BookBuzzr: How to Market Your Book on Facebook, MySpace and Other Social Networks

Recently, I came across an interesting way for authors to present their book on the internet and within social media sites. It intrigued me to the point that I contacted the creator, Vikram Narayan, and asked him to introduce his free book marketing product to my readers.

BookBuzzr is an application that allows authors to upload an excerpt, chapter or their whole book into a form that gives the readers a feel for reading a physical book, down from the page curls at the bottom when the reader turns the page. To help you visualize what this is, Vikram has included a copy of his article in the BookBuzzr format, which I have included at the end of this post. In fact, I uploaded chapter 1 my action/adventure novel and included it in the BookBuzzer format at the end of this post.

One other thing of note. I got even more excited about this application from a marketing standpoint when I asked them how the search engines deal with the text in BookBuzzr. Vikram's company responded that they are actively working on this issue as we speak. Now, I will turn it over to Vikram.

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How to Market Your Book on Facebook, MySpace and Other Social Networks
By Vikram Narayan


Amazon, who pioneered offering samples on a large scale in 2003, reported a 9% increase of print sales across 120,000 titles in 5 days after the Search Inside capability was available on their site. Harper Collins had a similar experience with sales. Harper Collins reported print sales increase of 30% and 250% for specific titles using their Browse Inside functionality*. Think about the last time you bought a book. You bought it because of one of three factors:

1. You discovered it on a best-seller list such as the New York Times.
   
2. One of your trusted sources (such as a friend or relative) recommended it.
   
3. You were browsing in a book-store or online and stumbled-upon the book, flipped through a few pages of the book and decided to buy it.
   

As an author you don't entirely control if your book becomes a best-seller or not. But in this day of social media, you need to ask yourself if you're doing everything you can to get people to recommend your book to their friends and if you're enabling quick and easy sampling of your book. You may answer that you already have an author website which contains a book-cover image, your bio, details about your book and even a book-excerpt. But there are two problems with traditional author sites:

1. Most of the traffic goes to 'destination sites' such as Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo or the New York Times. So your author site may not receive the kind of traffic that you would want.
   
2. Even if a fan of your book comes to your site, it's not easy for her to easily share information about your book with her friends.
   

So what's the answer? How do you market your book in an era where the attention-spans of consumers measure a few micro-seconds? How do you tempt your potential readers to flip-through the pages of your book? How do you allow easy sharing of your book on networks such as Facebook, MySpace and other social networks? The answer lies in a little tool (or book-widget) that we've developed called BookBuzzr (available at www.freado.com.) BookBuzzr is more than just a replacement for your book-cover image. It's a portable author website that allows your book information and extract to be shared on Facebook, Blogs, MySpace and more. Putting up your book into BookBuzzr format is quite simple:

1. You upload your book-extract to fReado.com and it becomes available through BookBuzzr
   
2. Readers discover your book extract on your site, on blogs and on fReado.com
   
3. Readers share the book with others on blogs, social networks and forums
   

Apart from the easy share-ability, we've worked hard at making the pages of your book look and act like a real book. So when a reader clicks on the edge of the book, the page turns like a real book. Somehow, this seems to elicit a "wow!" from most people who try BookBuzzr. A number of authors have begun using BookBuzzr. Commenting on BookBuzzr, Chetan Dhruve, author of "Why Your Boss is Programmed to be a Dictator", says, "Books appear as static cover images on author websites.

In contrast, BookBuzzr makes a book look like a real book and allows readers to turn pages like they would in a real book. And BookBuzzr does this on the author's site, blog or Facebook profile!" We've received plenty of positive feedback from authors who have uploaded their product into BookBuzzr format. Give BookBuzzr a try. It's free and it can only help you in marketing your book in this Web 2.0 world.

* Sparking an e-book revolution – http://tinyurl.com/cedzem

-- Tony Here: To give you an idea of what BookBuzzr is, I have released my action/adventure novel, The Samson Effect, in the BookBuzzr format. I hope you enjoy it.
Tony Eldridge

The Zen Of Social Media Marketing: Book Review

Chances are, if you are a regular reader of Marketing Tips For Authors, then the subject of today's book review is one that you have spent many hours thinking about. Shama Hyder, founder of Click to Client, a full-service online marketing firm, has written The Zen Of Social Media Marketing. This 103 page e-book defines the realities of the social media sites and claims that once you understand the "Zen" of social media marketing, it becomes truly effortless.

