by Denise Wakeman
Is your audience (clients, customers, readers) feeling overwhelmed by the the amount of content and information being delivered to them day in and day out? I hear this cry of frustration daily, yet as an online entrepreneur and author, you know content is the backbone of your business.

Without a steady stream of blog posts, articles, free reports, etc., etc., your prospective clients will have trouble finding you. The content you create is essential for getting found by your ideal clients so they can get to know you and how you can serve them. So, what do you do?

While your long-form content is critical to your success, don’t over look the microcontent (tweets, for example) that grabs your readers’ attention and compels them to follow your links back to the in-depth articles revealing your expertise and how you serve.

What Have You Got To Lose? Audio http://t.co/oq3kp9Ftsw [my adventure in #Peru]

— Denise Wakeman (@DeniseWakeman) June 16, 2013

Microcontent isn’t a new concept. Blogger Anil Dash wrote about it in 2002:

Today, microcontent is being used as a more general term indicating content that conveys one primary idea or concept, is accessible through a single definitive URL or permalink, and is appropriately written and formatted for presentation in email clients, web browsers, or on handheld devices as needed. A day’s weather forcast, the arrival and departure times for an airplane flight, an abstract from a long publication, or a single instant message can all be examples of microcontent.

Things have changed dramatically since Anil Dash defined “microcontent” in 2002. That was before Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram … all platforms specializing in easy microcontent creation today.

Here’s my take on microcontent:

The opposite of long-form content like blog posts, white papers and reports, micro content is the status updates, quote images, Vine videos, Instagram photos that grab attention and act as effective lead generators, driving traffic back to your site (when done with a strategic plan in mind). Micro content is easy to create and takes less time than writing an article.

Microcontent Drives Traffic

Create a Quote Image from the title of your blog post, to share on social networks.

Your blog posts and articles take time and care to create.  The next step after publication is to promote your posts and that’s when you turn to microcontent to spark curiosity and drive traffic. Knowing that social networks are great for sending traffic back to your homebase (your blog of course), here are some ways you can use microcontent to invite your fans and followers back “home”:

• Post an image and link from your blog post as a Facebook status update (yes, this is very common, don’t forget to do it)
• Create an image with a pithy quote from your article; post the image on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
• Use the PushQuote plugin on your WordPress blog to create a shareable quote embedded in the post
• Use Vine to create a 6 second video about the main theme of your article
• Use the subheads in your blog post as tweets with a call to action and link to learn more
• Include pre-written tweets for your readers to easily share with Click to Tweet

These types of content form the “C” in the C.R.E.A.T.E. formula Ellen Britt and I revealed at our recent teleseminar, 6 Steps to C.R.E.A.T.E. Your Digital Empire (listen to the program below). Content is the first step.

Create a Microcontent Plan

Your content deserves to be found and read. Create a checklist you can use to promote your articles with microcontent. Then it becomes second nature for you or a virtual assistant to distribute the bread crumbs that leads fans, followers and prospects back to your door.

Use Pinterest to send followers back to your site.

1.  Determine the fastest, easiest type of microcontent for you to create.
2. Make sure the sites you choose to share your microcontent on is where your audience spends time.
3. As soon as you hit publish on your blog post, create and share your microcontent. If you wait, it may not get done.

Now it’s your turn… what kinds of microcontent do you create to promote your blog? Post it in the comments below and we’ll create a master list together!

Ellen Britt and I are launching a one year content marketing mastermind program called The C.R.E.A.T.E. Online Marketing Lab. Listen to the teleseminar where we reveal the complete C.R.E.A.T.E. formula, and then contact us right away if you would like to join this exclusive group. At the time of this post’s publication there are seven open spots and the program begins on June 26.

The post Microcontent – What Is It and Why Should You Care? appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Ellen Britt, PA, Ed.D.

You want to get your digital content out there.

You really do.

But seems like now, more than ever, stuff gets in the way.

Shiny, ever changing, almost irresistible distractions dangle before your eyes like so many holiday ornaments nearly every minute of the day, from the time you open your eyes in the morning until you close your eyes at night.

Be honest now. How many times a day do you check your Facebook news feed? Or go over to your Instagram account to see how many people have liked your latest picture?

Or find yourself looking up something on the web only to catch yourself nearly an hour later deep into some article about something that has nothing at all to do with what you were supposed to be working on?

