One of the reasons Shadow Work is so effective is that it's completely tailored to what an individual wants. It's the individual's choices that guide the process from start to finish. We ask for and honor choices at every step.

As I was writing Practically Shameless, I worried at times that I wouldn't be able to give a reader that kind of individualized experience.

Judging by what I've heard from readers who have contacted me, diverse readers have gotten good things from the exercise in Chapter 19 and from the book's story in general. But of course there are many readers I've never heard from.

However, I've been finding ways to talk to individuals about the book, or about the ideas in the book, that represent a kind of person-to-person marketing. I don't always have a way of knowing if the person ends up buying the book or not, but I find these conversations really satisfying. Hundreds of times more satisfying than writing flyers or other promotional materials.

One kind of person-to-person marketing has been through HARO, which stands for Help A Reporter Out (http://www.helpareporter.com/). It's an email list that goes out three times every weekday to about 30,000 people who are willing to respond to requests form reporters for expert sources.

When I see a request that lies within what I consider my area of expertise, I contact the reporter. My goals in doing so are, first, to be interviewed by the reporter for a story that will bring me exposure and, second, to spark interest in a reporter in the hopes the reporter will do a future story on the book, on me, or on Shadow Work.

Another kind of person-to-person marketing comes to me through Google Alerts. I heard about Google Alerts from my friend Cathy Dold, the list mistress for Boulder Media Women, and they're so useful that I now have about a dozen. Each alert brings me a daily email telling me when my desired phrase has appeared on a website. I've got Google Alerts for my name, for Practically Shameless, and for Shadow Work, among other things.

When I notice in a Google Alert for Shadow Work, for example, that someone is blogging about the shadow, I might drop by their blog and post a comment in which I mention my book in relation to their posting. As a rule, I've noticed that book sales on Amazon.com increase each time I do this, though that could be a coincidence.

And as I said earlier, these kinds of contacts are tremendously satisfying. Like talking to a reader at a book talk, one on one.