Blogging About Books: Question about Key Search Words

Good morning, everyone! I have a question from Cynthia about using key search words. She asks: "I've started a blog recently to expand my readership. But I'm not sure what keywords I can use for my blog. I tried Latinos and writers, but that seems too general. Please help. The blog is Chica Latina, and you can find it at http://chica-latina.blogspot.com." Without going to your blog, Cynthia, have you thought about using the key words "Latina blog"? Sometimes, the answer is right under our nose, even as simple as it sounds. Think of the person doing the search. What is he/she looking for? Is he putting "Latinos" or "writers" in search? Highly unlikely, but he might be be Latina and looking for other bloggers of his nationality. I do this all the time. I'm forever putting "boomer generation blog" in blog searches because I love reading blogs written by those of my age. Any boomers out there? Let me know! Just for kicks, and before going to your blog, I put "Latina blog" in google blog search just to see what was up there. I was mainly looking for your blog, but I didn't see it on the first page anyway. You can check it out here. If you put "boomer chick" in the same search engine, you'll see my blog coming in at #1 out of 17,800 other websites here. But, that's not saying your blog might not be coming up with different search words, and that's why it's so important to zero in on your search words before you even begin to put your blog together. Again just for kicks, I put in "Chica Latina" and there was a blog coming up third that looked like it could be yours, but it led me to a page that didn't have anything related to your blog, so I'm figuring this was an old blog? But, the thing is, "chica latina" looks like it would work for you, but how many people would be putting that in search? To answer that question, I took those words and put them in something I have downloaded onto my desktop called "Good Key Words." It's a free program that anyone can download, and everyone should have. I believe the link is www.goodkeywords.com. The results were 351 people put that phrase in this particular search engine (Overture) in the last month. Not real impressive, but it's okay. And still for more kicks, I put "latina blog" in there, and it showed only 73 people over the last month. Play around with search words by downloading Good Key Words and see which key words would work better for you. Keep an eye on your sitemeter, if you have one. Which key words are bringing people to your blog? That's a clue to what words you should be using. Sometimes it's hard coming up with an exact set of key search words or phrases. If it's too difficult narrowing it down, have several. There's no law saying you can't have several key words or phrases that would be good for this. The key is to use them repeatedly, without being obnoxious. The most important places to have them would be in your title, your blog post headings and within the body of your posts, as much as possible. BTW, I have littered each and every one of these blog posts with key search words. Can you pick them out? Pumping up your blog with your key search words is the key to succesful online book promotion! Cynthia, hope this helps! The next post in this free book promotion workshop, HOW TO PUMP UP YOUR BLOG TO SELL MORE BOOKS will be about finding ways to get the word out about your blog. Meanwhile, if you have any question about what we've covered so far, or even something we haven't, but you're curious or confused about, leave a comment in the comment box. Your question will be delivered to my email box and I will answer it within the next day. Thanks for being here, everyone, and happy promoting to you! Tags: Blogging about Books, How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Key Search Words, chica latina, good key words, online book promotion, free book promotion workshop

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Blogging About Books: How to Blog About Two Books Of the Same Genre

I had an interesting question from Celise Downs about how to blog about two different books but with the same theme. First, to recap, for the fiction author, there are several roads you can take as far as blogging about your book. One, you can have one of your characters host their own blog such as how Sandy Lender does it for her main character, Abigail (Choices Meant for Gods) and you have seen how well Frances Lynn has pulled it off for both her books, Crushed and Frantic (both from Eiworth Publishing). Both authors should be commended for the extra time they put into this which rates a 10 on my pumping up your blog scale! While it's a lot of extra work, both authors will find that as long as they keep their blogs pumped up, they are at least doing their part to make sure their marketing campaign never runs out of steam. Highly commendable. Now, the question from Celise Downs is this. She says, "In keeping with Frances' theme of setting up separate blogs for her two books, I was thinking about doing the same for my first two books. You said, 'I discovered what I like about author blogs is when the author talks about his/her life in the same theme of their books. I was wondering, how would I go about doing that for my books? There's only so much I could write about--personally--so maybe you might have some suggestions. Thanks." I love it when people make my job easy. I went to her links and saw both were YA books, so both had the same general theme. You would think this would be a hard one, don't you? But, it's really not. Years ago, I was writing for an online publication (that didn't pay no less) that published all kinds of articles with no real main theme. I decided to write about relationships, as that was what I was syndicating out at the time. I felt this was just another place to have my work showcased, so I felt what the heck, it can't hurt to have another place with my link in it, and continued to write for them. After five or six articles on "soul mates," as this is what I write about, the webmaster emailed me and asked if I could write about something else. Truthfully, I didn't have the time and she caught me at one of those exasperating moments, so instead of searching through my files to find something else, I emailed her back and said, "Why?" I didn't think it was a strange question. I really wanted to know what prompted her to tell me to write something out of my expertise so to speak. Did she not like what I was sending her? She wrote back, "Because there's just so many things you can say about soul mates." I've gone on to write hundreds of articles about soul mates and the website I was writing for? I quit writing for them simply because I thought that was the most stupid question anyone could ever ask me. The point of my little story is that even though you have a certain "theme," there are so many ways you can write about it without it all sounding like the same old thing. Let's shoot over to Celise's website to see the two books in question and I'll show you how I think she can handle this, keeping my little story in mind. The first book is titled Secrets and Kisses (Geminimojo Press) and tells the story of Skylar Knight making her way through the final year of high school. The second book is titled Dance Jam Productions (Geminimojo Press) and is about a local popular teen dance show looking for dancers. Both are about teens, so it would seem that Celise would have a time trying to come up with two sets of blog posts with the same theme, wouldn't it? But, really look good at these two books. There are underlying themes if you look close enough. The first book is about young love, romance and that first kiss. The second book is centered around more of a dancing theme, although I'm sure it has elements of young romance in it. What she could do with the first book, Secrets and Kisses, is talk about her first love, her first kiss, and all the things that happened to her during high school that kids would really get a kick out of. If they happened to visit her blog, they'd say, "Wow, she's like one of us!," now wouldn't they? They'd make that bond with her that they couldn't have otherwise. The blog will be excellent for that. She could even have one of the characters do a guest spot and have a little advice column if she ever ran out of ideas. Or, since "secrets" is part of the title, reveal some of her own little secrets when she was a teenager. I would love to have that blog; oh, what fun I could have with it! The second book, Dance Jam Productions, is centered around a popular dance show. Maybe for this one she could talk about her own dance experiences. Or, how about talk about the lastest music videos, even posting a few on her blog from YouTube? How about--not to get too boring being as we're talking teenagers here--talk about different dances that have cropped up over the years? Or, she could do some interviews with dance choreographers or pop stars. She could even reminince about her pop star crushes over the years. The ideas are endless. So, this is how you can take one theme and find underlying themes to talk about. So many ways you can do this. Just because you have two books of the same genre, you can surely find a way around it. Hope this helps, Celise! Tags: Blogging about Books, How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Celise Downs