Sound familiar? I thought so.

As online marketers, all of us know we simply must get regular, consistent, valuable content out there for our market if we want to have any hope of getting and staying visible and engaging with our prospective clients and customers, not to mention generating leads for our business.

But this constant temptation to direct our attention from one thing to another has put a serious dent in many marketers’ ability to focus on just one task and actually get it done without jumping away from it thirty or forty times before they finish it.

Everything in our culture is on fast forward. As Gary Vaynerchuk, the wildly successful 36 year old New York Times bestselling author and self-made expert in social media told me in a recent interview, we are now living in the stream economy.

Everywhere you go, people are looking, not at their surroundings, but down at their mobile devices, whether that be a smartphone or a tablet computer.

And chances are, they are not staying on any one thing for very long.

Their thumbs are constantly flicking the screen, making the images and words fly past their visual field like a stream flowing over rocks.

And listen, I’m certainly not immune to this problem. I’m as tempted as the next person and I would venture to guess that my capacity for sustained attention has decreased significantly over the past few years.

Fortunately, there is a cool, high tech, extremely inexpensive (think 99 cents!) way to get around this problem. If fact, I’m implementing it right now as I type these words.

I have my iPhone on my desk beside me with my earbuds in place. In the distance, I can hear the sounds of a rumbling thunderstorm, rolling in from one side of my brain to another. This is pleasant, but that’s not what keeps me on task.

You see, embedded beneath the sounds of the storm are special tones. One tone goes through my headset into my left ear, and a slightly different tone gets delivered through my right ear.

And here’s the fantastic part: my brain (and yours!) is able to naturally take those two tones and deep within it’s structure, actually manufacture a third tone.

This third tone is not a part of the sounds coming through my headset, but is actually produced by my brain as the difference between the two tones!

Here’s how this works. Scientists have long known that your brainwave frequency corresponds to your state of mind. For example, when you are deeply asleep, your brains produce what are known as delta waves, at a frequency ranging from 0.5 to 4 Hz.

Alpha waves (at a frequency of 8 to 13 Hz.) occur when we are awake, but resting and indicate a relaxed, almost meditative state of mind.

Now I don’t know about you, but I never learned to command my brain to produce beta waves whenever I needed them.

Until now.

Whenever I’m about to begin a task that requires sustained concentration, I simply open one of the many inexpensive (and sometimes free!) apps for my smartphone which lets me dial into whatever state I want my brain to be in…

then I just put on my headset, pick my background sound (I happen to love the sound of thunderstorms) adjust the volume to where I want it and turn my attention to the task at hand. My brain produces the beta tone and keeps me from feeling all irritated and impatient while I’m working. In fact, I feel pleasantly hyperfocused!

Right now, the app that I’m using is Brainwave Sharp Mind by Banzai Labs. In this particular program, I can choose settings such as Concentration Boost (which I’m using to write this article) and Problem Solving, Brainstorming, Memory Boost and Creative Thinking, among others. There are even apps using this technology to help me sleep!

There are many companies producing these types of brainwave programs and I’ve had fun experimenting which ones work best for me. I have also used programs from Ambiscience as well, with good results.

So don’t let all those shiny distractions wreak havoc with your ability to produce digital content for your market. Just use one of these high tech meditation tools to give you concentration superpowers!

And let me know what you think in the comments below…

The post How to Use High Tech Meditation Tools to Skyrocket Your Content Marketing Output appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Lou Bortone

Summer is officially here in the U.S., and sporting events are in full swing. As the proud parent of two very active student athletes, this time of year also means spending an enormous amount of time at baseball diamonds, soccer fields and sports facilities from New Hampshire to Florida.

Add to that tournaments, “showcase” camps and travel time, and you’ve got a dad/business owner who has to be totally mobile.

Regardless of the business you’re in or the content you’re cranking out, being able to run your business on the go is crucial to your success. Fortunately, in our “always connected” society, following your kids to all their games doesn’t  putting your business on hold.

My personal mission is to be able to run my entire business from my iPhone! You may not need quite that level of mobility, but here are several tools to make working on the go much easier:

Buffer

If you know you’re going to be on the road, Buffer offers a great way to pre-schedule your Tweets and Facebook posts.  I prefer to post live, but it’s simply good planning to schedule a handful of generic or “evergreen” posts to maintain your visibility while away from the office.

