Basically, the blogger writes that most proponents of self-publishing fall into one of three groups. He writes:

1)     Clueless.  These people are generally victims of a vanity press scam.  They believe that people like Stephen King pay to publish their books.  They are to be pitied more than censured, and the best thing you can do for them is to send them a book contract for them to study. It might take days, but I suspect they will eventually realize that the money flows toward the author.  Sadly, much of this is their own fault – the information necessary to avoid scams is readily available, all you have to do is make a minimum of effort.

2)     Conspiracy theorists.  These are actually a subset of number 1, people who think that editors and agents are there to keep new writers and new ideas from ever hitting the shelves.  This particular group is just as irrelevant as the first, because it shows that they haven’t done their homework.  Or maybe it’s just easier to believe that there’s a conspiracy than to accept the sad truth: the writing you are subbing just isn’t good enough for public consumption.  Not liking the options (get better or get out), these people went the self-publishing route.

3)     Economists.  It’s better to keep all the profits yourself, right?  Why pay these editors, copy-editors, formatting people and especially artists, when I already have a great book – my first draft! – and I can format it myself, and use a cover design made by my niece, which is just as good.  And who needs publishers when I can upload it to my kindle.  And if I go the print route, I’ll sell them myself, after all, authors have to be great salesmen, don’t they?  I’ll make a fortune.  All I can say here is: probably not, and your cover art is making my eyes bleed. 

To which I respond that he is forgetting a fourth category of self-publishers—the savvy ones who realize they need to have their manuscript professionally edited and their interior and cover designed by an artist who knows book design. These are primarily professionals who have an important message to get out there. Often they are in a niche market and regardless of the quality of their writing, most publishers have to pass because these books will probably not become bestsellers. Even some novelists are taking their own destiny in their hands by self-publishing. These “indie” publishers want to maintain complete control over their work from a creative standpoint (you don’t always have that option with a traditional publisher)—and some of them just enjoy the business aspect of publishing.

Does getting hundreds of rejection letters from publishers somehow make a writer more noble? Does it make him or her a better writer? Authors who self-publish the right way—by making sure they are putting out a top-notch book, both from an editorial and design standpoint—have accomplished something of which they can be proud. I think anyone who believes there is some sort of high standard to which traditional publishers are held today is kidding him- or herself. Sadly, it is no longer about the writing.  It’s all about whether or not a publisher believes a book will make money or not.

Going through a vanity or subsidy press is not self-publishing. It is paying another company to publish your work. It is very different from true self-publishing wherein the author/publisher has his or her own company imprint on the book and owns the ISBN. I agree that the only appropriate use for a vanity press is to publish a few books for posterity or for family archives.

The blogger also writes:  “Then, after the thing is written, someoene [sic] who knows how to select the best work will choose what gets seen, and someone who knows how to edit will edit, and someone who knows how to market will market!”

I also want to point out that traditional publishers do very little to market the books of their midlist authors. Writers who think that their work is done once they sign the contract and send in a completed manuscript are naive. You’ll earn a spot in the publisher’s catalog and on their website, but beyond that, the onus of marketing is firmly resting on the author. I can attest to this first-hand as I worked for a trade publisher and I’ve recently been published by a trade publisher. My co-author and I are the ones who came up with a marketing plan–and we are the ones who are implementing it.

I realize that self-publishing can be looked down upon because far too many books have been done poorly — badly designed, dubiously edited ego pieces. But the fact of the matter is, self-publishing is going to continue to be a viable option for authors who are tired of slush piles and gate keepers.  And I really don’t get how this hurts “real” writers? They should be grateful for the increased lack of competition, right?

I live in South Africa and I am published in the USA. Distance has made it impossible for me to go the traditional marketing route. Online is all I have open to me. I have worked very hard to go from “Fiona Who?” to not quite “Aha, Fiona Ingram, the famous children’s author,” but to a point where I have a healthy Google profile, a nice author site, with lots of links to interviews, book reviews, articles, etc. When I began researching (as is my wont) the concept of book marketing, I still had the silly notion that as a writer, all one did was write and people would automatically rush out and get one’s books. Not at all. Nowadays, even the traditional publishers expect their authors to do their own marketing as well.

An author cannot just be an author. He or she has to be a product or a brand. Publishers are also more interested in someone who has more than just books to offer. Readers are greedy for information about the author, what inspires them, what new books are coming up, etc. Your marketing will incorporate your author online platform which leans heavily on Social Media.

