Book Marketing Maven

Use Social Follow to Attract Followers on Your Social Networks

2009-11-30T09:20:00-06:00

These days, it’s vital to make it easy to for people to find you on social networks and to encourage them to connect with you there.

I’ve recently added a new button my website, using a service called Social Follow. In the upper right corner of this site, look for the button with the icons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and RSS feeds. I also repeated this button father down the right column, beneath my photo.

In addition to these major social networks, you can add icons for numerous other services including Blogger, WordPress, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, YouTube, Flickr, Squidoo, Hub Pages, MySpace, Ning, Shelfari, and more.

You can create multiple buttons for different sites within the same Social Follow account, and you can also set up a Profile on the Social Follow site.

To get started, register at Social Follow and follow the steps to create your button. For step-by-step instructions on how to create your Social Follow button and profile, see this free tutorial from Just the FAQs. If you're a TypePad user like me, you can copy the button code into a Notes TypeList and place it in your sidebar.

Before you begin, you will need to already have an account on the social services that you wish to include on your button, and you’ll also need to know your personal URL for each of your social sites. Usually, you can find the URL by looking at the URL in your browser when you are on your profile page for your favorite social sites. For example, my URL on Twitter is http://twitter.com/BookMarketer.

Give Social Follow a try and watch your followers and contacts increase!

Other Social Markteing Articles

The Golden Rules of Social Networking

2009-11-28T08:31:00-06:00

Social networking is a terrific way to make contacts and develop relationships. Here are some tips for putting the social into social networking:

Be selective about which networks you join and who you invite as a friend. Only invite people who appear to share common interests with you.

Send a personalized friend request, introducing yourself and stating why you want to befriend the other person.

Get involved in the community. Remember that you need to give more than you get. Offer helpful comments and links, compliment others, share a bit of personal information about yourself, and be a friend.

Don't be overly promotional. It's okay to promote your products and services on occasion, but don't make that your main focus. Be careful of appearing too promotional. Sending out an announcement of your book launch is fine; sending frequent promotional messages about your book is not.

Excerpted from The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing.

Other Social Marketing Articles

Learn How to Boost Your Profits with Amazon Associates

2009-11-23T10:00:00-06:00

Every author who has a book for sale on Amazon.com should be enrolled in the Amazon Associates affiliate program. In the November issue of The Savvy Book Marketer Newsletter, you'll learn how to earn revenue from the Amazon Associates program, even if you don’t have a book on Amazon. Other topics in this issue include:

Thanksgiving Special - Save 25% on Savvy Book Marketer Products

Free Book Marketing Resources

Creating a Successful Author Blog

Social Networking for Authors - Audio Program Now Available

Book Publicity - Use a Benefit Funnel to Write Compelling Copy

2009-11-21T12:48:33-06:00

In today’s guest post, veteran author and book marketing consultant Shel Horowitz shares a great tip for writing book publicity copy that grabs attention. I just love the example he uses to illustrate his point.

If you've studied some of the big-name direct marketers, you may have heard of a "customer funnel" or "product funnel." That's *not* what this column is about, so don't skip it because you think you already know. (If you don't know, I explain in the last paragraph.)

The benefit funnel is different, and as far as I know, I'm the only one using that term (though I didn't invent the concept, which has been around for at least 100 years). It's the idea that that you put yourself in your prospect's mind, and keep asking the things your prospect would ask, until you have an answer so compelling that you just have to make the sale.

What would they ask? * "So what?" * "Why should I care?" * "What's in it for me?" Let's take a real-life example: my very favorite press release I wrote for a client (which is featured in my book, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, incidentally).

The assignment: write a book publicity press release promoting a book on electronic privacy. Not a very compelling topic, at first glance. Most PR books will tell you to write a headline like "Electronic Privacy Expert Releases New Book"--and reporters will hit the mental snooze button, and the physical delete key/recycle bin. There's no news in this headline! No reason for anyone to care, except perhaps the author's mother. In the US alone, several hundred thousand books are published each year. Big yawn.

But let's go back to our reader's concerns and see where they bring us: A book was published--so what? It's about electronic privacy. Why should I care--what does electronic privacy mean to me? It tells you how to protect yourself from electronic snoopers. I don't know what you mean. What's in it for me? Your personal records are floating around, where big corporate marketers can lay traps for you or unscrupulous people can grab them and use them to steal your identity or learn information you'd rather keep to yourself. Ooh, that sounds scary--now I get it! Except that back then, I didn't know about identity theft. But by asking those kinds of questions, I arrived at this headline and lead:

It's 10 O'Clock-Do You Know Where Your Credit History Is?