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Blogging About Books - Pt. II

We were talking about creating character blogs on Saturday, and I received a comment from a wonderful author named Frances Lynn that I'd like to share with you because I want to show you two fine examples of author blogs that really impressed me. They were nothing fancy, no impressive header or graphics, but what it did have was the content I would be looking for in a good author/book blog. Frances writes, "Hi Dorothy, my two novels, CRUSHED (a YA book) and FRANTIC ('70s' nostalgia) were simultaneously published (by Eiworth Publishing) in October. I'm currently writing a blog for each book. Any tips would be very welcome." How can you mess with perfection? Granted, both blogs are badly in need of some good optimization tools, but this girl has done a bang-up job promoting her books through these two blogs and I'll tell you why. I discovered what I like about author blogs is when the author talks about his/her life in the same theme of their books. Let me explain. Crushed is a YA. In Frances' posts, she talks about things in her past that deal with what someone of that age group would like to hear about. Excellent book promotion, Francis! For her book, Frantic, she takes it up a beat and focuses on her audience, her market, those who would be interested in buying her book, which would be the boomer generation, more than likely. Excellent, excellent. When you blog about your book, keep this in mind. I'm not sure what kind of hits Francis gets, but I'm pretty darn sure about 80% of the visitors who go to each blog are of different age groups, unless it's from visitors who are fans of all ages. She asked for tips, so this is what I think she should do on both. For starters, she needs to put up a sitemeter (www.sitemeter.com), if she doesn't already have one and I can't see it. I'll explain in a future lesson how you can use sitemeter to your advantage, but the #1 reason for doing so is so she can keep track of what people are putting in the search engines to find her blog. The second thing I would suggest is go to www.feedblitz.com and sign up for their feed broadcaster. This is a newsletter of sorts where when people sign up, your posts are delivered right to their email box. More on this promotional tool later, but it is very important to have. Frances' content is great, but she also wants to keep in mind to use her key search words throughout her blog. Not just in one place, in many places. But, the great thing about her blog is that she has enough content that even words that she didn't think about using will still bring visitors to her blog. But, she needs a sitemeter to determine that. Another thing she needs or tag words, but I'm getting ahead of myself. That will be discussed shortly. Overall, I give Frances a big thumbs up! Tags: Blogging about Books, How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, boomer generation, promote your books, Frances Lynn

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Pump UP Your Blog to Sell Your Books Workshop II Follow-Up - Learning How to Use Key Search Words

Yesterday, we were talking about key search words and how to use them effectively to pump up your author/book blog in your online book promotion campaign. I had a few comments with questions from those who would like to learn more which I'd like to share with you so you can learn from them, too. One of the comments was from Sis Zabrina, who was looking for the reasons why her blog wasn't showing up on the first page of the search engines with her certain set of key search words and phrases. Her blog is titled "Power of Words" and can be found at http://www.wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com/. Her search words that she gave me were: motivational stories, inspiring stories, inspirational stories, quotes. Before I even began to evaluate her blog for SEO (search engine optimization), I took her key set of search words and tried to find them on the blog, which I couldn't. Perhaps they were on a post somewhere, but nowhere did I see these exact words, so right away, I know that Sis has to change a few things in order to use those certain search words. It doesn't surprise me that her blog doesn't show up because the spiders can't find them. She has a choice: incorporate those search words into her blog by directly applying them, and continuously, or change them altogether. The next thing I did was take her url and put it into Google to see just where she was showing up. Oopsie, one link and it was hers. If this was a new blog and she hadn't really gotten off the ground yet, I could understand it. But, the blog has been up since August 2006. If Sis wants anyone to know about her book, she's got to make some changes, but what I would suggest to her, unless her book mainly deals with the posts she has up on her blog now, would be to start a completely new blog, and talk up her book, or about her life as the author of the book. My first impression of Sis' blog was that it was a plethora of newsclips and her personal impressions and observations living in her native country, and nothing that I could find mentioned anything about her book. That said, her words were beautifully written. Her love for Allah is apparent as this is mentioned quite frequently, but not to the point where it would turn people who didn't have the same religious beliefs completely off. But, the search engines don't care. All they care about is finding those key search words and if they're not there, they go somewhere else to find them. From a promoting standpoint of an author, unless she had lots of visitors, I would suggest to her to start a new blog devoted entirely to her book and the life of an author. From a promoting standpoint as far as the present blog goes, what she has to watch is how she posts. For her blog to come in at only one link and this was her own, I can tell you right now that this blog needs a lot of pumping up which Sis will learn as we continue with this workshop. Sis, my advice would be to either a) start another blog devoted to your book and life as an author, or b) develop better search words and use them very frequently on your present blog so the search engines will find you. Hope this helps! Tags: Free Book Promotion Workshop, How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Sis Zabrina, Power of Words, search engine optimization

Automatic Social Bookmarking

FREE BOOK PROMOTION WORKSHOP: How to PUMP UP Your Blog to Sell More Books - Pt. II