The online author platform consists of: your book/s; your website; your author profile/bio; an e-zine or newsletter; a blog; a video interview (vlog); a podcast radio interview; a video preview on sites like YouTube; articles you’ve written; articles about you.

Your website is your biggest asset in your author platform. You can put up information on your book and purchasing details, as well as your press release, your bio and a good pic, your reviews, and anything written about you and your book. When you reply to people, include your website in your signature so interested parties can track you back to your site, thus creating a good stream of traffic. Been interviewed on the radio or a local television station? Ask for a copy and put these up on your site as well. The more electronic information people have available for easy access, the better. From here, you can also launch your blog or fan club, set up your Twitter and other options, and link your social network sites, such as Facebook, Myspace, Squidoo, etc, back to this. You can also launch your website on many social sites simultaneously. These create coverage and alert the industry to your presence.

Google is a fantastic tool. You can load your articles, get a Google Alert to notify you every time something comes up about you and your book, link other sites back to your own to increase your ratings and give you credibility, set up a Blogger alert, join Google’s Library page, keep track of your site’s performance with Google Analytics, and much more.

Blogging and blog tours. You can “chat” to eager readers by going on a Virtual Book Tour. Virtual book tours are a promotional tool for authors to connect with readers via book blogs. Tours usually include a minimum number of tour stops over the course of one month on a variety of blogs. Some companies offer to feature on each tour stop a photo of the book, a review, links to the author’s website and blog, and will include your purchase information. Authors who interact with tour hosts and make themselves available for guest posting, interviews, Q&A sessions with blog commenters, and who respond to comments will have the greatest success from their tour.

Book competitions. Why should you enter? It’s not so much about winning as being seen. Competitions broaden your author profile because people in the industry will read your book. Organizers also post results online to market their contests. Even if you don’t win, you may get a Best Runner-Up mention, and that’s the kind of detail you will put in your press release. You don’t have to be in print yet to enter some competitions.

Do not stop marketing. Even when your book is out there and you’ve sent off your press releases, don’t stop spreading the word! Do something every day (either online or physical) to continue your marketing thrust. Penny Sansivieri of AME says: “Remember—marketing doesn’t sell books … marketing gives you exposure and exposure sells books.”

To get something done … you have to do it yourself. You only get reviews if you ask for them; you have to make a huge effort to engage with potential readers through blogs, tours, tweets, Facebook, all the social media tools freely available at every writer’s fingertips. There is so much free information that there’s no excuse for writers to moan about not getting publicity. Author sites abound, and if you’re not sure what to do, many marketing newsletters and e-zines offer load of free information. 

* * * * *

Fiona Ingram (B.A., Hons. (Natal), M.A., (Wits)) was born and educated in South Africa. Her interest in ancient history, mystery, and legends, and her enjoyment of travel has resulted in The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, the first in her exciting children’s adventure series—Chronicles of the Stone. The first book was inspired by an actual trip the author took to Egypt with her two young nephews (then aged 10 and 12).

Please visit Fiona’s author site http://www.fionaingram.com/ for more articles on marketing. For her book site, visit http://www.secretofthesacredscarab.com/.

Guest blogger: Dana Lynn Smith

This post, the third of a three-part series on building an author platform, highlights the importance of connections. Part one of this author platform series covers branding, while part two discusses reputation.

When selling your book, it’s not just what you know, it’s who you know!

To sell books in today’s marketplace, you need to be connected. Here are some examples of the type of connections that are valuable to authors in promoting their books and themselves:

 Contact Database – Clients, prospects, colleagues, friends, and family.

Opt-in Mailing List – People who have given you permission to contact them.

Influencers – Celebrities, well-known people in your field, book reviewers, media, and bloggers.

Online Networks – Connections on Facebook, Twitter and other online networks, groups and forums.

Blog Readers – People who read your blog or subscribe to the blog’s feed.

Professional Associations – Fellow association members and leaders. Serving in a leadership position enhances your visibility within the organization.

Other Groups – Alumni associations, civic and service organizations, hobby clubs, etc.

What can you do to increase your connections and leverage the connections that you have? How can you partner with others to extend your reach?

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of several book marketing guides, including The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana’s blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.

I maintain that it isn’t the marketing authors don’t like, it’s many of the traditional tactics they think of when they hear the word “marketing.” They are uncomfortable at the thought of getting “out there” to “toot their own horn.” The best way to promote your book is to find marketing activities that capitalize on your natural talents and abilities, and that you enjoy. It’s more likely you’ll actually do these activities.