How about your employment records? Your confidential medical information?
How would you feel if you found out this sensitive and should-be-private material is "vacationing" in computer databanks around the world--accessible to corporate interests who can afford to track down and purchase it, but not necessarily open to your own inspection.

According to electronic privacy journalist and technology consultant (name), this scenario is all-too-common. In a groundbreaking but highly readable new book...

Do you think a press release like that will get noticed by reporters? It's "grabber" copywriting--and you can use this technique to liven up any marketing piece. If it works in press releases, think about the impact in ad or direct mail copy.

PS: Those other funnels in the first paragraph have to do with the idea that you bring a lot of customers in with an inexpensive product, deliver more than you promised, and then sell progressively more expensive items to those who want them...until you've gone from, say, a $15 e-book all the way up to a $15,000 weekend bootcamp. You sell fewer of each item as you go down the funnel, but you make more on each one. Consider that a bonus tip--it's the method that a lot of well-known Internet marketers (not me) have used to create seven-figure incomes.

Shel Horowitz is an internationally known copywriter and marketing consultant, author of Grassroots Marketing Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and several other books, and creator of the Frugal Marketing web site.

Enhance Your Blog and Ezine with Guest Posts

2009-11-19T10:13:01-06:00

Although I write most of the posts on this blog, we are fortunate to have other experts share their knowledge on a range of topics. Guest posts are win-win for everyone. Readers get valuable tips and insight from a variety of experts, guest posters build their expert status and get links to their websites, and bloggers get additional content for their sites. Guest posts are often used in ezines as well.

Guest posts can take the form of how-to articles or interviews, and you can even post audio or video clips from the guest. Fiction authors can interview other authors in their genre.

Where can you find experts or authors to contribute to your blog or ezine? Seek out others in your field or genre through your social networks and your own contact list. Send guest post invitations to the owners and guest posters of the blogs, ezines and print newsletters that you enjoy reading. Use search engines to find other blogs and ezines in your field.

When sending a guest post invitation, describe your blog or ezine, suggest topics of interest, note whether you accept previously published content, specify a word count range for the article and a limit on the length of the resource box, and request a photo. Here’s an example:

I enjoy reading your blog and I would love for you to do a guest post on the Book Marketing Maven blog about how to write effective press releases. My audience is authors and others in the publishing business. About 500-600 words would be ideal, with a 30-word resource box. Previously published content is fine. Please send me a photo as well.

Some bloggers request that all guest posts be original content (articles not already posted elsewhere). That’s nice for SEO purposes, but may limit your ability to get guest posts since your experts may not have time to produce an original article for you. If you’re willing to accept articles published elsewhere, you’ll have access to more articles.

In many cases, you can reprint other writer’s articles without asking permission. Look for a “permission to reprint” statement on blogs and ezines that you read. You can also search article directories such as Ezine Articles for articles to reprint. It can be a bit time consuming wading through article directories, because some of the articles are of low quality. Still, there are many excellent articles available.

When reprinting other people’s articles, be sure to include their resource box. I let writers know I’m using their article, even if it’s not required. It’s courteous and helps build relationships.

Successful Author Blogs

2009-11-14T09:25:00-06:00

I’m working on a presentation about creating successful author blogs, and I’m looking for terrific examples to include. What are the best author blogs you have seen, and why are they so effective? Please share your favorites in the comment area below. It’s okay to list your own blog, as long as you explain what makes it effective. Thanks!

Turn Your Facebook Profile into a Friend Magnet in 7 Easy Steps

2009-11-13T07:00:00-06:00

Recently author Janice Curran invited me to participate in a Featured Friend discussion on Facebook. For several hours I had a lively conversation on Janice's Facebook wall with a number of her friends, discussing the best ways to use Twitter for book promotion. In today's guest post, Janice offers tips on how you can create similar events on your own Facebook profile.

More and more writers—both the pros and the aspiring—are turning to social networking services such as Facebook to promote their brands. But if "everybody’s doing it," how do you stand out?

One way is to utilize the service in a manner that’s different from the norm. The manner I use is "Featured Friends."

When you look at your Facebook friend list, what do you see? A collection of names? Or do you see, as I do, a wide range of people with a wide range of expertise—people from whom others can learn?

I built my Facebook Featured Friends program around that concept. Once a month, I host what, in essence, is a live mini blog right on my Facebook wall. The Facebook friend featured posts a quick tip on a topic relevant to writing. Then, for a time-limited period following, my guest replies to comments posted by my Facebook friends.