As with most apps, the basic version is free, but they also have an “Awesome Plan” for $8.50 per month that allows more features and flexibility.

Buffer is perfect for scheduling your social media posts.

Clear

Clear for the iPhone

There are hundreds of apps for tasks and to-do lists, but Clear (for the iPhone) is clean, crisp and fun to use.

Intuitive gestures allow you tons of flexibility, and you can store your lists and tasks in iCloud. The iPhone version is $1.99 in the App Store.

DocuSign

DocuSign allows you to sign and send documents from anywhere and from any device.

No need to fax or Fedex – you can do it all from your mobile device! Their Personal (basic) version is free; Professional plans start at $15 per month.

Instapaper

Instapaper is a handy dandy tool that saves articles for future reading or review on your mobile device or Kindle. It’s free and it’s an easy way to bookmark info on the go so you can come back to it later.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a convenient solution for accessing your files anywhere.

A great way to access all your “stuff” on the go is to keep your files, photos, videos, etc. in your Dropbox.

The basic service is free for up to 18GB of storage space, while Pro plans with more space start at $9.99 per month.

Wherever your travels take you this summer, you can bring your office with you.

In most cases, everything you need is as close as your mobile device!

What are your favorite services, tools and apps that let you run your business on the go? Please share in the comments below…

The post How to Run Your Business from the Ball Park appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by D’vorah Lansky, M.Ed.

Google+ Hangouts are all the rage right now. They provide a free and simple way for people to communicate with individuals, as well as small and large communities, via video!

In Part One of this series, I’ll be sharing an overview of the practical application of Google+ Hangouts.

And in Part Two of this series, I’ll be “getting technical” as I describe the process for setting up your Google+ Hangout and accessing special tools and apps to enhance your Hangout.

A Google+ Hangout is an effective way to share content, via live video stream. You can be a sole presenter, you can have one or more guests, you can be part of a panel discussion or you can host an open forum meeting or training, with up to nine other participants. Your Google+ Hangout is accessible via the Google+ Hangout platform and can be made available as both live and recorded videos on YouTube. Google has this fun place to get started

In order for Hangout participants to be visible, they must have some sort of video webcam connected to their computer.

If a participant does not have a webcam, or has their webcam turned off, their voice will be heard but their video image will be replaced by their Google+ photograph. This photograph will be visible to other participants in the Hangout, but will appear as a blank, black screen, in the YouTube video.

What You See in a Hangout

When you enter the Hangout, you’ll see a large central screen that displays the video of the person who is speaking. Other participants show up in smaller boxes below this main screen.

In addition to the video feed from the speaker’s webcam, participants can share their computer screen via “screen sharing. Examples of screen sharing are: slides, websites, images, graphs, tracking sheets, etc. Screen sharing can be very useful if you’d like to show slides, or demonstrate something like, setting up a WordPress blog.

Internet marketing expert Daniel Hall, uses Google+ Hangouts for his speaker presentations. As he faces the camera, you’ll see an attractive backdrop behind him and a table with a tablecloth in front of him. When I watch his Google+ presentations, I imagine that this technology could be used for cooking demonstrations, science experiments, and white board presentations.

To view an example of one of Daniel’s hangouts, check out the Hangout he and I did together as part of my recent blog tour.  You’ll notice that Daniel has embedded the YouTube video code right onto his blog.

Possible Uses for Google+ Hangouts

There are many uses for Google+ Hangouts. Here are just a few ideas. You may find that you get additional ideas, which you may want to write down, or ideally, scroll down to share as a comment to this blog post:

• Panel discussions
• Virtual events
• Book talks
• Sharing PowerPoint presentations
• Screen sharing

• Sales presentations
• Demonstrations (cooking, instrument building, etc.)
• Book club meetings
• Virtual workshop or class
• Team meetings
• Q&A calls
• Interviews with industry leaders
• Virtual book tour celebrations
• Hold weekly office hours where your students or customers can come to ask questions, share their progress, and connect with you.

Locate Hangouts That Are Taking Place Live

In addition to attending Hangouts that you schedule or are invited to, you can search for Hangouts, on topics of interest. To search for a Hangout, login to your Google+  account.

