Guest Post: How Can People Find You If They Don't Know You Exist?

Article at a glance:

• People can’t search for you if they don’t know you exist.
• Keyword searches return thousands of competing results.
• Media exposure helps point people to your website.

---

It pains me to see the hurt and frustration of people who don’t understand why their wonderful book or their cool, new product isn’t selling well. Too often, they conclude no one is interested in their message or that their gizmo falls short.
That’s usually not the case at all; heck, it’s why I went into marketing and PR! The need to market new books and products has been around for, well, as long as we’ve had books and products. The only thing that’s changed is the new media options we’ve added to our strategies.
I was recently talking about this with Joe Thomas of Left Brain Digital, the web developer and marketing consultant who designed our new website and services many of our clients. He said he’s still surprised by the number of authors and entrepreneurs, both new and seasoned, who tell him “I just don’t get it!” when their books or products don’t sell.
Since Joe has a way of explaining things that always makes me laugh, I asked if he’d mind writing about this problem for The PR Insider. He readily agreed. So, here’s Joe:

How To Write A Happy Ending
Or … I Have A Really Neat-o Book or Product, Now Why Doesn’t Anybody Buy It?

I can’t even fathom the number of conversations I’ve had with new clients suffering from a severe case of “I Just Don’t Get It!” disease. The stories of why they wrote their books or developed their products are all different, but the endings are the same: They’re not selling diddly. Squat. Nada.
Before we get too far into the whys and why nots, let me warn you, I am not going to tell you what you want to hear. There’s no magic form for you to fill out to get instant access to my “Special Report,” nor is there a download of secret “For Your Eyes Only” information designed to get you on my mailing list. (My next rant is going to be about buying into the web marketing trap.)
Instead, I’ll go straight to the “why,” which is as complicated as it is simple: People can’t buy what they can’t find.
Most web marketing gurus will tell you that Search Engine Optimization can help direct potential customers to your book or product, and why you should hire them to get you listed front and center. I am not that guy. Oh, I believe in the power of Google, but there are major caveats:

1. Search engines are great if you know what you’re searching for. Type in your name and/or book title into Google and look at the results. You may be at the top of page 1 and even have 22 different listings on the first and second pages. You may get the same results on Bing and other search portals. You might even show up first on Amazon.com, where your book is right there, for sale to the masses. But you’re still not selling many books are you? Here’s the tricky part: YOU know your name and your book title, don’t you? But, people can’t search out your name and book title if they don’t know them.


2. People can search for my incredibly, fantastical keywords, can’t they? Well sure they can – and they do. Let’s assume for a second you have a book and it’s about Politics, Money, Religion, Employment or any number of topics. Now go to Amazon and type in your keywords – you know, Politics, Money, Religion, Employment … You just discovered there are 672,481 books using your Incredibly Fantastical Keywords, right? Now type in those same keywords along with your name and/or book title. Eureka! There you are. I now direct your attention to No. 1 above.
3. Your website is totally gorgeous but it’s not getting you sales. The first part of this quandary is, LOOK AT No. 1, above. Are people actually visiting your site? Have you checked out your server logs to see what your traffic data looks like? You’re probably thinking your webmaster takes care of all that, right? Unless your webmaster is getting a piece of the profits from every item you sell, odds are he/she doesn’t really care. Let’s be honest here, you’re paying your webmaster whether you sell or not. Now, if your traffic data is showing that you’re getting a boatload of traffic but no sales, maybe you need to be more realistic about how gorgeous your site really is. Looking good and converting visitors into buyers are two different things. But before you start blowing up your site, go back and LOOK AT No. 1, ABOVE.

Here’s a bit of free advice: If your marketing plan to reach 100,000 book or product sales is based on people finding you without a clue who you are, keep your day job and forget about buying the fancy car with your profits. You need exposure. You need to get your name and the name of your book, product or business in the news – in newspapers (they all put their content online nowadays), magazines and e-zines and blogs. Get yourself interviewed on talk radio and TV, if you can. Get your social network sites up and active and build a following.
Plenty of people do it themselves. If you find that too difficult or time-consuming, hire professionals to do it for you. There are 5 hundred million thousand books and products for sale online. If you want folks to know what to search for, they have to know that you exist and what you have to offer.
And the happy ending will come.
********
Joe makes it sound as easy as 1-2-3, doesn’t he? OK, so maybe it’s not that easy, but if you’re motivated and willing to spend the time getting your name out there, you’ll see it’s very effective. Along with making people aware of who you are, media attention gives you credibility that you just can’t buy.
That’s what I would call a happy beginning!
Get it?
Marsha
Marsha Friedman launched EMS Incorporated in 1990. Her firm represents corporations and experts in a wide array of fields such as business, health, food, lifestyle, politics, finance, law, sports and entertainment. She consults individuals and businesses on a daily basis and is frequently asked to speak at conferences about how to harness the power of publicity. Outside of the office, she is also the founder of a non-profit organization called the Cherish the Children Foundation. In 1996 the White House recognized her charity which sets out to raise awareness of the plight of underprivileged and foster children.