The shared benefits make for an even exchange. The Featured Friend gets to promote a specific product and/or brand. The host gets to network, make new friends and learn along with the visitors.

With a little imagination, anyone from any industry can host a Featured Friends–type program on Facebook. If you can count to seven, you can, too …

1. “Friend” with a purpose. If your mission is to get your name in front of as many people as possible, friend away! If, like me, you prefer to limit your Facebook community of friends to writers, editors and other industry pros so you can network and offer targeted lessons, friend with that goal in mind.

2. Develop a plan. Do you wish to host a mini blog daily, weekly, monthly? Figure out the time you’d like to invest, then decide. Monthly works best for me. Between guests, I post links on topics of interest to writers. By doing so, I foster the impression that my wall is a writer-friendly place and a unique learning environment.

3. Invite friends to present. Everyone in your friend base is a potential presenter. Identify whom you’d like to feature, then e-mail the friend privately or use the SEND A MESSAGE option on the friend’s profile page to extend your request. Suggest a topic, or invite the presenter to choose. Schedule a date as well as the time the presenter will be available to post his or her lesson and respond to visitor questions. I ask my Featured Friends to post a 150-word tip and set aside two hours for interacting with visitors.

4. Invite other friends to attend. To send an invitation to all or some of your Facebook friends, add an EVENTS tab to your profile page. Click on the tab, then the CREATE EVENT button that appears at the top of the page. Facebook will guide you through the process of creating an event page and issuing invitations.

You’ll need to know the basics before you begin: the presenter’s name, the title of the lesson, a description of the event, the date, the time and the location (your Facebook wall). You can send a photo of your presenter or your presenter’s book with your invitation. You can upload photos, video and Web links to the event page you create.

5. Promote your event. Leading up to the big day, I post COMING SOON notices on my wall daily. On the day of, I also post invitations on the message boards of my online writing groups and my Featured Friend’s wall.

6. Get the ball rolling. It’s showtime. Your work is done—right? Not totally. Visitors are sometimes shy about being the first to participate. Introduce your guest with a brief bio. After the guest posts his or her tip, break the ice with questions that encourage visitors to ask questions of their own.

7. Keep the momentum going. A Featured Friend presentation is the start of a professional relationship that can lead to genuine friendship. I’ve had Featured Friends offer to make return engagements, recommend other friends to feature, suggest their friends become my friends, too. Keep alert for opportunities to help promote your Featured Friends’ endeavors in return. At the heart of the program are real people, working hard to succeed in a challenging industry. Everyone wins when everyone helps pave the way.

Janice Curran is a freelance writer, short story author and aspiring novelist. Her stories have appeared in New Love Stories, True Romance and True Love magazines. Writers and other industry pros are invited to friend her at www.facebook.com/janice.curran.

Facebook Restricts the Use of Contests

2009-11-11T07:09:00-06:00

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about using contests to attract fans to Facebook pages. On November 4, Facebook issued guidelines that impose strict restrictions on the use of contests, making them effectively impractical for individuals and small businesses. Mari Smith has written a good article explaining the guidelines.

Think about other ways to offer value to people who visit your Facebook fan page or group, while still adhering to the Facebook guidelines. For example, you can set these pages up as information portals, offering valuable tips and links. Also, consider offering downloads of a free ebook or a sample chapter from your book.

Twitter contests are still a good promotional tool for authors and publishers. So far, it appears that Twitter has placed no restrictions on contest promotions, so long as their anti-spam rules are not violated. See the Twitter rules for more details.

Blog Ideas for Fiction Authors

2009-11-05T08:00:00-06:00

In today's guest post, I'm delighted to have marketing expert Cathy Stucker share her creative blogging ideas for fiction authors.

You have heard that you should have a blog, but you may have no idea what you should blog about. Do your readers want to know what you had for lunch (probably not) or your opinions on some political issue (even less likely)? Although your blog does not always have to be about you and your books, here are some ideas that can keep you writing great blog posts and selling more books.

Your Events

Let your friends and fans know what you are doing and where they can meet you in person. Do posts about:

Upcoming Events - When and where will you be reading from your latest book? How can they attend your book launch party or order autographed copies of the book?

What Happened at Your Last Event - After the event, tell what happened. Was there a big crowd? Include pictures of you reading from your book, autographing books for fans, and everyone having a great time.

The Process of Writing

Most people will never write a book, and that makes them very curious about how someone actually writes an entire book. Write posts describing:

How You Decide What to Write About - Where did you get the idea to make your heroine a truck driver? Why did you set your latest novel in Miami?