Once logged in, click on the “home” icon, which is currently at the top left of your screen. From the dropdown options, click on the word “Hangouts” and you will be taken to a page that displays Hangouts that are currently scheduled or are in progress. You’ll also find a search box at the top of that page, where you can type in keywords of interest. Here is a direct link to the full Hangouts schedule page.

Example of a Google+ Hangout Interview Series

One of the people I follow, in regards to Google+ Hangouts, is Jason Matthews. Jason has an Indie Author interview series on Google Hangouts that has gained great popularity. You can view his YouTube Channel for great examples of how to harness the power of Google+ Hangouts.

Here’s what he has to say in a post he shared on my site,

“There are many ways for authors to utilize G+ Hangouts. Probably the most common is conducting interviews.

I do this regularly on a weekly Indie Authors / Google Hangouts show and the results are fantastic. Or you can delve into a specific topic–chat with people about politics, sports, dieting, relationships, etc.

Book club discussions are another great way to share a book with the world. Readers from multiple countries could discuss your book with you, the author, in the virtual room with them. Non-fiction writers may want to create tutorials this way, something I do frequently.”

To read the rest of Jason’s article, click here.

It’s so effective because there can be students asking live questions and the finished product becomes a YouTube video that gets viewed for years to come. Here’s a video example where Jason shows the step by step method for getting this done.

How Will You Use Google+ Hangouts?

Now that the ideas are buzzing in your mind, how will you use Google+ Hangouts in your life? Scroll down to share your thoughts and join in the conversation…

The post Tap Into the Power of Google+ Hangouts – Part One: The Many Faces and Uses of Google Hangouts in Your Business appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Kristen Eckstein

Writing is a truly unique art form. A good author must be part psychologist, part poet, part conversationalist, a powerful observer, and a talented weaver of words—all rolled into one person.

It’s no easy task to decide to write a decent-length non-fiction eBook, much less glue your butt to a chair and act on your decision.

Here are seven writing secrets I’ve learned over the past 10 years as I’ve written over a dozen books and eBooks. Act on them and write that next bestseller!

Secret # 1: Know Your Audience

Believe it or not, one of the most overlooked ideas in today’s writing world is the book’s primary audience. I can’t stress this enough… as an author you must narrow your target to one person who will read your book.

That one person is at the skinny end of your audience funnel. Many others will pour through the wide opening at the top, and all will be funneled neatly into your customer base if you target the single person at the bottom. Learn as much as you can about your potential audience.

The biggest mistake you can make is to think your audience is, “everybody.” Every book’s audience can be narrowed down. The narrower it is, the more successful the book can be, with the exception of a few highly niche markets.

Secret # 2: Know Your Competition

Your great eBook idea is probably not unique. There will be other books available on your topic. The trick is to make sure you can present it in a way that is relatable, understandable, and utilize your unique voice. Use your voice to fill gaps not covered by other eBooks in your niche, and don’t be afraid to publish your eBook if a niche seems overcrowded.

If there are thousands of books available on one topic, chances are it’s a hot industry. Do a search in the Kindle Store on Amazon.com for “Diet” and you’ll see what I mean. If you find a gap to fill and fill it with your unique perspective, any competitive topic is within your grasp. Do some research and see what else is already available, then figure out how you can make it your own.

Secret # 3: Use Real Life Examples

For a reader to want to buy your eBook, the content must relate to them. You can accomplish this task by filling your eBook with examples of other people’s successes who applied your advice, stories of people who failed, and pepper your own stories into the mix. Your readers want to learn from you, so share how you’re a real person.

Relate to them with real-world experiences, even if they’re extraordinary. Non-fiction doesn’t have to be believable, so go ahead and use those supernatural examples to make your point.

Secret # 4: Read More than You Write

As any successful writer will tell you, one of the most important things an author can do is read. Read to do research, to learn about your competition, and to find inspiration. Read to find those gaps you must fill in your book from Secret #2 above and read to study the writing styles of others so you may improve your own.

Take a trip to your local bookstore and buy some similar books on your topic. Try to choose books that have been published within the past two to three years so you’re reading the most up-to-date information. Use Google searches and Wikipedia to find others’ opinions about your topic online, and check to make sure those blogs aren’t out-dated.

The bottom line is, the more you read, the more information you have and the better your eBook will be.

