1.  Build a cyber sales channel.

Blogs are actually quite flexible in terms of content and functionality. For example, you can integrate e-commerce so that blog readers can purchase books directly from your site. You can tie-in your blog sales outreach to services like Clickbank and even Amazon.

2.  Connect with your audience.

You audience is much broader than just readers and fans. Through a blog you can meet publishers, literary agents and other authors to exchange information and build a social network to support your book.

3.  Boost book sales.

As an author you have the advantage of never running out of great ideas for blog posts. You can use our book to generate hundreds of topics for posts. Try using an excerpt from you book and expanding upon it, touch on something unique about one of your characters, discuss plot or print out a teaser page to encourage sales. Endless opportunities exist for blogging authors.

4.  Become search engine friendly.

The primary search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Bing, continually crawl the web looking for new content that is regularly updated. Every time you submit a post a search engine bot will come along and index it on the internet. That makes you more searchable and increases your exposure. People will have an easier time finding you and connecting with the material that you’re producing.

5.  Develop conversations with readers.

Blogs aren’t a one-way street. Commenting systems enable readers to share feedback and thoughts and regardless of whether they’re positive or negative, participating in a dialogue is an excellent way to learn how to improve and expand on things that are disliked or favored.

If you don’t have a blog, there’s no time like the present to start one today. Give your fingers a run for the money and start typing.

Technorati Tags: author, authors, blogging, blogs, book promotion, book sales

For all the authors out there this next mention will sound familiar. Just like a query letter, your press release needs to have a great headline. The purpose is to hook the interest of the reader, but also be succinct and direct at the same time. The headline should summarize what the press release about, but be catchy enough to entice further reading. Important: don’t include jargon or slang in your headline.

When you begin writing the body, or content of your press release, remember to stick to the facts. Press releases should contain a who, what, where, when and why. Additionally, they need to be written in a third-person voice and should be kept free of opinion. Editorializing should be avoided. Think of the release just like a news reporter would approach a story. Personal opinion is pushed aside so that people can make conclusions on their own. This is true with how your present the content in your release.

There are many different press release distribution sites on the Internet. To get a good sense of the style and tone of a release do some browsing on the web. Soon enough you’ll be able to distinguish between good and not so good, plus you’ll get a better understanding of how the components work synergistically to develop an informative piece.

The last part of your press release should be your boilerplate. The boilerplate is standard on every release and once you’ve written yours you will use it on all your releases going forward. It should contain a four to five sentences about who you are, your website and any other relevant information, such as a social media address or blog site. Boilerplates aren’t fancy, they simply summarize who the press release pertains to.

Visit corporate newsrooms to see good press release examples and to get inspired to write your own.

Technorati Tags: author, blogging, blogs, Book Marketing, public relations, SEO

There are quite a few ways that you can measure how your readers are interacting with you in the social media sphere. Some are costly, but they deliver robust data that can be used to adjust your campaign as needed. On the other hand, there are some fantastic free tools available that do a fair job delivering snapshots of your fans and their sentiment toward your book, or brand. Do some digging to find the tools that will work best to meet your needs and fit your budget.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the data that you start pulling. If you’re a writer, words come easily, whereas numbers may seem more challenging. Focus on identifying trends in your data and ignore  information that isn’t relevant. Spot increases and decreases over time to give yourself a benchmark to help gauge whether your social media efforts are succeeding or failing.

Make sure to overlay sales numbers with your social media data. If you’re using Google Analytics to measure conversions on your book’s landing page, check for spikes and dips and then compare how specific social media efforts may have effected those outcomes. Watching sales and measuring the ROI through social media will be determined by the set of metrics that you define. For example, if you are more concerned about sales instead of site registration then you’ll need to shift your measurement and focus accordingly.

However you choose to evaluate your book’s or brand’s social media investment just remember to be open-minded about the numbers. They can be your friend and help you find opportunities, identify mistakes and tell you what to continue or abandon.

Technorati Tags: ROI, social media marketing

One of the great features of Amazon is that is has a self-publishing company known as BookSurge. Through BookSurge authors can use features like print-on-demand and get organized with inventory management and distribution assistance. What’s really nice about BookSurge is that it offers scalable options to meet the needs of each author. If you want to be guided through the process step-by-step or if you’re looking for a more self-guided approach, BookSurge is the perfect solution.

Here’s a short breakdown on how the process comes together. The first step an author needs to take is to upload their completed manuscript in a PDF format. Don’t forget to include the cover for your book too. Next, you’ll develop your sales page which will feature price, tax and how royalties will be paid.

After you’ve assembled this first stage you’ll want to actually order one of your books so that you can confirm that everything is in order from the time that you add the book to your shopping cart, submit your credit card information and receive the final product. Once you’re satisfied with the outcome you’re ready to authorize distribution.

Head on over to Amazon to build your book’s page. Upload images and try to include reviews, testimonials and other relevant information that will help drive books sales among consumers. It might be a good idea to research how some well-known author have built their Amazon book pages and then borrow and customize your own ideas.

Although this is one method for getting your book printed and loaded onto Amazon, keep in mind that you have many other options to choose from. Self-publishing is as unique as the author and subject of the book itself. Do some research and find out what will best fit your needs before making a final decision.

Technorati Tags: Book Marketing

Facebook’s new privacy settings make it much easier for users to navigate and manage. For your brand this means that you’ll have a simpler time controlling what type of content your fans engage with. Another new feature is that you can view what your brands profile looks like to others. This is a big improvement because now web trollers can’t pull personal information from your page and add it to their spam banks or start a tidal wave of solicitation.