Shama approaches the subject by laying out a case for being involved with social media marketing. She does a masterful job at taking this concept and presenting it in a way that even the most inexperienced online marketer can understand. The foundation she builds in the first 22 pages thoroughly prepares the readers for the practical tips that follow in the remainder of the book.

In fact, where many authors who write on this subject do a good job at either helping the reader understand the "whys" of social media marketing, or understanding the "hows" of social media marketing, Shama expertly marries the two in her book. The reader will "close" the virtual covers of this book with not only a game plan in place for their online marketing plan, but they will understand why it will work. This extra bit of knowledge will help readers adapt the technology to their circumstances.

Rather than giving a shopping list of all the places where the reader can create an online social media presence, The Zen Of Social Media Marketing focuses on four areas and dives into how to adapt them to a marketing plan. The four area are:

• Facebook
  
• Twitter
  
• Linked-In
  
• Videos
  

Other sites are peppered throughout, but these four areas make up the meat of the book. Shama spells out what advantages each can have for you and presents a list of "Do's and Don'ts" for each area. If you do not have a presence on these four areas, then The Zen Of Social Media Marketing will take away the apprehension you may be feeling about taking the plunge into social media marketing. If you do have a presence on these areas, you will undoubtedly walk away with a load of tips on how you can better leverage these online sites in your marketing plan. The book ends with Shama tying everything together and the book has a practical Q&A section that rounds off the knowledge presented throughout. To help you better understand how the principles laid out in the book can be applied in real-life, Shama includes a list of detailed case studies. On her opening claim that once you understand the "Zen" of social media marketing, it becomes truly effortless, Shama delivers on the money. This book will help you make the leap to social media marketing while having an expert hold your hand via the book. If you are looking for a resource to: A. Help you understand what Social Media Marketing is B. Guide you through the maze of getting started then you need to pick up a copy of The Zen Of Social Media Marketing today.

Tony Eldridge

How should YOU market?- Jeremy Robinson

I am thrilled to introduce you to one of the best thriller authors today. Jeremy Robinson has done what few people have done. He self published a novel that became Lulu's best selling fiction of all time; he's written non-fiction; he's started his own publishing company; and he has inked 2--count them--2 three book deals from traditional publishing companies (Variance Publishing and Thomas Dunne Books); and he has a film company working on bringing his characters to life on the silver screen. But what I'm excited about is his incredible book marketing ability. You only have to check out his book trailers to see the thrilling drama and the hilarious antics that work viral magic at promoting his books. Jeremy has mastered the art and science of book marketing and he has graciously agreed to speak to Marketing Tips For Authors readers about this very topic.

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How should YOU market?
By Jeremy Robinson

People often ask me about my marketing techniques. What works best? What do I do the most? How often do I do it? The answer is: everything and all the time. When I'm in the middle of writing a novel I tend to spend three hours of of every day on marketing. When I'm not writing a novel, I spend 80% of my time, every day marketing. And I try everything. That has been the secret to my marketing success. There isn't anything I'm unwilling to try and I pursue it with the same determination that I put into my novels. That is what makes marketing successful.

This is something that I learned the hard way and most new writers don't even think about. True, I started out as a self-publisher, then moved up to a small press owner, and now have a three book deal with Thomas Dunne Books. But guess what? I'm spending even more time (and more money) on marketing than I ever have before. Pulse, the first of my Chess Team series, comes out on May 26th. I began actively promoting the book at the end of March, two months before its release and will continue to market it actively up through December, at which time I'll switch gears to marketing the second book in the series, due out in February.

But still, you're wondering what do you do? Here's the vague short list:

1.Website,
2. Facebook
3. Myspace
4. Twitter
5. Youtube vlog (video blog)
6. Blog
7. Viral videos
8. Book trailers
9. Amazon Blog
10. Other Amazon tricks
11. Radio interviews
12. Blog interviews
13. Reach out to reviewers
14. Contests
15. Podcast
16. Press releases
17. A few other things I consider top secret.

