No, really, it's not Rocket Science

There is this reaction people have when you say you're a writer.

"Oh, written anything I know?"
"Have you published anything yet?"
"When are you publishing something?"

Every time, it's like they are standing right in your face, flicking your forehead while going "Well, didya, didya, didya?"

There is a chasm between being a writer and being an author. The chasm of Publishing. Unless you are an aspiring author, most people don't understand how very damn difficult it is to actually publish something. Even if you go the route of self publishing. The internet took the disco ball and ran out of the dance with that one. Anyone can self publish and try to sell their work thanks to kindle's own little side business. The catch there is, will it sell. Self publishing is just what it says "SELF". It's all on you. Truthfully, publishers do not do nearly as much advertising for authors as they use to. But they did something, no matter how small.

As I furiously whittle away at my YA novel, I have that horrible sensation in the back of my head of "I have no idea what I'm going to do when it's done." But I often feel that way so I mostly just push it aside and keep going.
It's a learning process. Even if you get published, you need to find the networks and outlets to kinda slip your work into and hope for the best. You look at what other people are doing, how they did it, and try to emulate it. Use the insanity of the web to your advantage, there are face book pages devoted to promoting authors and they see traffic because it's goddamn face book. Everyone and their mother has a FB page, most authors have their own website you can Google. The tools are there, it's just a matter of learning to use them once you're ready to rock. Until then, you mumble a bullshit answer to those questions, smile, be polite, this could be your audience one day.