While there are so many ways to pump up your book or author blog, what I'd like to talk about today is content and how you can get more visitors to your book or author blog by paying close attention to what you post there. It's a known fact--in fact, I've mentioned it before--your blog is the most search engine-friendly vehicle you have at your disposal and for 99% of us, it's free. So, let's take advantage of that fact and use it to its full potential to sell our books. It's book promotion at its best. For starters, I want everyone to go to www.google.com and put in their key search word or phrase that you believe people would put in the search engines to find you. If you're having trouble narrowing it down, I'll use one of my writing group's free ebooks as an example. Love is in the Air was sent out into the world last Valentine's Day. It was a free ebook that my writing group and I wrote for the sole purpose of using it for promotional purposes. But, more than that, I wanted to see if a particular formula that I had discovered to get it in the top position of the search engines would work. Indeed, it did. It took one day for it to become the number one free ebook in google and yahoo, using OUR certain set of search words. Did you read that? ONE DAY. Now, if I wanted to make sure our free ebook stayed in that #1 position, all I would have to do is continually blog about it, but as it served its purpose--to give readers a taste of how we write and, perhaps, check out our other books (and to see if we could do it, lol)--we went on to other things. However, if this was a paying ebook, we would, of course, still be promoting it. For our certain set of key search words, I chose "free Valentine's Day ebook." Here are how those set of search words stand in the search engines this morning, almost two weeks after we started promoting it: Yahoo (#1 out of 690 listings) Google (#1 out of 256 listings) MSN (#1 out of 454 listings) Ask.com (#1 out of 13 listings) The point I'm trying to make is that when your book is released, or even when it is about to be released (never too early to start promoting!), you have to come up with a certain set of search words that describes your book. It's all part of good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) planning because in the online world, the search engines are going to become your new best friend. Okay, so do you have your set of search words that people would use to find your book and have you put them in Google to see what comes up? Good, now we're ready to begin. Click on the first listing and check it out. Do you see where they have used these search words to get into the number one listing? Of course, they have used other ways to get there including getting their link on every possible website they could, and other methods, but they wouldn't have gotten there if not for the fact that they were wise enough to know to use these search words so that the search engines' spiders could find them. One mistake that most people make when they put up a new website or blog is list it with the search engines. Big mistake and a waste of time. I've done it so take it from me it doesn't work quick enough, and could take months. The great thing about blogs is that it that it's an almost immediate reaction from the search engines. However, if those key words or phrases that people would use to find your book are not used continuously in your blog posts, it won't work. This brings me to another important point. For it to work effectively and quicker, use those key search words in as many titles of blog posts as you can. This is another secret that I've used to get an immediate first place listing in the search engines. Try it and see for yourself. All week long, I'll be talking about the using these key search words or phrases to pump up your online book promotion, but what I would like to do is if anyone needs help determining what their key search words or phrase might be for people to find your book, leave your comment and url in the comment box. I will be checking my email box frequently (I've fixed it up with blogger to have any comments come to my email box) and we'll determine which set of search words or phrases would work best for your book. Happy promoting to you! Dorothy Thompson Pump UP Your Book Promotion eMarketing Expert Tags: Free Book Promotion Workshop, How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Book Promotion, Love is in the Air, free+ebook, search engine optimization, online book promotion

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Blogging About Books or the Characters Who Bring Them To Life

Before we get into the next lesson in learning how to pump up your blogs to sell books, I've had some interesting emails and comments that I'd like to share with you. If you recall, the first lesson was all about how to create a blog centered around your book. While there were many wonderful responses, I can only share a few, but it's interesting how authors were very receptive to this. As most of you know, this is a new blog and already getting lots of hits. I want to thank all my readers! The first one I'd like to share just come in my email box today. Someone had told someone else that I was running a workshop to help authors learn how to take full advantage of their blogs and this person contacted me, saying that she had a blog that was strictly to talk about her book. I couldn't wait to see it. It's Harley A. Harvey's blog, a wonderful author who will have her first book, Karma, published the end of this month. What I found interesting was that I noticed that Harley started blogging about her adventures getting published--and I figure we'll hear about the road that follows as it continues--at the beginning of the month. How interesting to read about this because what perfect timing. Instead of waiting until its release, she's creating pre-buzz. Way to go, Harley! I also want to share a comment left on yesterday's blog post because I think you're going to be delightfully entertained as I was. Diana Holquist, author of Make Me a Match and the upcoming Sexiest Man Alive, has this to say: "What a great site. Thank you. Just today, a truly unfortunate thing happened. One of my characters started her own blog to spite me. Seems she didn't like how her story was being told. It's already gotten sort of ugly. I have no idea what will happen next. It's at: http://www.gypsypsychic.blogspot.com. I'd love to know what you think!" --Diana Holquist http://dianaholquist.com Well, of course, I headed right over to the blog and was just thrilled when I got there. In fact, with the right kind of promotion, this blog could really go places. I noticed that Diana is published by my absolutest favoritest to-die-for publisher, Warner, so I hope Warner knows what a great promotor Diana already is. Another interesting story comes from Isis McGowen who left a comment on yesterday's post saying that she was already doing this on her blog. It struck me funny as I recognized the name, and then I remembered it was the main character from Schuyler Thorpe's online serial, The Starchild Universe. Isis' blog, which can be found here, has already captured my attention in that she's a kick-butt type of woman, Star Trek-style. Not really being a Star Trekkie kind of woman (I know, kick me!), I still was drawn into her as if she really was real and it was all because Schuyler thought ahead and knew that his readers would love to hear more about her. Sandy Lender, one of the members of my writing group, actually has two character blogs. One for Abigail (http://abigaillovesnigel.blogspot.com/) and another for Nigel (http://sandylender.blogspot.com/index.html), two characters from her soon-to-be-released book, Choices Meant for Gods. Way to go, Sandy! And, finally, a question from Celise Downs: "I thought about creating a blog for my current character, too. I'm working on a YA series (hoping to sell to an agent) and the main character keeps an online journal like I do. That would seem like a lot of upkeep and I wouldn't know which angle to use: write something fresh or re-post the entries from the books. Suggestions?" I suggested to her to not post the entries on the blog simply because publishers, for some ungodly reason, do not allow the published material (except for an excerpt in most cases) to be published anywhere else. However, she could post fresh material in diary style if she wanted to do that. Either way she wants to do it, it's an excellent way to carry on the legacy of her character and how many of us hate to see our characters die when we write, "THE END"? This is an excellent way to keep them alive, not to mention a great promotional vehicle to sell her book. That's all we have time for now. Stay tuned for the next lesson in how to PUMP UP your blog to sell more books! If you have any questions you'd like to ask, please leave them in the comment box and I'll answer them in a future blog post. Happy promoting to you! Tags: How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Book Promotion, Harley A. Harvey, Diana Holquist, Schuyler Thorpe, Sandy Lender, Celise Downs, blog promotion