Now you can see why it takes so much time! I am actively doing all of those things. It's often monotonous. Tedious. Exhausting. I loath doing the majority of it. I would much rather be writing. But until a large publisher starts hiring people to do most of that for me, it's all on me (and you). And believe me, that won't happen until I'm selling copious amounts of books.

So for anyone aspiring to be an author, become and expert on these things. Better yet, come up with some tricks of your own. And one final piece of advice, don't ask how to do these things well. Dive in. Fight in the trenches. Figure things out. The best way to learn what works best for you isn't to emulate or ask how other authors market. It's to get your hands dirty and do it yourself. It's taken me the last four years to get good at marketing and I still have a lot to learn.

To visit my website and see a lot of what I do in action, visit: www.jeremyrobinsononline.com and don't forget to pick up Pulse this summer!

8 Tips on Creating An Army Of People To Market Your Book

Let's face it; if you go at marketing your book alone, you will have a monumental, if not impossible job ahead of you. Even the NY Times bestselling authors need people to help them get the word of their book out. That's what we are talking about when we say "an army of people to market your book." How do we find people willing to be our spokespeople and tell the world about our book? Below are 8 ways you can start to build your own marketing army.

1. Put out a great piece of work. If you want people excited about sharing your book with the world, then you need to put in the work to create a professional book. If you are going to self-publish, then you need to treat your book like the professionals would. Have it professionally edited. Rewrite, rework, and revise over and over until you know it's as professional as you can get it. If you don't know how to do this, then it's incumbent upon you to learn. Take a writing class, read multiple how-to books, seek professional help. Your book is not the project you want to treat like amateur's night at the Improv. If you want it to go anywhere, then put in the elbow grease to make it as polished as you can possibly make it.

2. Start from your inner circle. Once you take the plunge and put your work out there for all to see, contact your inner circle of friends, family, co-workers, and other relationships to help you get the word out. Encourage them to send e-mails, blog posts, letters, phone calls, and anything else they can possibly think of to tell others about your book. These should be your most ardent supporters, but don't get discouraged if they all don't climb on board with you right away. Welcome to human nature. Even our closest relationships have good intentions but are sometimes hard to stir into action. Just keep at them; you will be surprised with what a little patience can accomplish.

3. Expand your inner circle. Don't be content with your current "inner circle." Look for ways to add others to it. Find those people whom you connect with, personally or professionally and recruit them to help you pass on the message of your book. I have been blessed by meeting some of the finest authors and marketers through my job. If it were not for them, The Samson Effect or Marketing Tips For Authors would be but a blip on the Internet scene. Even if your inner circle only tells a small number of contacts about your book, their cumulative effect can be extraordinary. And never judge a person by the number of contacts they boast. Having a friend with 10 quality contacts who each has 1000 quality contacts is far better than the person with 20,000 non-targeted Twitter followers. Passion for your book goes a long way to make up for a seemingly lack of contacts.

4. Be willing to be in someone else's army. Yes, if you want people to help get the word out about your book, then you need to be willing to serve in their army to get the word out about their pet project. In fact, be proactive about this. Ask someone what you can do for them. Just as much as you want and need people to spread the news about your book, they probably need people to spread the word about something they are doing. If you are truly a giver, and not just an emotional or professional vampire, then you will be surprised at the number of people who will gladly plug your book for you. And when you commit to help someone in their army, do it right. Put in the time and your best effort. After all, that's what your are looking for, right?

5. Network offline. Don't keep your efforts to network solely online. Get out in the community and meet people. Visit local civic clubs, volunteer to speak at your local library, or better yet, volunteer to conduct a free class at your library. Meet the editor of a small community newspaper and volunteer to write an article for them. When holidays come up, find community events and see if any offer door prizes. If so, volunteer your signed book as a prize. All of these ideas put you into contact with influencers who can be powerful allies when it comes to getting the word out about your book. And many of these people are very well connected.

6. Meet new people online. Yep, gotta do this one. Why? Because online contacts can have your greatest leverage when it comes to telling people about your book. Be careful though--not all contacts are created equal. Just like you get junk mail, you can also get junk contacts. What you want to do is cultivate real life contacts. These are people you can interact with online, more than just send e-mails or tweets to. Of course you won't be able to create a real relationship with 30,000 Twitter followers, but you can make a point to reach out and touch base with a few new ones each week. Real messages, aimed just at them. All of a sudden, you just moved from being a spammer trying to sell your book to a real flesh and blood author. A personal message can make a huge impact and be the difference in someone spreading the news about your book or not.