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Guest Post: Sell Books With a Book Contest

Sell Books With a Book Contest

By Sandra Beckwith


Do you want people in your social networks talking about your new book? Host a book contest! With the right prizes, this promotional tactic can generate book sales, blog subscribers, Twitter followers, or Facebook fans (or all of the above).
Book contests are easy to implement and inexpensive, and they offer wonderful opportunities for you to connect with your readers and those who should become your readers. They also give your friends and fans an opportunity to "introduce" you to their networks.

Here are a few guidelines to get you started:

Decide what you want to accomplish. The contest goal is important because it helps you structure the contest and establish rules. When Barbara Techel hosted a recent contest to promote "Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances," she wanted people to buy the book, but she also wanted to generate more authors as Twitter followers because they're the book's target audience. Other common contest goals include increasing the number of blog subscribers and Facebook fans or generating pre-publication orders.

Be creative. Host a contest before publication to help select your cover design or to name a character in the book.

Don't require a purchase. It's against the law.

Determine your prize. Give away five copies of your book; offer the books of other people (get free shipping worldwide at BookDepository.com) when you're working to generate more followers, subscribers, or fans; or use other merchandise as prizes. Just make sure your prizes are appropriate for your target audience. Techel attracted authors by offering prizes donated by businesses that help authors market their books.

Set a time frame. Most book marketers agree that seven to 10 days gives you enough time to build momentum and get action.

Establish rules. How do people enter? How do they win? If entries are judged, be sure to explain how that happens. To generate more Twitter followers, Techel asked people to follow her on Twitter and retweet a specific tweet posted on her contest website page.

Encourage people to share contest information - and make it easy for them to do so. Most of us are willing to help you get the word out - we just need to be reminded to do it and sometimes instructed how.

Be organized. No matter what system you use, make sure you've got a way to track entries. For example, if you're running a Twitter contest that requires people to follow you and retweet the specific contest phrase, include a unique contest hashtag. It will make it easier for you to track and gather entries. In situations where the winner is selected at random, use Random.org. It's easier than doing it yourself and nobody can challenge the outcome as biased.

Announce the winners. This helps extend the life of the contest and generate even more awareness.
Match the right prize with your audience's interests, and you could have the formula for significant viral exposure.

Sandra Beckwith is a former national award-winning publicist who now teaches authors how to be their own book publicists. Get free tips and subscribe to her free "Build Book Buzz" e-zine at http://buildbookbuzz.com.

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8 Ways to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business

By Janis D. Pettit


Are you tweeting? If so you may be wondering if it's really paying you back for the time and effort you put into it. I must say I wondered the same thing when I started but now I'm grateful I stuck with it, because it's become an indispensable business building tool.

Just like anything else in your business if you have a clear strategy you'll get better results. Just randomly tweeting doesn't accomplish much and you'll find followers clicking the un-follow button. Instead figure out how you want to use this versatile tool and what type of results you're hoping to get.

8 ways
1. Build relationships

o Use tools like tweetdeck (it's free) that help you divide followers into groups or categories so you can interact with the people with whom you really want to form relationships.

o Re-tweet the interesting tweets of people you respect and follow

o Reply to their requests or relevant tweets

o Mix in some personal information that's fun so you show people you're human and have a life. This does not mean posting what you had for lunch!

2. Build your expert status

o Post links to valuable information, blog posts, videos, web pages. Follow leaders in your industry who have many more followers.

o Respond to their posts and build a relationship with them. Each time your tweet appears in their twitter stream, their followers see you.

o Tweet live from events where you speak or that you attend and let people know what's happening in real time.

o Tell your followers about your success with clients

o Build relationships with subscribers who are not yet clients

3. Find joint venture partners

Follow people who have the type of clients you want or who offer products you think your subscribers and clients would buy. Build relationships with those people and approach them about a joint venture if it would be a win-win situation

4. Educate about your products or services

Notice I said educate, not sell. You can gently tell your followers about upcoming offers or send them to a preview video or blog post, but absolutely no heavy sales language. Offering your followers special time-sensitive deals for them only is a great approach.

5. Surveys-find out what people want

6. Customer support or questions

You can answer customer questions or let them contact you through Twitter if they have a problem and need help

7. Press releases

Let followers know when something exciting happens at your company by tweeting about it and linking them to a press release

8. Strengthen relationships with current clients and subscribers.

Brag about your best clients. Re-tweet what they have to say and support their efforts on Twitter as much as possible.