Automatic Social Bookmarking

FREE BOOK PROMOTION WORKSHOP: How to PUMP UP Your Blog to Sell More Books - Pt. I

There are blogs and then, there are blogs. Some blogs are to entertain. Some are to inform. As an author who is looking to pump up her blog to sell more books, your blog needs to be a lot of both to makes sure you get those books sold. I cannot stress this more: EVERY AUTHOR NEEDS A BLOG. If you don't, you are missing out on one of the most VITAL elements in successful book promotion. If you don't, you will NOT see the sales you expect. If you don't, hop on over to www.blogger.com, or one of the other free blogging services, and set you one up today because I am about to tell you some insider secrets on how you can turn your book blog into a money-making machine. Are you pumped up yet? Today begins a series of classes of sorts on ways you can turn your book blog into something that will attract potential book buyers. Your audience is who buys your book and without an audience, it's a struggle. In order to get that audience, a blog is the perfect place to start. The first place to start is with a blog that is entirely devoted to pumping up your book. Save those everyday conversations (unless they're related exclusively to your book) for other blogs you might have. Today starts the first day you're going to pay careful attention to what goes up on your blog and how you can make your blog stand out from all those other blogs out there. What you will be doing is creating a powerful online presence, as well as pulling in that audience. After all, what's a book blog good for if it's not going to be noticed? Surely, you can't have that happen because pumping up your online book promotion is your main goal in successful book promotion any way you look at it. With that said, if you really want to draw in buyers, make sure you do have a blog pertaining to the subject of your book. Since most blogs are free, it's wise to have a separate blog for this so that the attention will be directed toward your book and not what you had for breakfast so to speak. The point I'm trying to make is that in order to pump up your book promotion, you need to center yourself and figure out how you can turn your blog into a great promotional vehicle to sell your book without coming off as one big ad. What I would like to do is give you some examples of blogs that are directly, and intentionally, geared toward blogging about their books. Rachel Newstead's book is called Orphan Toons: Relics of Animation's Forgotten Past. It's not published yet, but what she is doing is creating a platform even before the book sees the light of day. A fine example of pumping up your book promotion. If you go to her blog at http://rachel-and-kevin.blogspot.com/, you can see what I mean. But, one thing she is doing wrong. She doesn't have any way of knowing who is coming to her blog and doesn't have a way to keep those visitors from returning. In other words, she needs two things....one, a SiteMeter (www.sitemeter.com) and two, a subscriber box where people can have her posts automatically delivered to their email box when she posts new posts. The one I use is FeedBlitz (www.feedblitz.com). It's a little tricky, but dependable. Another great example is Kathy Holmes' blog where she promotes one published book and another yet-to-be-published book, but she carries them both off very well without being obtrusive. Her published book is called Myths of the Fatherless and I have to tell you, this woman is one of the best promoters I have seen as far as getting the word out about her book, without it looking like one big ad for her book. Her other book is with an agent looking for a home, but it's called Real Women Wear Red and she does an excellent job talking about what the main theme of the book is about. Even though it's fiction, it deals with women of a certain age which she blogs about quite often. Now this is a pumped up blog if I've ever seen one. While Rachelle uses her blog to create buzz for when her book becomes published and Kathy uses her blog to promote an already-published book, some authors even go outside of the box and create blogs for the characters in their books. Quite a neat idea, if you ask me. One such writer is Jamieson Wolf. I've read many of his other blogs on a daily basis and I have to admit, this guy is going places. If I can only write as much during one day as he does, I'd be set in books for life. What Jamieson has done is started a blog for one of his characters in his upcoming book, Hope Falls, which you can see here. In fact, even before he got the idea to give his character her own blog, he had set up a website for her which you can find here. These authors know what it takes to create a buzz for their books, whether they're published or almost-published. Maybe they'll give you ideas on how you can pump up your own blog--or perhaps to start a new one exclusively devoted to your book--to create a powerful online presence not only for your book, but yourself, too. It's all in how much you want it. There are many, many authors out there who take full advantage of this free buzz-making publicity for their books, and these are just a few of the examples. More examples will be focused upon as this blog promotion workshop continues. Do you have a blog that is devoted entirely to your one book? If so, leave the url in the comment box below so that others can learn from you! Tags: free book promotion workshop, How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Book Promotion, online book promotion, Rachel Newstead, Jamieson Wolf, Kathy Holmes, promotion workshopblog promotion

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Why Blogs Are Crucial to Every Author's Book Promotion Marketing Campaign