How You Write - Do you write in longhand or at a computer? Do you create a detailed outline, or just start writing? How do you know when a book is finished? Do you imagine movie stars in the film version of your books while you write.

Where You Write - Do you write in a home office? At the library? In a corner at your local Starbucks?

Your Research

Even though the stories are made up, most novelists do at least some research to create credible characters and locations. Let your fans and aspiring writers know:

How You Research - Most people haven’t a clue how to do research. You might be surprised by how many people can not even do an effective Google search. Where do you start with your research? Do you travel to locations in your books? Have you ever worked at the jobs any of your characters have, or have you shadowed people in those jobs? What are the fun parts of research vs. the tedious parts?

Facts and Juicy Tidbits - Chances are your research turned up some very interesting information. It is also likely that lots of your research didn’t make it in to your book. Share some surprising and little-known historical facts or how-to with your blog’s readers.

What You Are Reading

Writers read, and your fans want to know what you read. Tell them!

The Novels on Your Nightstand - What books have you recently read? What books are on your nightstand, waiting to be read? What are your favorite books?

Books About Writing - Remember that many of your readers are also interested in writing, so let them know the books you find most useful. These might include grammar reference books, how-to books on writing, or books about the process of writing by your favorite authors.

Your Characters

It is your blog, but there is no rule that you can’t turn it over to your characters now and then to let them have their say.

Lead Characters - Let the lead characters in your upcoming book introduce themselves in a blog post. If you write a series, they might blog about what is happening in their lives between books.

Quirky Secondary Characters - Sometimes the minor characters are, in some ways, more interesting that the leads. The quirky characteristics that make them fun and interesting would drive everyone crazy if you read about them on every page of the book, but when they pop in for a few scenes, they grab interest and move the story along. Why not let one of them do a blog post? Readers will love it, and you will have fun, too.

Ask for Reader Feedback

Give readers a sense of ownership in your next book by asking for their advice. Ask them anything from whether your heroine should be blond to what her name should be or where the book should be set. Let them vote from a list of choices or make freeform suggestions.

Run a Contest

Everyone loves to win stuff, so hold a contest and give away a few copies of your book. Structure the contest to get readers involved, such as asking them to write a short poem about something in the book, or telling what their favorite one of your books is and why, or anything that gets them involved. (Note: Laws generally prohibit requiring that entrants make a purchase, so be careful about that.)

Blog often to keep readers engaged. These ideas should get you started. What other topics do you blog about?

As the IdeaLady, Cathy Stucker helps authors, entrepreneurs and professionals attract customers and make themselves famous. For more tips on writing, publishing and marketing books, see Cathy’s book publishing site, http://SellingBooks.com/.

Other Articles About Author Blogs

Book Marketing Experts Share Their Top Tips

2009-11-02T07:30:00-06:00

We are fortunate to have a number of book marketing experts share their valuable tips through guest posts on Book Marketing Maven. Here are some recent posts, in case you missed them:

Book Video Trailers: 11 Steps to Make Your Own by Joanna Penn

BlogTalkRadio Offers Books Authors the Opportunity to Host Their Own Shows by Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Promoting Your Book on LinkedIn: Dos and Donts by Patrice-Anne Rutledge

How to Market Children's Books in Schools by Melissa Williams

Best Ways to Approach Radio and TV Talk Shows by Karen Melamed

Thank you Joanna, Phyllis, Patrice, Melissa and Karen for sharing your expertise!

Is Self-Publishing an Impediment to Landing a Publishing Contract?

2009-10-29T07:00:00-05:00

Authors sometimes ask if self-publishing their book will hurt or help their chances of landing a contract with a traditional publisher. In today's guest post, Stephanie Gunning, a former senior editor at Bantam-Doubleday-Dell, shares her expertise on this topic.

Often self-publication is meant to be an interim step to finding a mainstream publisher. But if the author publishes his book independently or through a print-on-demand company, is it still be possible to sell it to a traditional publisher later on? Could he ruin his chances by bringing the book to market himself?

Unlike the sure thing of hiring a printer, you have to pitch a publisher. Traditional publishers are businesses that operate on the bottom-line of profit and loss. Executives try to avoid unnecessary risks, so they want proof you can succeed. When they consider a book for acquisition, they don’t care where it came from—they care where it has the potential to go.