Since most authors have a natural propensity toward writing, it makes sense for them to blog. Becoming active in the blogosphere (blogging and commenting on other blogs) is a great way to interact with readers and reach out to potential readers. Yet I am still surprised at the number of authors who resist. Some are not tech savvy, so they assume they won’t be able to figure out bloggging software. Others are worried they won’t know what to write about. Blogging software today is simple to use—even for non-techies. And as far as what to write about, what about writing your next book? Nina Amir has an entire blog devoted to this very topic.

If the thought of attending networking events or—gasp!—speaking in public leaves your mouth dry, try social media marketing. From the comfort and security of your own computer, you can interact with people—and potential readers—from all over the world. Social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are easy for even the novice to sign up for and maneuver. When resistant authors ultimately sign up and start interacting, I hear over and over how much fun it is and how surprised they are at how many connections they are making.

If you are comfortable talking with people on the phone or face-to-face, then by all means—capitalize on your ability to schmooze. Attending events and meetings or conducting seminars and workshops can be an excellent way to build a name for yourself and promote your book—especially nonfiction.

Of course there will be some level of discomfort for nearly everyone when it comes to promoting yourself. At some point you will likely be called upon to step outside of your comfort zone if you truly want to sell books. But intersperse these activities with those at which you excel. If you focus primarily on what comes naturally to you, your book marketing plan will contain less struggle and will generate more success.

So what is a virtual author book tour? Basically it involves visiting—virtually, of course—a group of websites for a period of time. The visits can take several different forms: interviews, guest posts, book reviews, book excerpts, and so on. (You can read more here in an interview I did with Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., and author of Red Hot Internet Publicity.) The sites usually range from blogs, websites, online radio stations, and social networking sites. The purpose is to increase an author’s online exposure, drive additional traffic to his or her website, increase search engine rankings, and hopefully sell more books.

It’s not difficult to set up a virtual tour, but it will take some research, planning, and followup. You can do it yourself–or you can hire a company to do it for you. We’ve been setting up tours for authors for the past year or so, and we’ve learned a lot as far as what is needed to make a book tour successful.

I consider the first two items on the list to be essential; we have found it is much more difficult to set up a successful tour with authors who are not active online and who do not wish to blog regularly. I believe it is far less beneficial to the hosts as well, to host these types of authors, and they are less apt to agree to an appearance. And frankly, I don’t blame them!) 

• Be an active blogger who not only blogs regularly but who comments on others’ blogs. Make yourself known in the “blogosphere.”
• Be active in social media sites (we recommend Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter). You don’t necessarily have to have 10,000 Twitter followers, but you should be networking on these sites, providing valuable content where appropriate, and building your following. 
• Have a capture system on your website (and I’m assuming you have one that highlights your book or that has a page about your book) so you can collect email addresses and build your list. Provide those who sign up with something of value—such as a free report or subscription to your newsletter.
• Have a call to action on your website instructing visitors to purchase your book, such as “Buy your copy today!”
• Develop a list of potential hosts based on sites your target market hangs out on. If you’re an active blogger in your genre already, chances are you’ve got a list of sites you check regularly. Find others. Concentrate on those who get a fair amount of traffic.
• Be familiar with the sites you plan to approach so you can avoid those that would not be appropriate. Send a personal inquiry, letting them know you’ve been following their site and emphasizing why your appearance there would benefit their readers/listeners. Include a link to your website where they can read more details about your book, your author bio, and other pertinent links. Indicate the date ranges of your tour; plan ahead as some sites are booked well in advance. You probably won’t want to book more than one or two appearances per day.
• Respond immediately to replies, sending a review copy of the book promptly when it is requested. Confirm the details—date, type of appearance, and topic desired.
• Keep track of where you will be appearing and when. (We use an Excel spreadsheet.) Follow up with your host a couple weeks before your appearance. Make sure they have everything they need from you, including a photo of you and your book as well as your bio.
• Once you start getting appearances scheduled for your virtual tour, start letting your friends and fans on Twitter and Facebook know about it. Be sure to include details—including links—on your website, blog, and newsletter.
• The day of your appearance, make sure to visit the website or blog regularly, answering questions and responding to comments. If your appearance involves a live podcast, be ready for questions.
• Follow up with all your hosts afterward and be sure to thank them.