7. Maintain contact with the people you meet. Dove tailing on the last point, it's not enough to start collecting contacts. You need to maintain communications with them. You can do this through e-mails, newsletters, web site updates, blog posts, letters, post cards, phone calls, etc... Someone is more likely to help a friend than a stranger. With each communication you have with them, the less and less of a stranger you become to them.

8. Ask. Sometimes we forget the most elementary lessons of all. Sometimes all it takes is to simply ask someone to tell their friends and family about your book. How may book sales have you missed out on already because you did not ask someone to tell people about your book? This is a very easy thing to do, but a very hard thing to get done. Make it a point to ask your neighbors, friends, your dry cleaner, your kid's teachers, anyone and everyone to help you spread the news about your book. Even a small percentage of people who comply begins to make a difference when you keep asking more and more people to help you spread the news about your book.

So, your challenge today is to ask 10 people to help you spread the word about your book and to find 1 person whose army you can join. Good luck. I hope this helps you find more people to help you promote your book than you though possible.

Tony Eldridge

8 days left until the serial release of The Samson Effect

Blogger Challenge, Shama, Jeremy, and Google Analytics Videos

This is a non-traditional post for Marketing Tips For Authors. Normally, I post Monday through Fridays, but I am particularly excited about the upcoming week and I want to give you a preview of what's coming. I also want to share with you a blogger challenge that I finally decided to take and I encourage you to take it too. So, here's what's got me all excited that motivated me to share this post with you.

1. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame, issued the 31 day challenge for bloggers to build a better blog. Each day, he gave tips on how to make your blog better and then ended with the days challenge. I have been reading, watching, and even acting on some tips. He is now on day 21 of the challenge, and this day's tip pushed me over the edge and caused me to officially sign up for the challenge.

Instead of going back through the last 21 posts, Darren has it set up so that when you sign up, he will send you each day's challenge, starting at Day 1, one at a time. That way, you can start this challenge anytime you want. Currently, close to 12,000 bloggers are enrolled in this free challenge. You can visit his 31 Days To Building A Better Blog sign up page to enroll now. Oh, what was the post topic that finally pushed me to sign up for the challenge? Breathe Life Into an Old Post [Day 21 - 31DBBB]- This is one of the best advice pieces I have read on blogging.

2. I am also excited to be reviewing/telling you more about a great resource called The Zen of Social Media Marketing, a marketing e-book by Shama Hyder, owner of Click To Client. This is a great book that has valuable insights and very practical advice on Social Media Marketing. I have had many people ask me to review their books, but so far, I have been able to reserve Wednesday's for reviews I have proactively initiated because I found a resource I wanted to share with you. This is one of those books, so mark your calendar for Wednesday to read more about Shama's book.

3. In my effort to bring you the best authors and professional book marketers as guest writers on Tuesday, I quickly found myself scheduled over three months out and had the luxury of slowing the rate I found new experts and authors to introduce to you. But this Tuesday, I have one of my personal author heroes, Jeremy Robinson, who will give you a few words on book marketing. Jeremy has the record for having the biggest best selling novel at Lulu.com. Since then, Jeremy has created his own publishing company and has inked two book deals with traditional publishers, Variance Publishing and Thomas Dunne Books. This is just the tip of the iceberg for this prolific writer. Mark your calendars for this Tuesday to hear what Jeremy has to say.

4. I have totally rerecorded my training videos on Google Analytics and will be releasing them for my Weekly Video Marketing Tips For Authors newsletter subscribers. The newsletter is free to join, so sign up today to watch the Google Analytics training training tomorrow. You will also have access to over 45 minutes of free video book marketing training as soon as you join.

5. Finally, we are a week away from the serial release of my award winning action-adventure novel, The Samson Effect. I encourage you to participate in this event and engage in the ongoing conversations as I release the novel a chapter at a time each Monday.

This is not a complete list of everything planned this week, but hopefully you have read some things that have you excited. This is definitely one of the most exciting weeks to me.