Of course there are even more ways to use Twitter. It's also important to set up your Twitter feed to be imported onto your Facebook wall or fan page, as well as to Linked In. That way Twitter becomes command central for much of your social networking which saves you a lot of time.

Look at the list above and decide how you could best use Twitter to generate traffic to your website or blog and build lasting, loyal fans, and new valuable relationships.

Janis Pettit is a small business coach and marketing expert who has owned successful small businesses for 21 years and has coached hundreds of small and solo business owners, showing them how to dramatically increase profits and build wealth. She is co-author of 136 Ways to Market Your Small or Solo Business and creator of numerous business marketing home-study courses and coaching programs. Get her free e-book, 12 Secrets to Building a Profitable Small or Solo Business, plus access to business building audios at http://smallbusiness-bigresults.com.

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Guest Post: 10 Things You Need to Know About Virtual Book Tours

10 Things You Need to Know About Virtual Book Tours

By Dorothy Thompson


By now, most authors know what virtual book tours are or at least have heard of them. They're that wonderful marketing tool that should be a must have in every new book's campaign. With each new book I write, I'm making a game plan before the book is even published and a virtual book tour is the first promotional venue on that list.
While most of us know what they are, there are still a few new authors who might have heard of them but have no idea what they involve. I give you my top 10 things you need to know about virtual book tours so that you will know what to expect.

1. Virtual book tours are the BEST way to get the MOST online exposure for your book. Not only are you presenting your book and yourself to thousands of people, all of your interviews, guest posts and reviews are archived which means months down the road, you're still selling your book because of that one tour.
2. Virtual book tours ARE a lot of work. Not only are you searching for the perfect blogs to host you, you are acting as the middle man between you and the blogger unless you are using a paid service such as Pump Up Your Book who will do all the work for you. Even if you do sign up with Pump Up Your Book, there is still lots of work to do completing assignments - filling out interviews and writing guest posts unless you choose an all review tour. Even though it requires a little bit of your time to fill out interviews and write guest posts, it's well worth it.
3. You will learn more about your book than you ever did. I had an author tell me that through the interviews and guest posts she had to complete, she never learned so much about her book which caught her off guard. Now when she is interviewed on radio shows and makes television appearances, she is better prepared.
4. Virtual book tours will build up your author platform. No matter if you're a fiction author or a nonfiction author, virtual book tours will build up your author platform using your key search words.
5. Your reviews are guaranteed. Offline publicists while they mean well do it all wrong. They query a book blogger, make arrangements to send the book, then that's where it stops. The review is not a guaranteed thing. The reviewer can post the review anytime they see fit. With virtual book tours, your review is guaranteed on a certain date unless the reviewer jumps ship which rarely happens. I had an author tell me she signed up with an offline publicist who sent out many books and only one or two reviewers actually came through for them. That was money loss for the author. Books don't come cheap these days so coming up with a date you and the reviewer can agree upon guarantees that review will be a given thing.
6. Many reviewers now take ebooks which save you money. Thank goodness someone was smart enough to invent a device that automatically loads a book in a few seconds (no waiting to go to the book store anymore my friend) and makes it fun to read. When Amazon lowered their price of the Kindle, sales soared and book lovers started talking about getting one. What that means is that it opened up a wonderful way to get these books to the book reviewers quickly and less expensively. Have you noticed how much books are and how much it takes to ship them? Not saying all reviewers will take ebooks, but as time goes on, most will have an e-reader and, as a matter of fact, will prefer an ebook.
7. More website hits, more blog hits, more Twitter hits and more Facebook Fan Page hits. All authors should have a website or blog and accounts at Twitter and Facebook. No matter if you think they're all a waste of time. A virtual book tour will definitely give you more hits at all places as long as your links are in your bio.
8. Going on a virtual book tour raises your Alexa rankings. What is Alexa? Alexa measures how well you are doing in the search engines. By going on a virtual book tour, and including interviews and guest posts during that tour, your website and blog links are included in every bio (or should be!). Those are incoming links which Alexa uses to measure your ranking. The more your website or blog link shows up on other sites, the more valuable your site is to them and thus, your rankings soar.
9. You will learn how to sell your book through media exposure. Not all authors take advantage of their interviews and guest posts by gearing them toward their audience, thus luring them to their book and/or website/blog. I've had many authors on tour and the ones who really take the time to make their interviews and guest posts effective selling tools are the ones who profit the most. The key thing here is to make your audience curious. One liners in the case of interviews may not cut it. Of course there are only so many ways you can answer "What's your book about?" but take your time and get your audience's curiosity peaked so that they do make your way over to your website or your book's buying link.
10. Virtual book tours teach you how to connect well with others. There is no better way to learn how to network. All these wonderful book bloggers who agree to host you are your new friends in your extended network and they will be there for you the next time you have a book to promote (unless they completely hated it of course). You'll also learn how to use the social networks effectively as you study how to get people over to your stops by persuasive wording. Remember to talk to your audience, not at them.