We love virtual author book tours. It’s a great way for authors to increase exposure, gain new fans, and sell more books. Hosts too benefit by gathering additional visitors to their sites. And there is no chance for jetlag!

 Authors: Joe Gregory and Debbie Jenkins

 Publishing Academy, 2009

Back cover synopsis: Renegade publishers, Debbie Jenkins and Joe Gregory, share their hard-won experience to show you exactly how to make a fast and impressive income as a non-fiction author in six easy-to-follow steps. This book obliterates the outdated “truths” of the publishing business and shows you what it really takes to succeed in the new publishing economy. Whether you’re a budding author looking for your first break or a published author wanting to take your sales, profile, and income to the next level, you’ll love what you’re going to learn when you read this book.

Traditionally published and self-published authors alike will benefit from this handy guide. It provides a realistic plan for authors who truly want to sell books and make money. I enjoyed the irreverent tone of this easy-to-read book.

Divided into six practical steps, the first three cover coming up with a winning book idea and then getting it down on paper. Even those with a book already in hand will benefit from the tips on creativity, including the WWWD (What Would Walt Disney Do) approach. Word association and Mind-Mapping are also discussed at length. If you don’t already have a finished manuscript but just an idea, this chapter will help you determine whether or not it has bestseller potential.

Step four thrashes out the options for getting your book published. The authors go over the pros and cons of traditional publishing, self-publishing, and subsidy/vanity publishing. (I think my favorite line in the whole book is “I’d basically said, ‘Vanity presses are a complete waste of space!’”) They weigh-in highly in favor of self-publishing for nonfiction books, and they explain why—basically because authors retain intellectual control and they have the potential to make a lot more money this way. The practicalities of self-publishing are also covered, such as obtaining an ISBN, using Lightning Source as a printer, and getting distribution.

Final chapters get into the specifics of “selling loads of books.” There are a lot of lists (the authors seem to favor these and they are peppered throughout the book), such as “3 Reasons Why Brick and Mortar Stores Aren’t Worth It,” “5 Reasons Why Self-Publishers Should Focus On Selling Through Online Bookstores Instead,” and “44 High Impact Book Marketing Tactics That Work.”

Final sections of the book list useful publishing and promotion links, as well as a bibliography. Although the table of contents is quite extensive, that does not take the place of an index, which the book doesn’t have. I am a strong proponent of all nonfiction books having an index.

This book should be on the shelf of every author who wants to make money instead of mistakes.

So you self-publish your book but then what? Just because you’ve built it, they won’t come. High street bookstores are unlikely to pick it up, and Amazon will take it for a few bucks but won’t highlight it unless it miraculously becomes a best seller. Most good journalists won’t review it (trust me, journalists don’t take self-published books seriously) and unless you’re a marketing or PR guru, it’ll be very difficult to promote it well.

Actually, if you publish traditionally, you are still going to be expected to promote your book. And in fact, you will likely not get signed on with a traditional publisher if you don’t already have a strong author platform with lots of potential buyers. When I was managing editor for a trade publisher, almost every single author we signed on was shocked to learn they were expected to promote their books. But the truth is, the bulk of our marketing was to plop the book into a catalog and send out a few news releases in hopes of getting a review or two. Anything beyond that—well, there just wasn’t a budget for it. Granted, that was a smaller press but even if you do manage to snag one of the major players, they are not likely going to spend their marketing bucks on a new author (like advances, marketing budgets continue to shrink). They’ll spend their money promoting whoever their current James Patterson is—and you will likely be lumped in with the rest of the midlist authors who enjoy little or no marketing budget.  

In addition, if you self-publish properly—start up your own imprint, purchase your own block of ISBNs, and have the book well edited and well designed—as opposed to going the subsidy route (often incorrectly called “self-publishing”), reviewers should have no idea you are self-published. Your book is simply a title from a new independent publisher. And there is no stigma there.

The next hurdle is trust. Sadly, self-published books have a bit of a grim rep. Whether it’s because people associate them with their Aunt Bettie’s History of Littlehampton book with its funny photoshopped front cover, or because they’ve read a self-pubbed book chock-a-block full of mistakes (which, sadly, most self-pubbed books have due to the lack of a decent editor and proof-reader), there’s not a great deal of respect for self-published books despite there being some decent ones out there.

See my point above about putting out a top-quality book. It should look just as sharp as any other book put out by one of the big houses. And again, done right—there is no way readers can tell if a book is self-published or not.

