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

Design It Well

As an author, you recognize the importance of having an eye-catching book cover. Well, the same things goes for your landing page. Make it visually engaging for your visitors. Don’t burden the page down with heavy, lengthy content. Instead, incorporate elements from your book’s cover into the layout. Tie-in the book with the landing page and visitors will have a clear understanding about who you are, what your book is about and how to purchase a copy.

Get A Reaction

The landing page for your book’s website is like your own personal salesperson. For that reason, you want the page to share a compelling message that makes the page unique and that will increase conversion. This can be accomplished by writing a headline like, “Only 10,000 Copies Available,” or “Read the Bestseller That Critics Are Raving About.” Additionally, you want to be direct with your visitors and state a clear call-to-action such as “buy now” or “subscribe here.” Keep them short and sweet.

State the Value

Remember that whitespace is a friend to any good landing page. More is not better. Keep your content succinct and to the point. Save the flowery language for your book and use your landing page to give short, bullet points about why your book is a must-read and must-buy. Explain what sets it apart from other books within the genre and even one or two about yourself as an author. Visitors that know value are more likely to purchase.

When you create a landing page for your book try to think about what motivates you as a buyer. Use what you know and you’ll have a fantastic landing page constructed in no time.

Technorati Tags: blog design, book sales, Web Design, Web Development

1.  Research

Your book cover should appeal to your audience’s interests, reading levels and background. Knowing what they want or what grabs them can help you determine how to present your layout and deliver the message on your cover.

2. Images

Make absolutely certain that you’re using high-quality and high-resolution images in your design. You want your artwork to look clear and crisp regardless of it’s size. If you take shortcuts with your images you can potentially end up with pixelated and fuzzy graphics.

3.  Themes

If you’re an author, chances are that you’ve written more than one book or that you’ll be writing more than one book. For this reason, think about creating a theme in the designs that you build and look at ways to tie the aesthetics of your publications together. Even though your books may be about completely different subjects, your theme can bring a cohesive feel to them that lets readers identify with you as an author of the work.

4.  Typography

The choice of font that you incorporate into your cover can play a major role in giving the reader a tease about its contents. Use a script font to show off a feminine theme or an angled serif to create an Asian feel. The rule here is don’t flood the cover with too many different fonts and keep it legible. You don’t want people de-cyphering what your cover says.

5.  Feedback

Instead of coming up with just one great design, try to develop a group of three or four. Once you’ve got them laid out you can share them with others to get honest opinions about what they prefer and why. Although friends and family might seem like an obvious choice try hitting up strangers and conducting your own poll. It’s a great way to learn about what works and what doesn’t.

Technorati Tags: author, Book Marketing, book sales

1.  Not having groundwork for your platform. If you don’t conduct research and start building a network for your book before it’s published, you won’t have relationships or connections in place to help you push and promote what you’ve created. Like the old saying goes, “It takes a village.”

2.  Narrowing the scope of your audience. You may have a sci-fi novel that would move Asimov to tears, but focusing solely on fellow robot enthusiasts is selling yourself short. Broaden your audience base by exposing your book as much as possible. Take care of ISBN title registration and ensure availability of your book through major wholesalers.

3.   Failing to embrace technology. It’s been said many times throughout this blog, but just in case, here’s a repeat. Your book must have a website. It’s an absolutely critical marketing component that has a direct impact on sales and recognition of you as an author. Times have changed and online is where you have to be, including your book.

4.  Poorly edited manuscripts. Your book is a reflection of who you are as an author. Make absolutely certain that you take the time to have your book professionally edited and reviewed for any text errors. Having clean and cohesive content is an essential part of any good book. Don’t cut corners with editing.

5.  Poorly designed cover art. Hate to say it, but as human beings we’re attracted to aesthetically pleasing things. Spending the time to work with an experience graphic artist or designer can make a huge difference in how appealing or enticing your book jacket will look. Unattractive or substandard isn’t going to sell. This is one rare instance where you can judge a book by it’s cover. If it’s not appealing, it’s probably going to gather dust.

Take the time research and outline your book marketing strategy. There are a lot of moving parts so consider each one carefully before embarking on your book promotion journey. A little effort will go a long way.

Technorati Tags: author, Book Marketing, book publicity, book sales

Technorati Tags: author, authors, Book Marketing, book publicity, book sales, Social Media, social media marketing