One of the things I stress that is so important in every author's book promotion campaign is to have a blog. Most of you are already aware of this, but for those who happen to land on this blog and haven't taken the plunge to set up your own blog, read on. As you know, there are two ways of promotion you can go with your book: offline and online. While offline has its certain advantages, online opens up a whole new world of promotion for you that authors years ago never had the opportunity to participate in. Why some authors balk at setting a blog up is beyond me because what they are missing out on is a very big chance some of your buyers will happen upon your blog and buy your book. No blog? No sale. I feel blogs are very important because they are spidered by the search engines every day. If you have written a book titled "How to Groom Cocker Spaniels," for instance, the majority of hits from search engines to your blog will mainly be those who put "cocker spaniels" in search. This is really elementary, as I'm sure you all know this, but what is more important is that if you have optimized your blog to its full potential, you will tap onto an audience that you would not have had otherwise. As I've mentioned before, just putting your book information up on your website is not good enough. Blogs give you an opportunity to get that information out and quicker, too. Websites are what the search engines call "static," whereas blogs are not. Makes sense because we blog every day. A webpage that changes every day will have much the same effect (although not quite), but who has time to do that? Besides, blogging is so easy! So, how do you optimize your blog to its full potential? The Pump UP Your Book Promotion eMarketing Expert will be glad to give you hints as to how you can go about this in a series of posts I will be calling "How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books." I will use that as my "label" for easy reference in case you just want to access those particular blog postings. Stay tuned for tomorrow's lesson! Tags: How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, Book+Promotion, eMarketing,

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Are You Oprah Material?

I truly believe that if someone took every author in the world and divided them into two groups, those groups would be--the dreamers and the realists, with no fine line in between. Think of an author friend you know. You can pretty well figure out which category they would fall in. On the one side, you have those who believe that their book is so damn good, it's right up there with Oprah's Book Club. The other side? They're shaking their heads and laughing at the dreamers side. Of the two groups, I would fall into the realist group. I know that just because I believe I have the next best thing, it's really not. To me, it's the best book written; but of course, reality kicks in and I know I'm just one little ant in a world full of anteaters. That doesn't prevent me from telling the world about my next best thing book, but it does prevent me from believing it's Oprah material. Unfortunately, I'm in the minority. The realist side has but too few members and the dreamers side? They're starting to gain in popularity to match the population of China. It's okay to dream, but as a realist, I think the road to bottoming out will come all too quickly for them. As a realist, I know I just keep on keeping on, but the dreamers take things way too seriously. It's like American Idol. Most of them are dreamers because only one can become American Idol. There might be a realist or two in the group, but because by now they have let the title consume them to the point where they actually believe they ARE going to be the next American Idol, there's going to be a lot of bottoming out when the winner is announced. Oh, they'll go on, most of them, and sing for other contests or take to the road with this musical gift because they are, after all, dreamers. The ones who don't make it and who aren't in the dreamers' group, will actually fare better because they knew going in that if they make it, they make it, if they don't, well, they go on and pursue other things such as begging for that 9-5 job they lost because they had to appear on the show in the first place. Authors are no different. We all have dreams, and even though most authors have the same dreams--getting that NY contract or even just getting published any which way they can--some authors believe from the get go that they are Oprah material even with the odds stacked in front of them so high, they couldn't see the forest for the trees. Ah, such a realistic opinion on my part, but that's the realist coming out of me. So, what's my point? I was over at the Big Bad Book Blog and they have a quiz you can take to see if you are Oprah material. I bet you can guess how I scored. Not very well. But, I took it pretty well, being the realist I am. Go over there and see if you're Oprah material and come back here and let us know how you did. Maybe it will open up a few dreamers' eyes perhaps? Tags: Oprah, American Idol, Oprah's Book Club, Big Bad Book Blog

Automatic Social Bookmarking

HOOK US WITH YOUR FIRST PAGE

I have a ton of promotional ideas for published authors, but what about those who are in varying stages of publication? How can you get that pre-buzz started? One of the things you can do is post your first page of the manuscript you are working on (this is not for published authors) at The Writer's Life Blog. The Writer's Life Blog is an extension of the award-winning writer's ezine, The Writer's Life. Lots of great ways to promote your books at the blog including posting your first chapters and interviews, but that leaves out a lot of people who just haven't signed that contract yet. If you have a book that is not published yet, and want a few unbiased opinions (Aunt Bessie doesn't count!), go here to find out how you can do it! Tags: Hook Us With Your First Page, pre-buzz, published authors, The Writer's Life, promote your books

Automatic Social Bookmarking

RSS Feed Button Tool

Adding feeds to your blogs just can't get any easier than this. I found this easy, simple RSS Feed Button Tool that is so easy to add to your blogs, I feel guilty admitting how I have added feeds in the past - the one-at-a-time method. You've got to see this to believe it. Go to the Online Marketing Blog and see for yourself how simple this is. BTW, if you want to see how this will look on your blog, look to the right and you'll see it in my sidebar just above the Blogger graphic. See all those feeds? You would have thought it took forever to add them all. Nope...just a few clicks and you're done. You don't even have to add your blog information...simply amazing how this works. Pump up your online book promotion by giving people the choice to add your blog to their feeds! Tags: RSS Feed Button Tool, Online Marketing Blog, pump up your online book promotion, online book promotion

Automatic Social Bookmarking

John Kremer's FREE BOOKS FOR ALL

I found this a couple nights ago. John Kremer is putting nonfiction ebooks up on his site and is inviting anyone with a free nonfiction ebook to send it to him and he'll put it up for you. I emailed him last night, and today, both my free ebooks, A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook (A Sampler) and 101 Facts You Never Knew About Soul Mates are both up. Pretty darn fast to me. The site is called Free Books for All, a website devoted to giving away free nonfiction books, including business books, cookbooks, memoirs, how-to books, travel books, gardening books, mind/body/spirit books, social issues books, and more. John is being so gracious to do this because he believes (as do I) that word of mouth is the best promotion. According to his website at www.freebooksforall.com, he states, "The toughest challenge for a newbie or an unknown author is to get readers to sample your book. The best way to get people to sample your book is by giving it away as a free PDF download. Most people won't read an entire novel on their computer, but they will sample it. And, if they like it, they will go to Amazon.com or their favorite local bookseller and buy it. Then they will read your book. And, if your book is any good, they'll begin to tell other people about your book." Hey, hey, John's the man! If you have a free nonfiction ebook, click here to find out how you can end up on John Kremer's Free Books For All! Tags: Free Books For All, John Kremer, nonfiction books, A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook, free nonfiction books, business books

Automatic Social Bookmarking

WANT TO PROMOTE YOUR FIRST PUBLISHED BOOK?