This is why self-published books on average sell dozens (if you’re lucky hundreds) whereas traditional publishers tend to sell in the thousands.

This is true of subsidy published books; these are often called self-published but in reality they are pay-to-publish vanity pieces. They sell few copies because they are often poorly done—and they are usually not priced competitively because authors are forced to purchase the books from the subsidy at an inflated price. In order to make any kind of profit, the books are priced too high—and they don’t sell.

Authors who self-publish in the true sense of the meaning are able to price their books competitively, and if they have a solid promotions plan, they tend to sell books in the thousands—sometimes tens of thousands.

Now if you’re one of those writers who doesn’t care about book sales and it’s all about the love of writing, then self-publishing is worth a shot.

To this I say—if book sales and profits don’t mean anything, by all means, go with the subsidy presses such as Outskirts, iUniverse, and Author House. If you want to make money—self-publish the true way.

But consider this: you’ve spent a year or so writing your book, maybe more, maybe less. So why not try to get paid for your hard work, rather then pay, as you would with self-publishing. Just give it a try, you know? For a start, most reputable traditional publishers will pay an advance (usually in the thousands if through a larger publisher). Then you’ll get royalties for every book you sell (once you make back your advance).

It’s pretty common knowledge that advances from traditional publishers have gotten smaller in recent years.  You’ll still fare much better by self-publishing and keeping all of the profits rather than just 10 percent or so since you have to promote the book anyway. Yes, there will be editing and production costs, but with print-on-demand, you won’t have to lay out a bunch of cash for printing. (And remember, you’ll want to hire a professional editor before sending your manuscript to any agent or publisher, even if you are publishing the traditional route—so that expense, along with promoting, is also a given.)

Don’t forget too that once you sign that contract with a traditional publisher, you lose a certain amount of control. They may change the title. They may edit drastically. They may come up with a cover you hate. They may delay your publication date. But you’re probably stuck with their decision.

Even Kevin Weiss, CEO of a huge self-publishing company in the US (Author Solutions), admits 80 per cent of their authors fail to break even whereas traditionally published authors always do as they never had to fork out in the first place.

Author Solutions is a subsidy publisher—you can’t have someone else “self” publish for you—but I agree that those are some pretty grim sales statistics. Sadly, they are all too true.

And then there’s being able to tell people you’re a published author. Most savvy people will not accept you are one if you’ve paid to have your book published because, as I’ve said before, anyone anyone anyone can self-publish.

Yes, anyone can self-publish, but what you are talking about here is subsidy publishing, or vanity publishing. True self-publishing is a complicated process, and if it’s done well, it generally garners nothing but respect for those who have been through it.

As for the idea that your amazingly successful self-pubbed book will garner the attention of traditional publishers, this does happen but not often. Your chances of getting an agent and then publisher are higher.

I would have to disagree with this point as well—unless you’ve already got a well established platform and a large following, your chances of getting an agent and then a publisher are very small. Very small. You are much better off self-publishing (doing it well) and establishing a track record of sales with which to approach a traditional publisher. That, of course, is if you want to at that point. You’ll likely make more money if you keep it as a self-published title.

So what I’m saying is, give traditional publishing a chance first. Don’t let people tell you traditional publishing is a pipe dream; that getting an agent is impossible; that self-publishing is the first and best option. It isn’t. The fact is, if you write a damn good book, someone will take notice and maybe you’ll get published and maybe you’ll make money.

I agree with this—only when it comes to fiction. As far as nonfiction titles, however, self-publishing is often the best and fastest route to publication. By the time authors wait around for umpteen rejection letters from traditional publishers, self-publishers could have been reaping the rewards of their published books for months…even years. This doesn’t mean self-publishing is right for everyone; but it is most certainly a viable option for those who want to maintain control and keep all of the profits.

Another reason I’d like to address this again is because of a phone call I had last week from a potential client. She published her book through one of the POD “self-publishers,” using their ISBN—so of course they are listed as the publisher of record. The book came out a year ago, and in spite of some good press she received (it’s a highly disturbing, newsworthy topic), she’s only sold about 20 copies of the book. She wanted to talk to me about marketing and promotions. After a lengthy discussion about the problems associated with subsidy publishing (for that is what she essentially did), she agreed to send me a copy of the book so I could take a look at it.