Tony Eldridge

Award Winning Novel Serialized: The Samson Effect

Here's a special weekend post that I am excited to share with you. Starting May 4th, I will be releasing my award-winning action/adventure novel, The Samson Effect, as a serial release for readers to follow and comment on. You can keep up with the Samson Effect serial release by bookmarking the site and visiting once a week. To learn more about the serial release, visit:

http://samsoneffect.marketingtipsforauthors.com/2009/04/samson-effect-weekly-serial-starting.html

I hope you enjoy this story that thousands have already enjoyed. Please share the Samson Effect serial release page with all you know.

The Samson Effect is a "first class thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure."- Clive Cussler

Marketing Tips Around The Net: April 24th

Here we go on our trip around the net. I have pulled together 10 articles that I think you may find value in. Some from our old friends, others from some new experts I have come across. So click away and pick up a few things you can use to help promote your book today.

1. The 5 C’s of Expertise: And Why I Don’t Shy Away from the Term- Shama Hyder, founder of Click to Client, a full service online marketing firm based in Dallas Texas, weighs in on what it takes to become an expert. This is something every author strives to become in their niche of the world. As an added bonus this week, check out her Shama TV, a video blog where she gives out 3 to 5 minutes of tips each week.

2. Bookstores Aren't the Best Place to Sell Books But Bookstands Will Help Anywhere!- Have you been thinking a lot about getting in the bookstores? Sue Freeman gets you to thin about how to display your book to garner more interest.

3. The Suffering Blogger: 10 Lessons I've Learned the Hard Way- Don Frazier shares his lessons of hard knocks with you by sharing mistakes that he made while blogging. This is a great place to clue you into what to do-and what not to do when you are blogging.

4. The Most Important Words On Your Web Site- Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., shares her advice on words that every author needs to include on their website, and why.

5. Seven Essential Applications For Bloggers Using Windows- Darren Rowse, our friend from ProBlogger, shares with you 7 essential windows tools to help make your blogging a breeze.

6. Marketing the Old-Fashioned Way- Pat Bertram brings us offline with some book marketing ideas from a local, grass roots perspective.

7. Market Your Book on Manhattans Museum Mile- I included this article to spark ideas of how you can promote your book by finding nontraditional places to sell your book.

8. Boost Your Book Sales With Press Releases- The author of this article gives some ideas to think about when it comes to promoting your book via Press Releases.

9. Finding Your Readers- Here is another article that sums up what marketing is all about: finding readers for your books. It speaks to both finding readers for both fiction and nonfiction books.

10. Blog Promotion:Using Newsletters to Build Readership- We often talk about using blogs to promote your book. Here's an article that talks about promoting your blog (which promotes your book).

Hopefully, you will find some great tips from these writers this weekend as you look for ways to promote your book. Enjoy.

Tony Eldridge

Eight Tips On Using Call To Actions To Increase Your Conversions

Today's tip is a simple one to sales and marketing types, though even these professionals can find themselves slipping when it comes to applying this fundamental action. Whether you are talking about your bookmarks, business cards, advertisements, web sites, blogs, or any piece of communication you have with your prospects, you need to always make sure your call to action is there.

What is a "Call to Action?" Simply, it's your instructions to your visitors or prospects to take an action. For example, if you have a book for sale, your call to action might be a graphic button that says, "Buy Me." If you have a mailing list, it's not enough to tell people how wonderful your mailing list is, or what tremendous benefits they will receive if they join. You must take the deliberate step to instruct them to join your list."

Here are eight tips on how to increase conversions by using call to actions on your page (or on your offline business collateral).

1. Use them- Sounds simple enough. But as I already stated, many people don't have them. No matter how great your product is, or how eloquent your ad copy is, without a call to action, you will be leaving conversions on the table. Study after study has been done to show that this is the case.

2. Use them on every page- Think about this: every page you create on the Internet or every business card or bookmark you print has a reason for existing. And that reason is ultimately to convince someone to do something. Tip number 3 will help make sure you use these call to actions on each message you communicate.

3. Make it easy on the visitor by cluing them in to what you want them to do- Don't assume that people will know what you want them to do. Tell them what you want them to do on each communication you create. A call to action is not always about buying a product. You may simply want someone to visit the next page on your site. If that's it, tell them. If you hand out business cards in the hopes that someone will call to make an appointment, say on the card, "Call today to set up an appointment." If you just published an article you want people to read, tell them to read the article today, followed by a link (if it is online) or a printed copy (if it is offline).