Secret # 5: Watch Your Market

You may have a unique and promising idea, but if it’s written and released during a slow time in the market for your topic, if your topic is too narrow (like an extinct variety of the crochet art form), or if readers are sick and tired of getting the same exact information from multiple sources, your sales will suffer.

Watch the other books in your niche on Amazon.com and pay attention to the reviews. What are reviewers complaining about? Are they getting the same old thing with no unique perspective? Are they expecting more advanced strategies? Use their negative reviews of your competition to fill that gap and satisfy their desires.

In that way your eBook will give them what they need and they’ll thank you for it!

Secret # 6: Be Courageous with what You Don’t Know

Many well-meaning experts tell aspiring authors to start by “writing what you know.” In addition to writing about what you know, encourage yourself to write about ideas and topics that are slightly outside your comfort zone.

For example, I’m covering a huge realm of information on writing, publishing, and marketing in my next book. While I have personal industry experience with most of it, there are areas I’m not fully comfortable writing about, but I know my audience may want to learn. For these topics I’m asking readers like you who are in my target market for their experience and advice.

This saves me valuable research time and will give my readers first-hand experience from authors just like them who have used those methods and tools to create their own books.

Secret # 7: Humor is Your Best Friend

Without a doubt, humor is one of the most surefire ways to relate to your audience. Even if you’re writing an eBook full of dry content teaching office managers the finer points of filing paperwork, interject a little comic relief like, “If you get a nasty paper cut while filing all that mundane paperwork, remember Miracle Max’s advice from The Princess Bride and avoid pouring lemon juice on it… at all costs. Believe me, it hurts!”

Humor relieves tension, spruces up boring areas, and helps the reader smile. What could be a better way to win over the hearts and minds of your audience?

If you make use of these seven secrets while you write, you’ll increase the chances for your non-fiction ebook’s success. Do you have other tactics that have worked for you? Please share in the comments below!

The post 7 Secrets to Writing a Compelling Non-Fiction eBook appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Marnie Pehrson

It’s a known fact – creating well-crafted, consistent content and putting it on your web site or blog builds traffic. The challenge is that most people feel overwhelmed by creating all that content. If you try to do it alone, it can be daunting.

I’ve found that the easiest way to create consistent, quality content is through the power of collaboration. Not only does collaboration help you share the burden of content creation with others, but also it creates a richer experience for your audience.

As you combine your strengths with those of others, you cover more bases and address more of your audiences’ needs.

There are various types of collaboration we see commonly online:

• You could joint venture with someone by creating a piece of content for their audience while they do the same for yours. This could be in the form of webinars, teleclasses, articles, guest blogs, etc.
• You could collaborate on a book where you write some of it and then get other people to contribute stories, chapters, quotes or resources.
• You can create a web site and accept content from guest contributors. Or you can simply integrate other people’s videos into your content.

The Future of Ink is a perfect example of harnessing the power of collaboration to create a high quality web site. Ellen Britt and Denise Wakeman have blended their skills, resources and expertise on this project. They’ve also gone a step further by bringing you content from a group of experts.

Denise, Ellen and The Future of Ink are a perfect example of what I call Quantum Collaboration. This is a term I use to describe a collaboration that goes beyond barter, reciprocity or exchange. There’s no score-keeping in Quantum Collaboration.

It’s intuitive and flows from people combining their strengths in an easy, natural way. It comes from a place of caring, trust, shared values, and a genuine desire to bring the best to the world.

I recently interviewed Ellen and Denise about how they collaborate on The Future of Ink. The video below is a segment of that interview and is a classic example of the organic, almost dance-like nature of Quantum Collaboration.

As you watch this video, notice how instinctively Denise and Ellen work together and how they blend their strengths in a way that truly is magical.

Have you ever experienced a collaboration like this? One that works this smoothly? I’d love to hear your experiences. Please share them below.

The post How to Harness the Power of Quantum Collaboration to Create Superior Content [Video] appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Lynne Klippel

Amazon.com is the world’s largest online retailer. The site receives 65 million visitors each month!

While some people don’t like Amazon.com’s control of the book marketplace, there is no denying the fact that this site forever altered how people buy and sell books.

I once heard an interview with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. In the interview he shared his vision of making Amazon.com the Wal-Mart of books, where people could go to buy books at a great price, 365 days per year. It seems as if Bezos’ vision has now been realized.