Additionally, you can also opt out of sharing personal data with third-party applications. This means that if you want to use the features of an application, but you don’t want to have your phone number, email address and other details shared with software developers abroad it won’t be. Brands will still be able to enhance their pages and interact with fans without sacrificing personal data in order to do so.

Because limited information will be made available through public views people will have to ‘like’ your Page if they want to learn more. This is great for brands because now truly interested fans will jump on board to support your brand and interact with you. In contrast, many people would surface scan your Page and move on instead of taking the time to listen to your conversations.

Overall, Facebook has done a decent job of empowering brands to police and monitor their own information. Choosing what details someone wants to share is a more appropriate way to engage with one of the most recognized social media tools available.

Technorati Tags: Branding, Facebook

FourSquare is a website that really used for letting your friends, co-workers, family or whomever, know where you are. Using your smartphone, you login to FourSquare every time you arrive at a destination. You can ‘check-in’ to a grocery store, the Starbuck’s on the corner of Broadway and 5th Avenue, your favorite French restaurant and even a fun clothing boutique. The gaming aspect happens via check-ins by assigning points that allow you to earn ‘badges’ that can be used toward just about anything a particular merchant can think of.

The more you check-in and interact with a location or business, the more points you earn. Points can earn you the position of “mayor” of a specific location. Eventually, you can become ‘mayor’ and most companies will offer special discounts and offers to the mayor. So there really is a payoff to “hanging out all day”.

In terms of promoting your business, these new sites are a marketing dream with unlimited potential. Some of the more notable ways that companies and individuals are utilizing these social media sites to drive traffic include:

Starbucks. For all FourSquare participants, each store has extended a local offer to the mayor of each location. Starbucks provides a $1 off frappuccino coupon to mayors nationwide.

Kentucky Derby and Courier Journal. This famous sporting event and largest local newspaper united forces to develop a city tour and bar crawl on Gowalla. Users could check-in to specified locations to earn points and even a badge for successful completion of the tour. This was a great revenue generator for the businesses and bars who were involved.

St. Edward’s University. This is a great example that shows you don’t have to be a retail location in order to benefit from location-based social media. The university used Whrrl to have more than 180 students, parents, staff and faculty to check-in and exchange photos and experiences during a graduation ceremony. Instead of having individual Facebook and Twitter updates, people collectively contributed and connected through Whrrl that created a sense of community on a very special day.

Put on your creative caps and try using these social media platforms to build some buzz for yourself. Lots of possibilities with nothing to lose. How can you use this to market your business or book?

Technorati Tags: location marketing, Social Media, social media marketing

The question that many authors ask is whether social media advertising actually works? Sure it’s great to set-up your Facebook Page, but will promoting it with pay per click ads do anything for you and your novel? Actually, it can. It’s important to understand your social media channel that you’re using. This means if you’re going to advertise on Facebook, educate yourself on the process. Same thing goes for LinkedIn DirectAds. Know the channel before you dive in.

As an author, keep in mind that social media is about connecting with people who want to read your book and who enjoy what you’ve written so far. They’re your target audience. Advertising via social media should be focused on bringing more of those same potential fans to your book’s social media profile. Target these users with advertising messages that will resonate with them, not with the general populace.

You’ll also want to make sure that the social media ads that you’re creating build on the social media content that you’re creating. For instance, if you’re sharing a chapter from your upcoming book on your blog then make sure that you’re teasing readers about it through your ads. As buzz is generated don’t forget to take part in the conversations. Traditional advertising methods no longer work in new media. It requires interaction on your part so be prepared to jump in and discuss what you’re promoting.

Advertising and social media can work well together as long as you’re taking a planned approach rather than haphazardly throwing dollars into a random click campaign. Take the time to get learn about your audience and how they typically respond to ads on each channel. Your diligence will pay off.

Technorati Tags: Book Marketing, Pay Per Click, Social Media

For authors, the freemium model is a fantastic way to give loyal fans and readers incentive to become paid members of your online site. This can be accomplished by sharing a white paper, ebook or even a report. Knowing what the difference is among each of these will help you develop content accordingly and make it available to win over interested individuals.

A white paper is a great tool that can be used to sell your services. Typically, a white paper contains quite a bit of copy and a few graphics that are assembled in a persuasive way. The purpose of the white paper is to sell your point of view and usually argue from a specific position. Think of a white paper as written form of opinion that uses facts to support what it is you’re boasting about.

Sometimes, people confuse white papers with reports, but they’re not the same. A report is more along the lines of an article. It’s purpose isn’t to sell, but to convey, or educate. For many writers, a white paper or report won’t be as frequently used as an ebook. Ebooks are electronic versions of a book and they can be written on just about anything you can think of.

Now that we have a better understanding on what these three items are we can use them with the freemium website model. Consider creating a white paper, report or ebook that can be downloaded for free to entice your audience to learn more about your written body of work and you as an author. These free ‘teasers’ can demonstrate your experience, credibility and even highlight your accomplishments. All of these things are contributing factors to who you are as an author and why someone would want to read more of what you’ve written.

Once you’ve hooked your reader, turn them into paying fans and site members by providing them with access to content and material that basic members can’t receive. It’s an exclusive way to say thank you for their support.

Technorati Tags: blogging, Book Marketing, Business, freemium