There you have it. 10 reasons I feel you need to know about virtual book tours in a nutshell. If you have a tour coordinator as opposed to setting one up yourself, she will walk you through it so that it will be a fun experience for all. Your book will thank you for it.

Dorothy Thompson is CEO/Founder of Pump Up Your Book!, a public relations agency specializing in online book promotion. You can visit her website at http://pumpupyourbook.com.

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Guest Post: Make The Best Use Of The Book Marketing Tools You Already Have Available

By Lynnette Phillips



Writers aren't usually marketers. Writers want to write and marketing interferes with writing schedules; unfortunately, if want to make a living writing, getting your books seen and talked about is essential.
Make marketing less painful and time consuming. Here are a few tips for using tools you may have at hand.

• The first marketing step you should have taken was to select and register a domain name for your website or blog. Your domain name not only identifies your site but also contributes to your author platform.
• Use images and graphics to draw people into your 'store' (website). Post videos and book trailers, to help attract and hold visitors' interest.
• Drive traffic to your blog from your social networks. Use your blog posts to share your views and expertise; connect with your audience.
• When you title your blog posts be keyword conscious. Use a subtitle if necessary but keep the keywords upfront to be noticed. This, after all, is what the search engines use to find their results.
• Make short stories you've written or excerpts of your book available on your site. This adds interest to your site and will increase traffic.
• Instead of linking to a book vendor's main page from your blog or website, advertising for them, plug your book by linking directly to your author's page on the vendor's site. This will show all of your writing that is available on their site.
• Keep your author's page on Amazon and elsewhere updated and current; take advantage of any marketing or promotional tools the book vendor makes available.
• Link RSS feeds on your author's page. A RSS feed linking your blog to an author's page makes time spent on one blog post do double duty.
• Link your blog to social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn giving you fresh content to share. There are some sites that can help you with this such as http://www.TwitterFeed.com and http://www.HootSuite.com
• Place an events calendar on your website and be sure to post to the event calendars made available to you in places like Amazon's author page and GoodReads. Record the release of new titles, your book signings, speaking appearances, author readings and so on.
• Keep your bio on your website and elsewhere up to date. Whatever else you include in your bio be sure to talk about your work and related activities.
• Add the RSS feed from your blog to Yahoo viawww.submitstart.com
• As a member of GoodReads you have tools available to you via their author program. GoodReads also has a widget available for your website that displays reviews of your work.
• Ask for book recommendations and reviews from not only friends, family and colleagues but also from the general population on your social networks.
• Social Media Networking should be second only to your website and blog as a marketing tool. If your blog posts are sent to Twitter, Facebook and other platforms via links or feeds you already have a presence.
• Share links to your book reviews, articles and podcasts but don't be self-centered and only talk about yourself; sprinkle in tweets or recommended links to relevant or interesting articles, websites and podcasts to add value to your tweets and posts. One of the best ways to build relationships via social media is to link to or retweet posts of other followers; be generous.
• Create an email signature that attaches to each email you send. It should be 3-4 Lines. You might want to include a line that links to your book for sale.
• When you make a comment on a discussion board or blog don't forget to include the URL to your site with your signature.

About the Author: Lynnette Phillips offers Book Marketing services as both a Coach and Consultant and also Professional Editing services. She has authored several Book Marketing and Self-Publishing Guides. She also maintains two blogs Lynnette's Book World and Lynnette's Book Marketing. You may reach her by email at laphillips52@gmail.com
(c) Copyright 2011 by Lynnette Phillips All Rights Reserved
Article may be reprinted freely as long as the author bylines and info box are included. The article itself may not be altered.



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Establishing an Author Presence on Social Networking Sites

By Tony Eldridge, creator of Marketing Tips For Authors
If you've been online long, you've heard a chorus of experts say how important it is to create an online presence. When you start, you'll see that it's easy to set up many individual sites, but it takes a little more work to tie these sites together into a single unit that works as one. If you don't do this, then you will create an online presence that is hard to manage.

Some authors choose to have a social networking site as their "hub". This, however, is not my preferred method. I'd recommend that your social networking sites be the spokes that feed into your main blog or website. For more on this concept, read a post that I wrote for BookBuzzr called, Creating A Marketing Hub.