Well, the good news was that she had a well-written, compelling story. The bad news was that it was a poorly edited, unproofread book (I found more than a dozen typos in the first chapter alone) bound shoddily within an amateurish cover design. And the price was $21.95—for a 200-page trade paperback.

The even worse news was when I told her there wasn’t much we could do in terms of promoting a book like that—wrought with errors and priced too high. She was devastated—because although she hadn’t invested much from a financial standpoint in the project (these companies typically offer a very low up-front investment), she had given fully of herself from an emotional standpoint. The story was an incredibly personal one—and it was a story she really wanted to tell. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a readership for a book in that bad of shape.

Then there is the price issue. What many authors don’t realize is that because it costs so little up front to publish your own book, the subsidies need to make the money up from somewhere—and they do it from the back end, by charging authors exorbitant fees to buy their own books back from them. This may not sound so bad, until authors realize how little profit they will make if they try to sell the books through, say, Amazon. Hence, they price their books from a profit-making standpoint, which is often a lot higher than the book-buying public will pay.

And it’s a story I see over and over; she is not the first client to contact me after investing themselves in a POD “self-publisher” only to learn they’ve wasted a lot of time and sometimes even quite a bit of money. I think the biggest problem with these outfits is that with such low up-front investment, the authors dive in head first, often without professional editing, typesetting, and cover design. Although these hybrids sometimes offer these services, I have found them to be less than satisfactory. The result of this low-cost approach is frequently a poor-quality book that sells few copies. (By the way, you can still get book digital printing without going to one of these POD outfits. Lightning Source is a print-on-demand book printing company that offers this service to authors/publishers directly—and they have good distribution channels.)

Furthermore, many of these companies are vanity publishers calling themselves “self-publishing” or “self-publishing POD” companies. In reality, though, they are often trading on the good name of self-publishing to make their companies appear to be a legitimate option for authors. Authors who truly want to self-publish books need to do their research. If you are publishing your own book, make sure you know what you are getting into.

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/03/think-hard-before-self-publishing.html

from a literary agent, who basically thinks self-publishing is a bad idea for the vast majority of authors. Because I disagree with so much of what she says–from the standpoint of authors who are truly self-published (and this is an important distinction!)–and wrote a lengthy comment to the post, I thought I would post it here as well.

Here’s my comment to her blog post:

I have to disagree with much of this article from the standpoint of truly self-published authors. And by that, I mean authors who start up their own publishing company imprint, obtain their own ISBN prefix, and oversee that all aspects of editing and design are done professionally. Books published in this way cannot readily be identified as “self-published.” They are “independently” published. For authors who go the Lulu or iUniverse route—yes, much of this article is true; these books really don’t have a chance in the book marketplace, and they sell very few copies.

Self-published authors who do it correctly CAN get into traditional distribution channels. Through membership in such groups as IBPA, independent publishers are able to work with Baker and Taylor, for instance. Of course, it is up to the publisher/author to create demand for their books from the consumer level because distributors/wholesalers do little to market books. Marketing and promotions by the author are key—whether books are self- or traditionally published. (It usually comes as a shock to traditionally published authors that publishers do little to market most of their titles.)

As far as promotions publishers have access to—“purchasing space on front and center tables in Barnes & Noble—how many of their authors are getting this? The James Pattersons of the publishing world will get this treatment; the average midlist author likely will not anyway.

I would also venture to say that the odds of any published book becoming a NYT bestseller are staggeringly slim. Most authors—whether self- or traditionally published—should have more realistic goals. And there are certainly plenty of other “bestseller lists” to which they can aspire.

As far as selling a self-pubbed book becoming a full-time job—well, wouldn’t this be true for any book that needs to be marketed? Again, most publishers do little to promote the majority of the books on their list, focusing on the few moneymakers; it is primarily left up to the authors.

I do agree with the recommendation for authors to self-publish if they have some decent channels through which to sell books—and if they’ve got a good platform already established. (Of course, platform is becoming more and more important to traditional publishers as well.)

As someone who has worked with self-publishing authors for more than a decade (and who was involved in trade publishing for a decade before that), I am truly bothered by the fact that POD “self-publishing” is now being lumped together with true self-publishers. They are not one and the same—no matter how many times these “subsidy” presses say it is so. Paying to publish and publishing by starting one’s own publishing company are two different things. I work with authors who are doing the latter; these authors make thoughtful decisions about all aspects of production of their books, and these books stand up to any other on the bookstore shelf—because yes, their books are available in brick and mortar bookstores.