Another Realm will help you announce your book regardless of whether it's published in print or electronically! Simply prepare a standard-sized banner containing your name, the title, ISBN (if available), and the publisher's name (and link, if available). Then email the banner to P&E. We'll post your banner on one of our pages for a month for free! Our Email address is listed here. More details here! Tags: promote your books, Another Realm

Automatic Social Bookmarking

How Self-Syndication Leads to Free Publicity

In this world of everyone holding their hands out and wanting your hard-earned dollar, authors are heading toward more of a do-it-yourself attitude when it comes to book promotion. Since book royalties are usually nothing to get real excited about, funds for book promotion may be something that is non-existent for the first-time book author, or any author for that matter. However, any book coach or publicist will tell you that you have to create a buzz for your book no matter what it takes. So, what’s an author to do? There are many strategies you can take, but the one that has given me more publicity is the syndication of my articles. No, I am not syndicated in the NY Times or Woman’s Journal, but I am syndicated on thousands of online websites and a few print publications as well, including the celebrity tabloid, “OK!,” which is found in most grocery stores and Wal-Marts (I know because I scarfed up their whole inventory when I found out). How does one make this happen and how does this equal book sales? Easy. There are hundreds of content ezines on the Internet and most of these online publications have feeds which send your articles to more publications, who in turn put your article up on their websites. What happens is that one article will appear on hundreds upon hundreds of websites, thus upping your search engine’s ranking because you were smart and included your website link in your bio. Not only are you gaining expertise through syndicating your articles, you are helping bring potential buyers to your website to see what else you have to offer. But, more than that, these same articles that, even though you aren’t getting paid for them, they are giving you free publicity that would have otherwise cost you hundreds of dollars. Let me give you an example. Today, in the mail, I received a complimentary magazine with an article I had syndicated two years ago. Even though that article is not recent, it continues to bring in added publicity. But, what I found interesting was that if you wanted to advertise your book in this same publication, which included a 60-word description of your book, a color cover photo of your book and a direct link to your website, it would cost you $100 if you were not a member of their organization and $125 if you were. Even though I didn’t get a color cover photo included of my book, I did get a full-page ad for my article, which included a generous bio, including information about my book and two links to my websites. The cost? Zip. So, how did I manage to get this non-recent article I have syndicated for years over the Internet into a print publication? I did nothing to make it happen, except list the article up on my website stating anyone was welcome to publish it as long as the bio was intact. Someone saw it and noticed that it would be perfect for their publication, and whammo bammo, I have a gig in a print magazine. Simple as that. As for the OK! Magazine gig, the editor found one of my articles over the Internet which had my website address in the bio, and contacted me through the email address link on my website. He phoned me, asking questions about the Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn relationship, and my quote ended up in the magazine two weeks later. All you have to do is write an article, making sure it has a bio with your website link or contact information, and send it off to content ezines such as: Alumbo! http://www.alumbo.com Article Alley http://www.articlealley.com Article City http://www.articlecity.com Article Marketer http://www.articlemarketer.com Article Corners http://www.articlecorners.com Associated Content (this one pays!) http://www.associatedcontent.com Ezine Articles http://www.ezinearticles.com Go Articles http://www.goarticles.com A word of suggestion would be to not forget to add your articles to your website, as that’s where a lot of my contacts have come from, too. Syndicating your articles is one of the most profitable publicity-wise venues I can think of and I am surprised when I find authors do not think to do this. If they only realized the potential this has, they’d jump on the self-syndicating bandwagon in no time! Tags: How Self-Syndication Leads to Free Publicity, self-syndication, book promotion, Pump Up Your Book Promotion, PR marketing expert, content ezines

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Are Your Books in Libraries?

Starting with this post, I'll be listing great fun links pertaining to books and book promotion. Book promotion can't be all work and no play, can it? Here is Great Fun Links #1: Visit "Find in a Library" at www.worldcatlibraries.org to find out what libraries are stocking your books! Tags: Find in a Library, libraries, book promotion

Automatic Social Bookmarking

LOVE IS IN THE AIR - FREE VALENTINE'S DAY EBOOK AVAILABLE NOW!

It's official! LOVE IS IN THE AIR, a free Valentine's Day ebook is available! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Give the Gift of Love: LOVE IS IN THE AIR - Free Valentine’s Day eBook! February 13, 2007 - Just in time for Valentine’s Day, The Writer’s Life Publications announces the release of “Love is in the Air,” a free 65-page downloadable eBook, filled with love stories and love advice for the romantic in you! “Love is in the Air,” is written by the members of The Writersville Gang, an online Yahoo! writing group, which includes Rebecca Camarena, Sandy Lender, Gale Sparks, Dorothy Thompson, Michael Witherspoon and Jamieson Wolf. “I’m really excited about this eBook,” says Dorothy Thompson, editor of The Writer’s Life and moderator of the online writing group. “Not only are we giving back to our faithful readers, but we are also learning the ins and outs of self-publishing. It’s been a great learning experience for all of us and has helped us find out what it takes to pump up our own online book promotion by using our free eBooks as guinea pigs. We learn what works and what doesn’t which is highly important because it eliminates the time wasters and shows us how to market our books effectively.” The Writer’s Life Publications is run and operated by Dorothy Thompson and publishes several free eBooks throughout the year. To download your free Valentine’s Day eBook, LOVE IS IN THE AIR, visit www.thewriterslife.net/loveisintheair.html. Press Contact: Dorothy Thompson Editor, The Writer’s Life Magazine P.O. Box 313 Temperanceville, Virginia 23442 thewriterslife@yahoo.com http://www.thewriterslife.net/ Tags: free Valentine's Day ebook, online book promotion, free ebook, marketing your book, self-publishing, downloadable ebook, love stories, love advice, pump up your online book promotion, The Writer's Life, The Writersville Gang