Social networking sites ebb and flow with popularity, so what we discuss now may not be the same thing we might discuss tomorrow. That said, let's look at a few sites that authors should consider joining as well as some general principles to keep in mind as we interact with others on these sites.

Tony's List Of Top Social Networking Sites For Authors (And Why)

• Twitter.com
• Facebook.com
• Goodreads.com
• Shelfari.com
• AuthorCentral.Amazon.com
• AuthorsDen.com
• For a more exhaustive list, check out http://www.squidoo.com/socialnetworkingforwriters

Twitter and Facebook round out my top two recommendations by far. This is where people are right now and if you learn to use these two sites effectively, you can find a lot of readers for your book.

GoodReads and Shelfari are two sites devoted to books. They are reader driven sites that give authors a great platform to interact with readers.

Author Central is Amazon's site where authors can build out more information for people who are browsing for books. Why wouldn't you carve out your spot on the biggest book-buying place on the planet?

Author's Den is an author driven site where you can network with other authors as well as find readers for your book.

I'll admit that there are other great sites for authors to join. Many of these are niche sites that will be perfect for the book you wrote. For example, if you wrote a gardening book, then it makes sense for you to look for social networking sites devoted to gardening.

Once you decide to create a social networking presence, here are some things to remember:

• These sites are created to build relationships, not to advertise on. Don't spam your readers or you will be shunned.
• These sites can help you build a reputation as an expert in your field. Find ways to enter the conversations on them.
• Keep it professional. While sharing some personal news can help you connect with your followers, too much will turn people off.
• Give more value than you ask for and people will listen to what you have to say.
• Don't get ugly. While some people love to watch a fight, most are turned off by rude bickering. A "troll" is someone who gets his or her kicks from publicly fighting. Don't fall into their trap by taking their bait.
• For more great ideas on this topic, read
• Dana Lynn Smith's post on my blog called, The 7 Deadly Sins of Online Networking
• Joanna Penn's post called, Social Networking and Web 2.0 sites for Writers and Authors
• John Kremer's list of Social Networking Websites.

I also recommend that you choose one or two social networking sites to start off with. A mistake many authors make is by trying to do too much too quickly and getting overwhelmed. If you want more than an online billboard, then you'll need to spend a little time developing your presence on these sites. Add more once you can handle the few you start off with.

Here are some other posts that will help you with your social networking activities:

• You Have A New Twitter Account With No Followers: Now What?
• Tips For Using Twitter by Penny Sansevieri
• Twitter Lists: A Power Tool for Authors by Freya
• Top Ten Ways Authors Can Use Twitter by Dana Lynn Smith
• Optimize Your Twitter Profile to Attract Fans for Your Book By Phyllis Zimbler Miller
• BookBuzzr: How to Market Your Book on Facebook, MySpace and Other Social Networks
• Facebook Fundamentals for Authors- 10 articles compiled by BookBuzzr on Facebook marketing, including one from myself.

I hope this post helps you get started on the social networking part of your book marketing plan. There are a lot of resources out there to help. What I've shared barely scratches the surface. With a little planning, a little research, and taking things one step at a time, you can build an online presence with social networking sites that definitely bring value to you, your books, and to all the people you connect with.

Get your Kindle copy of The Samson Effect or Conducting Effective Twitter Contests for just $2.99 each.

Bio:
Tony Eldridge is the author of the award winning action/adventure novel, The Samson Effect, which Clive Cussler calls a "first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure." He is also the creator of Marketing Tips for Authors, a site that publishes free tips and videos to help authors learn marketing techniques for their books. You can read the serial release of The Samson Effect at http://samsoneffect.marketingtipsforauthors.com/

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How to Market Your Book on Facebook - 14 Steps to an Awesome Fan Page

How to Market Your Book on Facebook - 14 Steps to an Awesome Fan Page

By Patricia Benesh


Today's authors are capitalizing on the promotional opportunities for creating readership on Facebook. They know that 250 million users log into Facebook once a day, spending an average of 55 minutes on the site, while more than 500 million active users log in at least once a month. Plus 150 million get their Facebook fix on their mobile devices. It's no wonder that Facebook is number two in terms of Internet popularity, after Google. A Facebook page is as essential as a web site or blog, offering writers an unparalleled venue for engaging with readers.

More savvy authors are taking Facebook a step further-creating fan pages. Fan pages are extraordinarily effective in promoting books. A perusal of authors' fan pages shows they display all manner of content to attract and hold audiences.

Deepak Chopra's official fan page features the meditation music and the photo album of serene images we might expect to see from this world famous spiritual leader.

Tony Robbins's page includes an event schedule and workshop video clips, showing the power behind this nationally known motivational speaker.