4. Use a variety of "Call To Action" mediums- As stated earlier, all call to actions are not "Buy Me." Neither are they big red buttons on your website. Here are some variations you can use:

• Direct Message- i.e., Buy Me
  
• Hyperlinks- They are a way of calling to action. When I use them, I make sure they are underlined and blue if I can help it. Many programs now take out the blue underline so that the only way someone knows that there's a link present is if the mouse rolls across it by chance.
  
• Graphics- Arrows pointing to a location to take an action or a flashing text are all ways to grab someone's attention and say, "Look at me; I want you to do something."
  
• Bold or using color will often cause text to stand out. While they may not be pure call to actions, they can definitely enhance a call to action
  

5. Mix The Hard/Soft Call To Actions- Sometimes it's easy to think that if we say things like Buy Me, we might come across too salesman like, so we opt to use inference to get people to take action. Big Mistake. Buy Me messages are everywhere because they work. They are simple and unambiguous to the visitor. However, you may want to also use softer calls to actions as well as the hard ones. Phrases like, Try Me, Visit This Page, and Check Out This, are more subtle call to action messages that can still be effective for you.

6. Create Scarcity- Want to ratchet up your conversions? Couple your call to actions with scarcity and you will be engaging in a time-honored and very effective marketing strategy. What is scarcity? It's creating a limited time to take action in order to receive a benefit. That's what sales are all about--Scarcity. "For two days only!" "Order before midnight tonight." In many businesses, planned sales create the lion's share of their profits. It's not the lower prices, but the fact that the lower prices are temporary (until they inevitably run the sale again) that cause people to buy. Otherwise, business would lower the prices permanently if that would maintain their profits. Presales are another great marketing tool if used by someone who knows how to market them and create powerful call to actions.

7. Test- Yep, this one is back again. And I imagine it will be back time and time again. Why? Because it's one of the single best ways that will help your business grow its revenues while slashing its expenses. You can try to use a variety of call to actions, but if you really want to know what combination is working best, then you have to test.

8. Placement- Try your call to actions in different locations on a web page. You may have a powerful call to action, but if people are not seeing it, how valuable is it? Here are some of the hot-spots for call to action placements, coming from a Marketing Experiments study done on visitor eye path across a web page:

• Top left of the page, in the banner area
  
• Across the page, on the right just under the banner.
  
• Down the left margin of a page
  
• Bottom center of a page.
  

We have looked at some of the basic elements of using call to actions to increase your conversions. Understand, that if you really want to sink your teeth into the science of call to actions, there are more resources available to you than you probably can imagine. But if you remember to use call to actions on each of your communications, you will have a great start over many others who are content to rely on inference to get their visitors to take actions. In other words, if you want something done--just ask.

Tony Eldridge

ePublish by Steve Weber: Book Review

"Today is the Golden Age of publishing. There has never been more opportunity to create and distribute your ideas, with virtually no up-front cost for printing, distribution, or marketing." Steve Weber, ePublish: Self-Publish fast and profitably for Kindle, CreateSpace, iPhone and Print on Demand.

Steve Weber, author of Plug Your Book, Sell on Amazon, The Home-Based Bookstore, and eBay 101 makes a bold statement with his new book, ePublish. Breaking from traditional publishing wisdom and convention, Steve asserts that the norm is changing. The publishing landscape is being redefined and what is acceptable is changing; no, what is acceptable is being rewritten. No longer is self-publishing the kiss of death to a hopeful literary career. Instead, authors are on the frontier of an exciting time where their options for success have never been more favorable to self publishing.

e-Publish is a resource manual for authors who want to navigate the currents of turning their written work into a digital format for readers who are looking for digital content at a record-breaking pace. Steve walks the reader through the current digital climate and effectively lays out the various options for turning a book into a digital product. ePublish discusses each main digital format, including publishing for Kindle, iPhone, and other propriety formats.

ePubslish not only spends time on the "how to's" of publishing in digital formats, it also opens the reader to a world of marketing opportunities to get the book in front of potential readers. How practical are the resources found in his book? As I prepared for this review, I found myself constantly visiting referenced web sites mentioned in the book and making notes of how I could use many of those sites for my blog readers.

ePublish ends by walking the reader through the process of creating a physical book and what they need to know about selling and marketing it. Some straight-shooting advice is given that guides the would-be author through what to focus on and what not to focus on when printing and marketing their physical book, or pBook.