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Pump Up Your Book Promotion with Google Alerts

About six or so months ago, I was the victim of copyright infringement. In this case, it was a well-known blogging site and one of the members decided they would post an article I had written on their blog and give credit to himself. Immediately, I went into action and had him eradicated from the whole blogging site. Let me back up, though. I syndicate articles to hundreds upon hundreds of websites and blogs. They are mainly relationship columns (this one happened to be that), plus I write promotional articles. I do this mainly to gain expert status in my field, but I also do it for the link back which is found in my bio. If the particular website or blog do not provide link backs, they're history and I move on. There are too many other websites or blogs that will. Before you are wondering if I happened to be patrolling the search engines and just happened to venture onto this by some unforeseen coincidence, think again. I have what they call google alerts. I discovered google alerts a year ago and I don't know how I ever lived without them. All I have to do is go to http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en and put the title of my article (enclosing it with quotation marks) and once a day, I get an "alert" in my email box telling me where my article is showing up. Anyone who is syndicating their articles over the Internet needs a google alert account. It's free and worth the time it takes to register. Another thing I discovered about google alerts is that the information that is coming in are all recent, and very rarely do I get an alert with a blog post or webpage that is not current to date. I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. Last Christmas, my writing group and I put out a free Christmas ebook. I immediately put the title of the ebook in google alerts to see how well my promotional efforts were paying off. In other words, I wanted to see where my promos were ending up. Almost immediately, my email box was filling up, telling me where my promo was landing. Two months later, I rarely get an alert even though the promo is still up on these blogs and websites. So, what's up with that, you ask? The reason is that the information is now pronounced static. So, what does that mean? That means that it is showing me that it is very important not to let a day go by without promoting it in some way. Since Christmas has come and gone, and since it was just a free ebook to give away for promotional reasons, I stopped promoting it and went on to other projects. I don't need to promote it anymore because of that fact. However, if this was a paying ebook, what do you think would happen? The search engines wouldn't pay it any attention, either, and completely overlook it when they send their spiders out. You have to understand SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and by what I've learned, you can't let anything get static if you are looking for customers. You have to keep promoting, making it a 24/7 obligation. If not, then you are doomed. You can't just put up a website and not change things around frequently or you're not going to get any visitors. That's it in a nutshell. So, my google alerts have alerted me not only to where my articles are showing up on a daily basis, they have alerted me to the fact that if I sit on my toosh and not promote even in some tiny way, someone else is going to get the search engines' attention. Don't make the mistake I did and keep those books out in front of the search engines by blogging about it every day. Pump up that online book promotion and keep visitors returning. ;o) Tags: google alerts, online book promotion, search engine optimization, copyright infringement, free Christmas ebook, syndicating, book promotion

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Book Trailer of the Hour

Lisa Gardner is a bestselling suspense novelist as you know, but she has outdone herself in this hilarious book trailer she made for her latest book HIDE. Now this is an EXCELLENT way to garner interest for her new book. Not only is she using book trailers as visual aids to entice book buyers (not that she'd need anything...her words speak for itself), but she has gone a step beyond ordinary and turned her book trailer into something that apparently is the talk of the book world right now. I noticed, as I keep an eye out for promo ideas, that they coincided the book to be released with this trailer. The book was released on January 30, 2007 and the trailer went up January 31, 2007, which is the very next day if you've not had your Wheaties this morning. Powerful online book promotion at its best. How many authors who are reading this have a duh moment once their book is released? In other words, do they have a marketing plan that is going to shake up the world or do they have a marketing plan that starts off with putting the cover on the website, securing a few reviews or maybe setting up a book signing or two and when the time for the book is to be released comes, they freeze because they don't know what's the next step? This is where the power of multitudes comes in. You have to act quick. You have to have every single duck in a row and know what you're doing before your book is even released. Don't be one of those authors who are scrambling for attention when there are others who know how to take online book promotion to the next step. Do you think Lisa Gardner's publicity team took a passive approach to her marketing plan for her next release, or do you think that all of them got together, constructed a powerful marketing plan that was going to have everyone talking? You decide. You have to be quick and you have to have all your ducks in a row. Lisa's publicity team is a fine example of being prepared, but not only that, to do it in a powerful way. They learned what it takes to pump up your book promotion, and this trailer is a fine example of this. Watch for yourself... Tags: online book promotion, Lisa Gardner, book trailer, the power of multitudes, marketing plan, publicity

