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/.

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.

(Cross-posted at the Writer’s Digest website.)

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.

1. Have a website. This might seem like a no-brainer. It’s worth mentioning, though, since I still do get approached by potential authors who seek help self-publishing their book, only to find they have no website. Or authors might have a website but no information on their book—even after it’s been published.

2. Make your website “sticky.” Not only do you want to have a reason for visitors to stick around—and come back—but you want to have a way to capture their email address so you can stay in touch. Offer a free report in return for their email address; then stay in front of them with a regular ezine that provides valuable content and shares your expertise.

3. Start a blog—and update it regularly. I know, I know. Blogging takes time, which is at a premium for most people, and it’s tough to commit to two or three entries per week. But it gives you the opportunity to share your expertise with potential book buyers. Plus search engines love the fresh content, and it will help in your web rankings. You can also share the links on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media sites (more on that later).

Incidentally, make sure your blog is parked at your website and doesn’t have “WordPress” or “Blogspot” in the address. You’ll miss out on valuable search engine optimization if you don’t have your own unique URL.

4. Comment on other relevant, high-traffic blogs. Not only does this give you another opportunity to showcase your expertise, but it’s a great way to get to know people. When you leave good, informative comments in other blogs (not simply “Great post”), you can increase traffic to your own blog. People who read your comments may want to read more of what you have to say and find themselves clicking over to your own blog.

5. Write articles. Informational and how-to articles should be submitted to high-traffic article sites. They will attract visitors back to your website, where you can offer a signup for a free ebook or ezine to share more information.

6. Sign up for Facebook. With more than 300 million users—and growing daily—can you afford not to be there? Because your profile page is all about you—people don’t want to “friend” a book or a business; they want to connect with a person—it’s a nice way to bond with people on a bit more of a personal level and build relationships. Avoid hard selling here.

Join relevant Facebook groups. You can find like-minded people by searching for groups in particular subject areas. This is another great way for you to communicate with others, provide valuable information, and exhibit your expertise.

7. Create a Facebook fan page for your book. Because your profile page is all about you, you’ll want to create a Facebook fan page for your book. Here you can promote your book by adding useful tips and linking to your site.

8. Complete your LinkedIn profile page. If you are a professional, you probably are already on LinkedIn. (If you’re not there, it’s easy to sign up.) Make sure your profile is 100 percent complete. And make sure your profile is public because it allows search engines to find you.

Join relevant LinkedIn groups. These groups are similar to those on Facebook; they also have the added benefit of letting you communicate directly with other members, even if they are not part of your network.

9. Join Twitter. This is the fastest-growing social networking site. A microblog that limits “tweets” to 140 characters, this busy community allows you to connect directly with people better than Facebook or LinkedIn. It offers another opportunity for you to share valuable content and your expertise. When you post a new blog entry, for instance, you can tweet it here—driving traffic to your website or blog. You can “follow” industry experts to keep abreast of the latest news.
You are probably thinking this all sounds like a lot of work. Well, it is. But you can publish the best book in the world—but if people don’t know about it, no one will buy it. These online techniques are simple, free (unless you hire a consultant), and effective. And necessary if you intend to successfully sell books.

1. Well in advance of your publication date (at least two or three months), gather your list of potential reviewers in print, broadcast, and electronic outlets. Double-check that contact information is correct and be sure to address your request to a person—by name.
2. Write a great letter or email, emphasizing the benefits to your reviewers’ readers, and be sure to include a picture of your book cover. We’re finding that there are very few sources who don’t want to accept emails these days, so that’s usually the route we take. However, there are a group of book trade reviewers who have very specific requirements for review requests. Be sure to follow the instructions on their websites.
3. Follow up on all requests the week after you’ve sent them out. Continue to follow up until you have either gotten a “yay” or “nay” from everyone, or until you’ve made at least three attempts to touch base. We use an Excel Spreaksheet to keep track.
4. When the responses start coming in, send review copies within a day or two of receiving the request. Include with the review copy of the book your press kit, which should minimally include a press release, an author bio, a mock review (This is a favorable review written for your book.), and a galley information sheet.
5. After two to three weeks, send an inquiry to the potential reviewer, ensuring your book has arrived and asking when they might make a decision as to whether or not a review will appear in their publication.
6. If you don’t hear back from them, follow up a couple more times, emphasizing how your book provides a benefit for their readers.
7. If you do hear back, be sure to follow up, based on the response you receive. Always express your appreciation for their consideration.
8. Continue to follow up each week until you’ve exhausted your list.
9. Keep track of the favorable responses you receive and make sure you get a copy of every review—or article, story, or interview. You can use these pieces to obtain even more publicity.
10. Post the links to the reviews/stories in your media room on your website and mention them in your blog or newsletter, and on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

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.

Overview

Web 2.0 and social media—the new, live Web—are here to stay. It’s no longer adequate to write your book, put up your website, and expect people to find you. You need to maximize your Web site’s value through interactivity, sharing, and building relationships. Although some people are intimidated by the newness of “viral marketing,” they needn’t be. Leveraging social media marketing to make yourself stand out from the crowd is not that difficult.

So what exactly is “social media”? It is often described as the online practice wherein people use technology to talk, participate, network, and bookmark. Social media sites blogs, microblogs, podcasts, videocasts, forums, wikis, or some kind of content community are included under this umbrella. It’s a contact sport. Unlike traditional media, which more or less is a one-way form of communication, social media promotes discussion, feedback, voting, and otherwise sharing of information. It also enables participants to stay connected with other people and resources.

Incidentally, “Web 2.0” doesn’t really mean there is a different Internet than there was before. The Internet superhighway is the same, but there are more vehicles traveling on it now, including communities that interact together (that is, social media). So the terms are closely related and often lumped together; we’ll simply refer to social media from here on in.

People are jumping on the bandwagon at incredibly high rates: Nearly half of all adult Internet users have created content online. And some studies show that 67 percent of businesses say their best source of advice for products and services are their consumers (who communicate with them via social media). Can you afford not to ride this technological wave of the future?

Are there pitfalls to this new technology? Absolutely! Losing track of time is the biggest. You start chatting on Twitter about your new book, and the next thing you know an hour or more has slipped by and you are clicking on links that have nothing to do with promoting yourself. (Some experts recommend spending twenty minutes or so in the morning and another twenty minutes in the late afternoon to respond to the day’s activities.) Another problem is not defining your purpose for using social media and making a plan before you get started.

Don’t think you have to do anything and everything in terms of social media. New social media channels are cropping up on a seemingly daily basis; don’t be like the proverbial child trying to power through an entire bag of Halloween candy in one day. Pick two or three things that seem most applicable for you, and work at them consistently.

(Excerpted from The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, 5th Edition, by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier. Due from Writer’s Digest Books, summer of 2010. Email Sue at sue@SelfPublishingResources.com for more information.)