Many of us buy all our books from Amazon or its digital arm, Kindle. The last book I purchased at a physical book store was at an airport when I was stranded by a flight delay and did not have my Kindle with me. Can you remember the last time you purchased a book at a store?

While I hate to see the demise of so many independent bookstores, as an author and publisher, I must embrace and celebrate the potential of Amazon.com for my books.

Amazon’s business model is to encourage readers to purchase lots of books, knowing that the books will be sold at a discount price. To that end, Amazon provides several tools to encourage book sales. The great thing is that all these tools are free for authors.

Amazon leaders realize that by providing free tools to authors, they will sell more books so everyone wins. The only wrinkle is that finding these tools on Amazon.com is a little tricky. After you finish this article, you’ll know exactly where to find them and use them to optimize your Amazon listings.

Opportunity #1

Optimize your book listing with key words. When you or your publisher lists your book on Amazon or Kindle, you can submit a description of the book. This description may contain up to 4000 characters describing your book and why readers will enjoy it.

If you have done some simple key word research and know the primary search terms for the topics covered your book, you can include those key words in your book description. For example, if you were writing a book for parents of teenagers and discussed the topics of peer pressure, bullying, substance abuse, dating, and fostering responsibility, you may use the key words: parents, teens, teenagers, drugs, drinking, dating, bullying, and high school in your description. In that way, when a reader places any of those terms in the Amazon search tool, your book will come up.

Opportunity #2

Use Author Central. After your book is listed on Amazon or Kindle, you are eligible for a free account at Amazon Author Central. Author Central allows you to correct or change your book description on Amazon, add your photo and author biography, link your blog’s RSS feed and Twitter accounts to your listings on Amazon and set up discussions with readers. You can also add video, update your list of publications on Amazon and join the Search Inside the Book program.

To set up your Author Central account, go to https://authorcentral.amazon.com/. You’ll be asked for your Amazon.com book buyer user name and password and then be able to set up your account. Once your account is created, you can follow the simple prompts to upload materials and use the other features.

Opportunity #3

Set up a Personal Profile and Post Reviews. A personal profile is a related to you as a book buyer, not an author. When you first log in to Amazon to look at books, on the far left you’ll see your name’s Amazon.com. Mine reads Lynne’s Amazon.com. Click there and you’ll see a blue tab at the top of the page that reads “My Profile”. Click on that tab and use the edit function to add your photo, biography, and website.

The important things to list on your personal profile are your name, website, photo, and signature. Your signature is like a tag line that shows up after your name when you post reviews on Amazon. Mine reads “Lynne Klippel, Book Strategist and Publisher”. This is a good opportunity for you to do a subtle advertisement of your business and web address.

Once your personal profile is set up, you can post reviews of books you’ve read. When you go, your name and signature will appear on each review. It’s wise to post reviews of the books you’ve read. This will get your name appearing on Amazon.com more frequently and it is good karma. Since you want many glowing reviews for your books, why not give reviews as often as possible?

Opportunity #4

Use the Look Inside Your Book Feature. This feature will allow book buyers to browse and sample a few pages of your print on Kindle book.

Many publisher will set this up for you, but if you have self-published or your publisher did not add this feature to your book listing on Amazon, you can follow this link http://amzn.to/df5IEw , to enroll in your book in the Look Inside program. Amazon’s research suggests that this feature both increases book sales and helps book buyers find your book more easily when they search on Amazon.

These 4 opportunities to optimize your Amazon listings are free, fast, easy to set up, and don’t require much effort on your part after the initial registration. Fast, easy, free, and time saving….what more could a busy author like you want?

The post 4 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Amazon Listings appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Bob Jenkins MLA

Recently I visited a good friend of mine and The Future of Ink’s, Felicia Slattery. We took questions from our members, and recorded our answers via video…

a great way to come up with and publish digital content, by the way!.

One burning (and common) question came in from Tom Nosal, and I’m excited to share our answers with you in this video below.

Tom asked:

“I’m in the middle of my very first book project. I would like some tips on the best way to promote your book when you are just starting out and don’t have a big following yet.”

This is a great question because if you wait until a book is finished to start promoting, you’ll have wasted at least 2-3 months of prime opportunity.

I also find that when I have an unfinished book, I’ll get it done a lot faster if I start promoting it. That accountability really gets me going. You can use the same tactics to promote your book before it’s finished!