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion Through Blogs

Pumping up your online book promotion requires a lot of things as you know, but one of the most vital elements in getting your book noticed requires a vehicle that requires a little maintenance, but will result in getting the attention you need. It's called BLOGGING. Everyone by now understands what blogging is, so that much I won't go into. But, does everyone realize how important they are in everyday book promotion? Seth Godin says, "Blog mentions...matter a lot" in promoting your books. David Torturelli tells us "Blogs can bring a new dimension to a writer’s work because everything written immediately has an audience. " Rick Reed tells us how to use MySpace as an author promotional tool. Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D, gives us some good tips on how to market our blogs. Listen, folks, these guys know what they're talking about. Blogs are great vehicles to sell your books. They're picked up in the search engines rather quickly, and the more you know your way around how a blog works, the more familiar you get as to how to use them correctly to promote your books. Jamieson Wolf does an interesting thing with his blog. He serializes his books. Now before you start thinking, "If he publishes it on a blog, how will get get a publisher to accept something that's already 'published'?" Jamieson's intent is not to publish with a known publisher; but, instead, he's self-publishing through his blog with no intent on making money off of it. What he is doing is generating interest about his work which will pay off later on down the road with his other books. The book he is posting in serial form is called "The Book of Sacrament." If you go to his blog, you can sign up for installments which will come to your email box. An excellent way to promote your books through blogs, Jamieson! Even authors have deadlines, kids to feed, other jobs to go to, but blogging only takes a few minutes of your time, and is so important. You don't have to update every day (kudos to those who can), but every three or four days will at least keep you up and running in the search engines. In my own experience, I have maybe five or six blogs for the different things I do. I have one to talk about my daily life, plus any promotional things related to my books or appearances, on my blog at www.overthehillchick.blogspot.com. It is through that blog where I have found many acquaintances and downright salt-of-the-earth people who have bought my books or hosted me on my virtual book tours. I have sold lots of copies of my soul mate anthology, Romancing the Soul, this way. I also have a blog for my writing website, The Writer's Life, called appropriately The Writer's Life Blog. I host author interviews, first chapters of published books, first pages of unpublished books and a myriad of other things to help others promote. While I am helping others, a picture of the covers of my books are on the blog in case anyone wants to check them out. Another blog I have is called How to Promote Your Self-Published eBook (or Print!). Again, my book covers are listed there, and I'm basically using this blog to show my expertise as a self-published eBook promoter. And these are just a few. So, if I can do it, and work outside of the home, you can do it, too. I find it interesting that some NY published authors are telling me that their publishers are recommending them to build a blog and start talking up their books. They know what good book promotion takes, and that is to make yourself visible. As an author, you are a celebrity. I don't care if you are published by a vanity press, self-published, or have gone all the way to becoming a NY bestselling author. People are hungry for this information so that maybe they can find out what it takes to write their own books. Never miss an opportunity to pump up your book promotion! What are your opinions of promoting books through blogs? Please leave your comments! Tags: blogs,promoting your books, online book promotion, Author Promotional Tool, Jamieson Wolf, promote your books

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Book Trailers: Friend or Foe?

The book trailer rage has taken over. Everywhere they're popping up. Some very sophisticated, and some, unfortunately not so. About a month ago, a friend posted a link to his book trailer, so I decided it was time to learn how to make one myself. I had a graphics program, plus I had Movie Maker (everyone who has Windows has it in their programs), so I thought I'd give it a whirl. While it took three days to put together, I was satisfied at the results. If you'd like to see it, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOklaNgirZI at YouTube. While you're there, drop me a comment. ;o) I did a little promoting for it and now it's #1 in YouTube under "ghost book" which were the key search words I chose to promote it. It was #1 in Google Video this morning, but now has dropped to #2. This is where your online book promotion comes in. While they're a blast to make and fun to show off to your friends, just how do they affect sales? Right now, it's too early to say from my standpoint as my book won't be out until later this month, but I figure it can't hurt for pre-release buzz, right? Yes, if they are done right. The way I see it is that any promotion is good promotion, but there are conflicting opinions on this if the book trailers look amateurish. I'm wondering, though, would a badly-made book trailer make a difference in sales either way? Probably not, but the thing is, the Internet is open to discussion and your book trailor may be the target. If it is poorly made, people will talk. If it's done up right and looks professional, people will talk. Either way, you don't want negative opinions plastered all over the Internet about your book. According to Cheryl Hagedorn, author of PARK RIDGE A Senior Center Murder, she believes some of the book trailers look downright pathetic. At her blog, she tells us that there is an interesting conversation going on over at HelenKay Dimon’s blog about the subject of poorly made trailers. So, of course, I being the inquisitite one, went over there to find out what this was all about. It seems there is an author that is being targeted. I really felt sorry for the guy because he's the brunt of various opinions on his book trailer, and some of them not so good. I have dial-up so it took a long time to load, but I face the same thing with all book trailers. You can take a peek at his book trailer here, if you'd like. As soon as it loads, I'll let you know what I think. The bottom line is this. When you're putting together your book trailers, please, make them as professional as you can. When you put your book out there, you take all precautions to make sure they're the best they can be so that the reviews will be positive, don't you? Book trailers are no different. However, on the upside, this author has a book trailer that's the talk of the town, so maybe it's not bad promotion after all? What's your opinion? Tags: book trailers,YouTube, online book promotion, Movie Maker

Automatic Social Bookmarking

Let Harry Potter Pump Up Your Promotion

Okay, everyone has probably heard. J.K. Rowling's latest book in the Harry Potter series will be available July 21, 2007. Great news for Harry Potter fans, and even greater news for J.K. Rowling, but what about those authors out there who have books written in the same genre and are about to come out the same time? Do they even stand a chance? Sandy Lender is one of those authors who will have a new book released called Choices Meant for Gods (Archebooks, TBA) about the same time, and she is concerned, as well as considering moving her release date either ahead of time or after the new Harry Potter book goes up for sale. Should she or shouldn't she? This is where effective online book promotion is going to come in handy. My suggestion to her would be to keep the release date, but use Harry Potter to her advantage. In order for her to do this, what I suggested would be to run press releases captilizing on the Harry Potter phenomenon and ride on the coattails of J.K. Rowlings' success. There will be millions of people putting the words "Harry Potter" in the search engines. If Sandy learns how to pump up her press releases by coming up with a press release comparing her book to J.K.'s, then we have something here. What will happen is that Sandy will be able to zero in on this market, and you have to admit, this is one of the largest markets out there. While this is not a new thing (riding on the coattails of other books with a huge audience), you'd be amazed at how many people haven't realized they could do this. I went into PRWeb (www.prweb.com), one of the press release services, and put "Harry Potter" in their search engine. I wasn't surprised to see people are already doing this. This is only one way that you can pump up your online book promotion; but keep in mind, press releases are powerful. If Sandy writes up a press release, capitalizing on the Harry Potter book that will coincide with the release of her own book, she will not only get those Harry Potter buyers, but will also find a great new way to promote her books which she can use for other books later on. What she has to keep in mind is that the Harry Potter series has a huge market. J.K. Rowling's books will continue to sell for years and years, but being as this is supposedly her last book, who will be the next Harry Potter phenomenon? It could be Sandy...or, it could even be you! Tags: Harry Potter,J.K. Rowlings, online book promotion, Sandy Lender, press releases

Automatic Social Bookmarking