Author and MBToolBox contributor MJ Rose was interviewed by Gothamist, and yields some potentially helpful tips for writers:

What can authors do to make sure they get the most publicity possible? Do they need to be more proactive?
It's tough. It's not why we became writers. It's not what we know how to do-or even in my case-I know how to do it-but it's not what I want to do. I left advertising to be a novelist. I didn't want to stay in the biz. But here we are.

Generally I think writing is an art and publishing is a business and the day you get a deal you stop jut being an artist and you also become a businessperson. So should we be proactive? It's up to each author.

The only thing you have to think about is: You can sit back and let the publisher do what they will, but if they don't do enough and if the book disappears, you'll always wonder-what if I tried? Would it have been different? I can tell you that authors who get involved the right way can energize a publisher into doing more.

More here.