Justin Halpern includes reviews and his older SMDS to keep his Sh*t My Dad Says fans laughing.

At Arielle Ford's fan page, readers can sign up for her newsletter to stay up to date with her books and latest PR information.

In launching his touching new book about gratitude, Walter Green prominently features a heartfelt author video on his fan page.

While all very different, these fan pages have one critical element in common. They speak to their target audiences. According to Online and Social Media Marketing Consultant, Amy Porterfield, "The secret to a successful Facebook Page is artful engagement. When you take the time to really get to know your fans (their likes, interests and triggers), you can deliver content and experiences that will capture their interest quickly and keep them coming back for more. Make it about them (and not about you or your brand) and you will have a fan for life!"

Ready to roll up your sleeves and tackle your own fan page? You need only 14 steps and you are on your way to creating a powerful ingredient to your marketing mix.
1. Log into Facebook.

2. On the left column click Ads and Pages,

3. Click the Create a Page.

4. On the right side, under the Official Page, click brand, product, or organization.

5. In the text box page name, enter either the title of your book or your name as author.

6. Check the box stating you are the representative of the business.

Now you are ready to develop your new fan page:
7. Upload a feature photo. Realize this is the primary image associated with your site. You might choose the book cover (like Halpern) or your photo (like Robbins and Ford) or a combination of the cover and photo (like Green). Remember, you can post lots of other photos in albums on your site. The primary photo should be strongly associated with your book or your brand.

8. Provide basic information-Highlight content related to your pitch, endorsements, back cover, and dust jacket material.

9. Import relevant content, such as RSS blog feeds, YouTube videos, images, music, and other elements associated with your book that will engage your audience.

10. Post updates-weekly at least and inform your fans about your news and relevant news from other sites.
11. Promote the page with a "like" button. (Note that Green's page uses a red arrow to make sure viewers don't overlook the button.

12. Set the page to your mobile phone

13. Send status updates to Twitter

14. Enhance your page with apps, such as polls, games, and other apps to make it fun and engaging. For thoughtful reviews on Facebook apps visit the Facebook applications blog. Consider developing a custom app for your Facebook fan page. Although it can be pricey, but it can add great value to your page.
Important note: Since Facebook pages do not provide for "friending" someone, as on a standard Facebook page, you will need to invite your contacts to become fans of your page. Publicize your page by putting a button or link in your e-mail signature line so it is seen by everyone you e-mail, post a button on your web site and blog, and announce your page through Facebook and Twitter. Don't forget to include the link on your business cards and other promotional literature.

A last thought: Patiently tend your page to build your fan base, devoting a few hours each week. Be sure to add fresh content that provides value to those who read it-then promote, promote, promote! Soon you will see how this amazing social media tool benefits you and your readers.

For a decade, Patricia Benesh has been providing personal coaching and a range of "success-oriented services" to fiction and nonfiction writers at http://AuthorAssist.com. No matter what your writing level or publishing goal (traditional publishing, self-publishing), AuthorAssist helps ensure you are ready to publish and promote your book. Get complimentary feedback on your writing at http://AuthorAssist.com/complimentary.html.

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Promote Your Book With Facebook Groups

Today's guest post is written by Dana Lynn Smith, who writes The Savvy Book Marketer blog and book marketing guides. - Terry


Promote Your Book With Facebook Groups
By Dana Lynn Smith

Facebook groups are a great place to meet people who share your interests and to subtly promote your book. For maximum exposure, join existing groups and start your own Facebook group.

To find groups to join, enter keywords in the Facebook search box. When the search results come up, click on the Groups tab to view groups focused on your topic.

Click the Join Group button to join a group. Write an introductory greeting on the group's wall, and post your book cover in the photo section. Your book cover will show up on the group page and also in the newsfeed of your friends, a great way to subtly promote your book. You can also post videos on group page. It's not wise to post wall messages and images on more than one group page per day.

Most groups have a discussion board. Scan the list of questions to see if there are any you can answer. As with other online forums, observe proper etiquette and don't be too promotional in your answer.

Groups are also a wonderful place to find Facebook friends. After all, if someone joins a group related to your topic of interest, they presumably share your interests.

Forming a Facebook Group

Forming your own group can be very beneficial, but to keep the group growing and active you will need to provide benefits to members by offering valuable information and/or active discussions.

To form your own group, log into your Facebook account then go to the create groups page and fill in the simple form to create your Facebook group.

Groups should be used to provide information and interaction to people interested in particular topic. Be subtle about promoting books through groups. A Facebook Page is more appropriate for promoting your book or business directly.

Nonfiction authors can form a group based on their book's topic. Fiction authors will need to be creative. For example, you might form a group for people who love to read historical romance. You could subtly promote your book while also discussing the genre and the writing process, offer free chapter downloads, and invite group members to share other historical romance books they enjoy.