The bottom line: Steve has created a reference manual for authors looking to find a viable way to get their book in "print." He backs up his assertions for ePublishing with real life, bottom line revenue numbers. He also discusses on numerous occasions the importance of creating a professional quality book if the reader wishes to succeed with their publishing dream. If you are a prospective author or a current author who finds yourself confused with all the ePublishing options, then you need to pick up a copy of this book. If you have a book that's not available in ebook format, then this book will become your best friend as you let it guide you through the ePublishing process.

Tony Eldridge

6 Reasons to Blog Your Book- Edwin Crozier

**NOTE** Edwin follows up with this post on one entitled, 7 Keys For Blogging Your Book.

This week's guest blogger is Edwin Cozier, author of 5 books, owner of his own publishing company- Sreamside Supplies, and the author of a DVD. Edwin has three books in the works and is a full time minister where he developed public speaking skills that he currently uses to help train others on public speaking. In today's post, Edwin pushes the boundaries of author comfort by suggesting a novel approach to marketing your book, an approach he is putting into practice at this very moment. I'm honored to introduce you to this prolific and entertaining writer.

***

First, thanks, Tony, for providing such great help for those of us who love to write but stink at marketing. We need you and what you provide. Second, thanks, Tony, for letting me be part of this. Our friendship has meant more to me than you can know and this just adds more on the pile.

And now on to the point.

Here we sit reading a blog because we're writers wanting to become authors. Oh yes, you know the difference. Writers write. Authors get read. We want to be read. We have already read and will read many other posts on this and other sites about how we ought to be blogging. We should. If you are only reading blogs and not participating in the great conversation with your own, you are missing out. And so are we. However, I want to go beyond just blogging as a means to let folks know who you are and as a means to provide free content that you hope will push folks to your for-sale content. I want to share with you something I've recently learned that is a counter-intuitive gold mine.

Blog your book.

That's right, blog your book.

I'm doing this very thing right now. One is already written. On Thursdays, at edwincrozier.com you can read the story of Sam as he learns to be successful in my soon to be published book Getting to Did.

You're thinking exactly what I was when I first heard this. "What? Give away my book for free? Who'll buy it? And besides, who wants to read a book piecemeal?" Before you click away, let me give you some reasons for blogging your book.

1. Nobody's reading your book right now anyway
   
   Let's face it. If you already had a huge readership you likely wouldn't be trying to figure out how to market your book on a shoestring budget. John Grisham, Stephen King, John Maxwell, and Rick Warren probably don't need to blog any of their books. You are not blogging your book to make lots of money. You're blogging your book to get readers. If you want to get that book published by the big boys, you need a platform. Don't just show them a platform for you as an author, give them a platform for your book. Let them know how many people have gotten on board already through your blog. Even if you are self-publishing, you need the platform.
   
   
2. It's a proven method
   
   This is not new. Certainly, doing this through blogging is relatively new. But putting a book out piecemeal is as old as Charles Dickens. Ever heard of him? His Sketches by Boz and Pickwick Papers were both serialized before they were published in bound volumes. Dickens was the first great novelist. He was the first author to be truly popular while he was still alive. Before there was Robert Ludlum, James Michener, or Isaac Asimov, there was Dickens. Speaking of Asimov, his book I, Robot was actually a collection of short stories he had previously published in other magazines that he retrofitted together into one novel. Not only was the book a success, a movie was based on it. You can't go wrong with that, can you?
   
   Here's the cool thing for us. Dickens and Asimov had to get approval from a magazine to print their serializations first. We don't even have to go through that process. We have immediate approval because we are publishing our own online magazine with our blog.
   
   
3. Nobody wants to read a book piecemeal
   
   "Okay, now you've gone too far, Edwin. We already told you nobody wants to read a book piecemeal." Ah yes, you may see this as an obstacle. I see it as the trick that makes this work. Nobody wants to read a good book piecemeal. They want to sit down and read it as quickly as they can.
   