As self-publishing continues to grow in popularity (and I believe it will), we must educate people so they understand the POD digital publishers are really just vanity publishers masquerading as self-publishers. Unfortunately, they are also trading on the respectable reputation legitimate self-publishers have created.

Thanks, Penny!

What is the best way to find appropriate blogs/sites?

I always recommend that authors get to know blogs in their market. They can do this by going to Google Blog Search, Technorati, or any other blog directory. In order to acclimate yourself to the blog environment, start by following five to seven blogs in your market and see what they are talking about. Then, I recommend that you communicate with them. How do you do this? By commenting on their posts. And don’t just write “great post!” offer some thoughtful feedback. This is a great way to start cyber-schmoozing with the bloggers you need to know. When your book comes out you can then offer them a review copy, since bloggers get so many books submitted to them, having done this advanced networking will really help get you and your book to top of the review pile!

 Are there specific genres that have more success with a virtual author book tour?

Not really, but we’re often surprised at books that just take off like wildfire. We had a book, self-published that was a fictional account of the life of a concubine. We almost couldn’t keep up with the review requests. Oddly enough I told the author that I wasn’t sure how well this market would do, but he decided to risk it anyway; we were both pleasantly surprised. One market that I can tell you is very cluttered is business. It’s a rough category to get into online, which is why I’m a fan of blog commenting to network with these folks. Someone out of the clear blue won’t get much traction in this area. New Age and Law of Attraction is similar though not as challenging. Thanks to The Secret and the tsunami of books in the LOA market that followed, this category saw an onslaught of titles that it could barely keep up with.

What would you consider a “successful” tour? How many site visits?

When it comes to online promotion, a lot of authors are impressed by getting on hundreds of sites. I counter that idea only because I know that sometimes online less is more and more is, well sometimes just more. Let me explain. The idea behind online promotion in my view is to gather incoming links to your site—these links act as highways, funneling traffic and readers to you. The other element of incoming links is the Google-factor—meaning that when ranking sites in their market, Google looks at the quality and relevance of incoming links. We’ve seen cases where authors have gotten hundreds upon hundreds of mentions and new links online with little or no change in their website ranking or traffic. Why? Because the incoming links themselves were coming from sites with very little traffic and small Page Rank (Page Rank is a number Google assigns to a site indicating its importance on the Net, Page Rank goes from 0 to10, 10 being the highest).

When considering a tour, you’re better off targeting sites with high Page Rank and depending on your market, this could be anywhere from a 3 to 6… If you can only get on 25 such sites your time will be much better spent than pushing through the onslaught of hundreds of sites that don’t even show up in search engines.

So how much is good? Well, in my view online promotion doesn’t end—unless you decide to let the book and your career die. You should look at doing online promotion for as long as you’re in the business of being an author. So once you’ve captured the high-end sites in your market, it’s okay to go after the smaller-niche ones and keep building your momentum online.

How are tours coordinated? Over a set period of time? Or can they continue for weeks or even months as interest continues?

My recommendation is to not do a tour that is limited to a time period. Sure, week-long tours seem fun and exciting but what happens after the week is over? Not much. You’ve got to keep it going. I recommend doing one to five things a day to promote yourself; this should include commenting on blog posts and pitching your topic to bloggers.

What advice do you have for self-published authors who are organizing their own blog/networking site tours—specifically, dos and don’ts?

First off, think of the Internet as one big networking party. Even though you may never meet the blogger you’re pitching, the same rules apply. You’d never walk up to a group of people at an in-person networking event and say “I wrote a fabulous book and you should review it.” You should always lead with helpful information. Ask yourself why the blogger will care and then, offer them tips to get them to care; they must want your book not because you wrote it but because their readers will want to know about it, it’s timely, it’ll help in some specific way. Whether it’s to entertain, enlighten, or engage them. Lead with the benefits, not the features.

Second, the best kind of promotion online is slow growth over time. That’s why I recommend that authors build their network by engaging with bloggers long before their book comes out. There is no such thing as instant success, and you should shy away from anyone who promises you overnight success or a million Twitter followers in a week.

Third, remember that it’s all about your reader. Whether you’ve written fiction or non-fiction, your efforts to engage your reader are about your reader, not about you. Don’t give them what you think they need, give them what they want. Be interested, not interesting. Listen first, spend a good deal of time listening to what’s going on and what people are saying, then respond. By listening first you’ll show up engaged and informed and readers will beat a path to your door.