-day sale-or-return policy from you. Don't worry, they seldom actually RETURN any books...they just discount them if they don't sell. For example, if you have a normal trade-size paperback that would retail in stores at say $7.99, then you have to be able to provide that book to the bookstores at about $4.00 per copy. If you can't provide your book at wholesale, most bookstores won't even talk to you. Trust me on this.
3) THE REAL WORLD OF SELLING BOOKS: If you can't get your title into bookstores at wholesale, then the only people who will ever buy your book are family, friends, and the occasional online sale. Amazon, Barnes, etc. sell a lot of books. Most of them are by famous authors. Anyone else does average sales, usually much less. Consider online sales only as an occasional bonus and concentrate on stores. That's where the books sell. To begin, google on 'Independent Bookstores' (your state) and print up a nice little promo sheet about your book. Mail it out to all of them, making sure to include ordering details, wholesale price, and something about the author.
I have some videos onsite at AB on this subject, but you'll have to find us on your own, since I am reluctant to plug us on this forum.
To get you started, AB posted a positive review of your book at Amazon...good luck!