For better or worse, self-publishing leaves marks. If you already sold a bunch of copies, they want to know if you tapped the entire market or just a tiny piece of it. They know your resources are less than theirs; therefore expectations for your sales volume are low. This can be a wonderful thing (from their perspective), as it means you won’t have polluted the marketplace with ineffective marketing efforts. But even more wonderful is if you did succeed in selling tons of copies.

If you had success, think of what they could do! They might see it as a sign that you are the luckiest monkey on the planet, or you have a following, your book idea is fantastic, and you’re a smart salesman. When making their decision of which author to partner with, the smart salesman with a good book is most appealing. If you want to take your book to a traditional publisher, you must prepare a solid marketing plan no matter whether you are or are not yet published. And you must learn how to be a smart salesman for yourself. Prove it.

The marketing plan in the book trade is known as a book proposal. This document resembles the kind of business proposal you would give to investors in that it spells out who you are, what you are doing to make this project viable, who you think the consumer is, and why you believe you can pull it off. The document is a promise of your actions and intentions, and it communicates your authority over your subject matter. (Yes, that’s where the word “author” comes from.)

While the quality of your book must be high, the text of a book by itself is usually not sufficient to generate a book contract. You also need to demonstrate your expertise and how well your intended audience knows you. You can skip drafting a marketing plan as a self-published author since you’re the boss, but you shouldn’t—at least not if you ultimately want to attract a publisher. Self-published authors who operate like businesspeople have an easier time winning book contracts.

Stephanie Gunning is a bestselling author, editor, and publishing consultant who coaches authors on how to get book deals. A former senior editor at Bantam-Doubleday-Dell, she’s mastered the art of transforming powerful ideas into highly marketable books. For information, visit www.stephaniegunning.com.

How Often Should You Tweet?

2009-10-26T07:30:00-05:00

Twitter can be a terrific networking tool, but many users wonder how often they should tweet. It's best to post several tweets a day, but it is hard to say what is the optimum frequency. I generally make five to seven posts a day. Some people post several times an hour, but that takes a lot of time and it may annoy your followers. And it's not a good idea to post unless you have something interesting to say.

Think about how the posts appear to your followers. As each new tweet appears on their home page, it pushes the earlier ones down a notch. Most people probably don't read beyond the first page when they log onto Twitter. If you make several posts at once, they will all be bunched together on your follower's screen. But if that person doesn't happen to be on Twitter at that time, they might not see any of your tweets if they have already been pushed beyond the first page. If you make several posts spaced out during the day, it's more likely that one or more of them will be seen.

If it's not practical for you to post several times during the day, you can use a scheduling service such as SocialOomph (formerly TweetLater) or FutureTweets to pre-schedule your tweets.

For more tips on using Twitter effectively, see Twitter Guide for Authors.

Book Promotion Articles

2009-10-23T10:05:13-05:00

Here are some excellent marketing articles for authors and publishers:

A Look at One Author's Successful Book Launch and How She Did It by Susan Kendrick

Seven Mindsets to Get Publicity for Your Book by Shel Horowitz

10 Steps for Creating a FANtastic Facebook Fan Page by Mari Smith

5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love by Lynn Terry

Promote Your Book to Multiple Audiences

2009-10-19T07:30:00-05:00

Who should you be marketing your book to? Most books have a primary audience -- the ideal reader that the book was written for -- as well as several secondary audiences. In the October issue of The Savvy Book Marketer newsletter, you'll learn about several different types of target audiences, including readers, purchasers, retailers and influencers.

To get each monthly issue of The Savvy Book Marketer delivered to your inbox, use the subscription form in the upper left corner of this page.

When Should You Begin Marketing Your Book?

2009-10-19T07:30:00-05:00

As a book marketing consultant, I often hear from authors who have recently published a book and are looking for marketing advice. Regardless of whether a book is traditionally or independently published, the marketing process should begin far in advance of publication.

It's best to develop at least the outline of a marketing plan early on, and refine it as you approach the publication date. It's especially important to begin building an author platform and network right away, because it takes many months to develop a reputation and a significant number of followers and opt-in subscribers. For ideas on what to include in a book marketing plan, see www.CreateYourBookMarketingPlan.com.

Even if you have a publisher, you are primarily responsible for promoting your book. When you're seeking a publisher, you will need to include promotional plans in your book proposal to demonstrate to publishers that you understand how to promote the book once it's published.

Authors need to educate themselves about the business of publishing and book marketing so they can make intelligent choices about publishing methods, distribution, and book promotion. I advise new authors to begin by reading Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual and John Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, but there are many other helpful books, blogs, newsletters, and classes available. Of course, I also recommend my own books and newsletter.