Gone are the days when authors rely wholly on the publisher to do the book marketing work for them. Today, if you can’t show evidence to the publisher that you can promote your book, get media attention, do talks, sell in bulk and create a viral sensation, you won’t stand a chance.

No wonder self-publishing has become the trend. It doesn’t make much sense to give the bulk of your profit to a publisher when you’re the one who’s going to do the marketing legwork, does it?

Regardless if you are self-publishing or going the traditional publishing route, one of the keys to making your book a bestseller is setting yourself apart from the crowd so people notice your book. How do you do this? By thinking out of the box!

Here’s an example:

Recently bestselling author Seth Godin announced what he calls a significant breakthrough in the publishing industry. The digital edition of a bestselling author’s next book is available for free.

The bestselling author he’s referring to is Steven Pressfield, the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, the upcoming thriller The Profession, and the classic The War of Art.

His soon to launch book is “Do the Work.” The ebook version of “Do the Work” will be available for free until its publication date, April 20, 2011. You can order your copy free of charge on Amazon and it will be automatically delivered to your kindle, iPad, Iphone, blackberry, PC, Mac and more on the pub date. You will even get a refund if you already ordered it and paid.

They are able to pull this because of a generous sponsor. It’s a win-win-win. The sponsor gets exposure to readers. People are able to get access to a great work. And the book “Do the Work” will become a definite Bestseller with all those sponsored copies ordered from Amazon.

When “Do the Work” is a bestseller and no longer free, I bet it will continue to draw more people, who will be more than willing to purchase the book for a fee.

You see how letting your creative marketing juices flow and thinking out of the box can make your book a bestseller?

Do you know other examples of out of the box, brilliant marketing strategies? Please share it by posting a comment below.