In our answers, Felicia and I discuss:

• How to make your book project feel more “real”
• When to start getting endorsements, and how to get them
• How to use pre-publication endorsements to promote the launch of your book
• How to pre-seed your Amazon book page with reviews as launch day approaches
• Where to find opportunities to speak about your book.

Enjoy the video, and share your favorite tip below!

Bob Jenkins

The post 5 Ways To Promote Your Book Before It’s Finished [Video] appeared first on The Future of Ink.

by Denise Wakeman
Last week, Future of Ink expert author D’vorah Lansky, successfully demonstrated how to create and manage a virtual book tour. Lansky pulled off a 21 blog tour in the space of  two days for her new book, 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour.

Ellen Britt and I (co-founders of The Future of Ink) realized every blog post on D’vorah Lansky’s book tour is important for online entrepreneurs to study so we’re publishing the full list of posts. Each article is a valuable tip for how you can create your own virtual blog tour to promote your books, webinars and products.

Virtual Book Tour Celebration for "21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour

Listly by Dvorah Lansky

Virtual Book Tour Celebration for "21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour

A virtual book tour is one of the most powerful things an author can do, to reach new audiences, across the glove, without leaving home!

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   Virtual Book Tour Celebration for 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour

   by D'vorah Lansky I wonder if celebrating the launch of a second or third book is like celebrating the birth of one's second or third child? I can only imagine as I am blessed with one child. I have however, published several books and today I celebrate the book launch of my third print book!

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   Make the Most of Your Blog Posts

   In essence, your audio, video, and written blog posts are “virtual real estate.” In addition to providing informational, educational, or entertaining content, you can include subtle marketing material. For example, at the end of each of your blog posts, you can include information about yourself along with a compelling reason why people should come to your blog.

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   Are There Different Types of Virtual Book Tours?

   In answer to the question posted in the title of this article; “Are there different types of virtual book tours?” my response is, “indeed there are!” While there are popular virtual book tour formats that can be easily replicated, in truth, the format for a virtual book tour is only limited by your imagination! In this article I’d like to share with you three popular virtual book tour models. You can decide which format you’d like to base your first, or next, virtual book tour on.

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   What in the World is a Virtual Book : Morgan James Publishing

   In this post Iíd like to share a few tips regarding virtual book tours and outline a few things that you can easily put into play, for your own tour. A book launch does not just have to be for a newly published book.

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   Why Does An Author Need to Have a Blog?

   As an author, having a blog is essential to your online book marketing success. Your blog is the hub of your online world and provides you with a platform from which to share your message, sell your products, build community, house your membership site, show your videos, and share your knowledge.

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   Develop your author platform and extend your reach | Build Book Buzz

   n this article I’ll be talking about the importance of developing your online author platform. An author platform is a place where people can come to connect with you. It is where you share your message and it refers to the size of your following/readership and your presence on the Internet.

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   Expand Your Virtual Book Tour Reach with Social Networking

   Social networking is a powerful way to grow your business, reach, readership, and sales. As an author, you want to become known for your area of expertise and as the go-to person for your topic. The purpose of social networking is not to constantly promote your book, but rather to be seen as someone who interacts and offers value to the community.

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   Tips for Lining Up Tour Hosts for Your Virtual Book Tour (Guest Blog Post â€" D’vorah Lansky)

   A virtual book tour is where you travel, from blog to blog, across the Internet. You are featured as a guest blogger and share content with the readers of those blogs. One of the most common questions I receive about virtual book tours is, “how do I find blogs to travel to?” While the task may seem daunting, it really is much easier than you might think.

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   Tips for Preparing Your Blog for Your Virtual Book Tour

   Preparing for a virtual book tour requires you to be organized and focused. In this post I’ll be sharing tips for preparing your blog for your tour. Your blog is your online home. It’s the place where you invite people to come to, to find out more about you and your book.

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    21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour

    I am delighted to introduce you to my friend and colleague D'vorah Lansky. D'vorah recently shared with me a fabulous formula that she devised that quite literally takes the visitor/viewer on a virtual book tour. Let's face it, as a VA/OBM (Virtual Assistant/Online Business Manager) this process made perfect sense to me.

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View more lists from Dvorah Lansky

Are you about to publish a book? If so, let us know in the comments below!

The post 21 Ways to Launch a Successful Virtual Book Tour appeared first on The Future of Ink.