Promoting Your Group

If you create an "open" group, anyone on Facebook can join, not just your friends. To invite people to join, use the Invite People to Join or Share buttons on the right side of the group's page.

One way to attract members is to design your group page as an information hub, offering links and resources in the Recent News section of the page. You can offer a free downloadable report as a thank you to group members.

Another way to attract and reward members is to have a contest. For example, you could give away an autographed copy of your book to a member of the group chosen randomly by selecting a number from Random.org.

And don't forget to promote your Facebook group on your website, in your email signature and elsewhere.

Networking Through Your Group

As group administrator, you can send messages to members (up to a maximum of 5,000), delivered to each person's Facebook Inbox. Click the Message All Members link on the right side of the group page.

Be sure to communicate with the members periodically by sending something of value such as tips or helpful links. Just be careful not to send so many messages that you annoy people. Administrators can also post to the wall and start discussions in the forum, to encourage interaction.

If you're not already using Facebook groups to promote your book, give it a try!

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Facebook Guide for Authors. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's book marketing blog, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free book marketing newsletter.

Article Source: Promote Your Book With Facebook Groups

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Promoting Your Book With Trailers

When movie companies promote a film, they do so with something called a trailer. That's the 2-3 minute advertisement for the film that you see during the "coming attractions" at the theater and on TV. For the past couple of years, publishers have been doing the same thing for books.

You wouldn't think that books lend themselves to video, but a well-produced trailer can boost interest in a book and gain readers that it otherwise might not have had. We have become a very visually-oriented society, and video sells.

So, what can you actually do with a book trailer, you might ask? Here are a few ways you can use that 30 seconds of video for maximum impact in promoting your book:

Your web site: When a reader visits your web site, try to have it set up so your video starts playing automatically when they get to your home page. It's an attention-grabber, and it will let the reader know right away what your latest book is all about.

Social video sites: Susan Boyle became world-famous because of her video that appeared on sites like YouTube, which logged more than 120 million views of her performance on the UK show "Britain's Got Talent." Although Boyle didn't win the talent contest, she became an instant media sensation and still got a record deal. Her CD has sold millions of copies. Of course, her video went viral, which means that people shared the video with their friends and family, and they shared the video with their friends, and so on. If you have an attention-grabbing video, it could be shared and passed around online, getting you the kind of exposure you would never get from a book tour.

Blog tours: A blog tour is a virtual book tour. You don't actually go anywhere. Bloggers review your book, interview you, host Q & A sessions and give your book exposure on their blogs. A blog tour is usually comprised of visits to 10 or more blogs over a period of a couple of weeks. The book trailer could be used on the blogs to promote your upcoming appearance.

Electronic press kits: EPK's, or electronic press kits, are emails which are sent to the media which contain links to your web site, an online bio, a sample chapter of your book, and yes, your book trailer. The press release sent to the media might simply include a link to a static web page which includes all of these things. Think of an EPK as an online newsroom which gives the media all the background info they need to know about you and your book.

Book signings: Chances are, you've got a digital version of your book trailer. Why not bring a laptop and have your book trailer play continuously at your table while you are signing your books? It will certainly be an attention-grabber!

It is easier now than ever before to distribute video content. You're only limited by your imagination!

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Five Ways to Use Twitter to Promote Your Book

Do you currently use Twitter? If you don't, you really should consider it. Those who aren't on Twitter, even at my job, frequently ask me "just what IS Twitter anyway?" Basically, Twitter allows you to quickly send out short messages to your subscribers. The messages are 140 characters or less. That's not a lot of space, so it really forces you to be concise and to the point.

I mainly use Twitter to link to articles and web sites that I think authors would find most helpful. Lately, I have also been using it to connect with members of the media, bookstores and book reviewers. If you think Twitter is a waste of time, consider this: each day, Twitter logs visits by six million different users. That's the kind of exposure authors crave.

So, how can authors use Twitter to their benefit?

1. Give your Twitter readers something of value. If the majority of your Twitter posts say something like "Hey, read my book (Title). It's available now at Amazon!" you're not likely to get much, if any, response. However, if you frequently pass along useful information that can be found in your book, or you update your readers on your next project or pass along the location of your next book signing event, you're giving your readers something other than a hard sell...and they will keep reading.

2. Use Twitter to make connections. I have used Twitter to connect with members of the media, bookstores and book reviewers. If I recently read a book I found interesting, I pass it along to my readers. If there is something going on in the news that relates to a book I'm currently marketing, I mention it on Twitter. Recently, I mentioned I had some new releases coming up and offered free review copies to book reviewers. I received replies from book reviewers that asked me to send copies. That's a lot better than blindly mailing out review copies.

3 Use Twitter to plug upcoming appearances. As I briefly mentioned before, you can use Twitter to plug upcoming book signing events, or your upcoming media appearances, something like "Signing copies of my book (Title) at B&N on Smith Road in Nowheresville this Sat, 1 pm. " If you have a lot of friends and fans subscribing to your Twitter page, you've just notified them all that you have an upcoming event.

4. Schedule a Twitter Chat with your fans. If there are areas of the country you'd like to reach, but can't afford to fly out there for a book signing event, hold a Twitter Chat with your friends. You simply schedule a time to chat with your fans. You can coordinate this with your blog, or another popular book blog. At the scheduled time, you log into Twitter and your fans Tweet questions and messages to you, which you respond to. It's sort of like doing a live Q&A, but you're doing it on Twitter, 140 characters at a time. The best part: it's nationwide! You can even have contests on Twitter, where you give away a copy of your book to whichever Twitter user posts the best review of your book on Twitter.

5. Use Twitter to promote your other social media content. Have you just written a killer blog post that others will find useful? Mention it on Twitter. In fact, I'll be mentioning this post on Twitter as soon as it's written. Not only will it draw readers to my blog, but it may also lead some blog readers to follow me on Twitter. You say you don't have a blog? Tsk, tsk.

Twitter don'ts:

Don't hard sell on Twitter. Just be yourself and pass along useful info that others will find interesting.

Don't overpost. A couple of posts a day is fine. A couple hundred posts a day is not.

Don't get TOO personal. Remember, Twitter is public. If you wouldn't want your boss or your kids to see it, don't Tweet it. Be personable, but not overly personal.

Don't be dull. If you don't have anything interesting to Tweet, don't.

Don't ignore people who send you personal messages through Twitter, unless THEY are getting to personal.

Don't forget to follow ME on Twitter! My Twitter ID is TerryCordingley. I often share info on Twitter that I don't mention on my blog.



Question: Do YOU use Twitter? Has it helped you in your promotional efforts?

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Top Five Free (or Cheap) Online Marketing Tools for Authors

Since it's New Year's Eve and all of the news casts and news channels are doing their obligatory year-end "Top Five" lists, I thought I would post a few of my own. Today, it's the Top Five Free (or Cheap) Online Marketing Tools for Authors. These are things that you might already be doing, but there may be an idea or two here you haven't considered before.

1. Your own blog. Do you have your own blog? Every author should have one. It's like having your own web site which you can update and add to every single day, if you want. You can post a free chapter of your book, list your upcoming book signing events, post photos from your book signing events and discuss your latest writing projects. This post you are reading right now is posted on my own blog. I use the blogging platform Blogger, but there are other free blogging platforms such as Wordpress.com. Setting up a blog on Blogger is easy and free.

2. Paypal. Do you plan to sell your books on your blog? You'll need a way of accepting payments, and the king of online payment systems is Paypal. Have you ever wondered how you can take credit card and check payments at your book signings or at book fairs? If you have a laptop computer with wireless internet access, you can use Paypal to process these payments. Click here for a tutorial on how to set up a Paypal account, if you don't already have one.

3. Facebook or MySpace. Once you set up a blog, you'll need to start driving traffic to it. A good way to do that, and promote yourself and your book at the same time, is to get your own Facebook or MySpace account. As with your blog, you'll want your Facebook or MySpace page to offer some content of value and not seem to pushy while you're pushing your book. People want to know about you. Be yourself. MySpace and Facebook pages can also be customized, which takes a little more know-how. If you can't or don't want to do that yourself, there are services to help you do this (your Tate Publishing marketing rep can help you with this).

4. Red Room. Red Room is like Facebook or MySpace, but it's for authors. It's a great way to connect with other writers or with fans of writers.

5. Twitter. Twitter is like a mini-blog, and you enter updates of 140 characters or less at a time. I use Twitter to pass along publishing news or articles that I think are worthwhile, or to let people know I have a new blog post. Setting up a Twitter account is free and easy, and it's a great way to update your readers about what you are up to, whether its a book signing event, a new book you're writing or news about your book. You can follow me on Twitter for additional marketing tips or to send messages directly to me.

Honorable mention:

Shelfari - This is a social networking site focused on books. You can use this site to build your own bookshelf (including your books, of course) and discussing books with readers.

Craig's List - Craig's List is like the penny-saver paper for the online community. It has a section where you can post community events, which is a great place to post the information about your upcoming book signing events.

LibraryThing - You can use LibraryThing in a number of ways, such as entering your book to the list if it isn't already listed, discussing your book, listing your events and finding venues in your community which regularly host book signing events.

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