   Think this through. What happens then when a reader stumbles upon, is sent to, or searches out your blog and starts reading an immensely entertaining or overwhelmingly helpful or powerfully moving book but it stops and ends with a link to the next segment? They click to the next segment, then the next, then the next. With each segment they increase their desire to keep reading. Then they hit a wall that says "…to be continued, but not until next week." Just below that statement is a "Buy Now" button. Watch the mouse hover over the button. The debate is on. "Can I wait until next week? I don't want to spend the money and I can read this book for free. Oh, but I need to know what's next. But if I'm patient I'll find out next week. Yeah but then I'll have to wait another week for the section after that." CLICK. Someone just bought your book.
   
   
4. Blogging your book will help the sales on the next book you blog
   
   "Point 3 sounds good, Edwin, but my book is already on the market." My first response is, good books are meant to be read by the fire, not on a computer. Most readers feel that way. If they uncover a great book online, they won't want to read the whole thing off the computer. They'll want to curl up with it, holding it in their hands, smelling the paper, turning the pages. They can't do that with your blog. With each post, the "Buy Now" button will look more inviting.
   
   However, let's just say you're dealing with someone who is happy to keep reading a book on the computer; they read your whole book and don't buy a copy. Sure, I know that stinks. You just gave away your soul to them. But, what happens when you start blogging book number 2? Now, even those computer geeks that don't mind burning their eyes out on a computer screen and have no sentimentality connected with a real book want to click the "Buy Now" button because they don't want to wait a week to find out what is next.
   
   
5. Blogging your book will help you improve your craft
   
   I've already said, "Nobody wants to read a good book piecemeal." The truth is nobody wants to read a bad book piecemeal either. Fact is, nobody wants to read a bad book at all. Therefore, for any kind of marketing to work really, really well, you have to offer a good book. The problem is, we may not have a good book yet. Never fear. Go ahead and blog your bad book. Why? Because you will only improve your writing by writing.
   
   Additionally, by putting your book out there on the web, you are opening yourself up to get the criticism you desperately need but will likely not receive from the big publishing house who simply sends back your proposal or manuscript with a "Rejected" stamp. I know it is tough to receive criticism. However, it's the only thing that will make us grow. Even if the criticism isn't offered very nicely. If you can control your self-defense and just listen for the help offered behind the words, your next book will be better.
   
   You may even want to ask for feedback about the book and the writing. Then put on your alligator hide coat and listen for the good help behind the comments.
   
   
6. Blog your book because it is about writing, not about making money
   
   I know, I know. We want to be great authors because we want great paychecks. The problem is, if we are chasing dollars with our writing, we probably won't get many of them. We'll simply develop reputations as hacks. I hate to break it to you, but even if we write just for the sake of writing, we may not make much money. But when we write because we love writing and we love what we are writing about, we will find satisfaction and fulfillment. When we do that, it will come through in our writing and maybe, just maybe that will connect with others and the dollars will start flowing.
   
   Don't sell out to the masses. Don't chase the dollars. Chase the writing. Make your writing about writing and the love of the craft. Blogging your book is like the minor leagues of writing. Nobody sticks with minor league ball for the money. They stick with it for the love of the game. A few of those who do stick with it make it in to the big leagues. But everyone who sticks with it for love of the game is just happy they're getting to play. Be happy you're getting to write.
   

I wanted to give some suggestions about how to blog your book. But this post is long enough. Perhaps Tony will let me come back on and write another guest post. Maybe somebody else can give some insight. Either way, I'd like to invite you to stop by edwincrozier.com and check out the books I'm blogging. And thanks again, Tony, for letting me be part of this site.

Over 45 Minutes Of Free Video Training Available Now

Recently, I purchased Camtasia to create my screen capture videos. It has a powerful editing interface that helps the user put out some really great videos. Before Camtasia, I was using an open source freeware called CamStudio. It was a nice little program and you couldn't beat the price. It's major downside was that it had no editing features.

I also was able to get Sharon Eiben, a video editor, to help me give the videos that added professional touch. The results: much better quality videos all around.

Starting today, I am taking over 45 minutes of my video tips and making them available anytime to my newsletter subscribers. So, not only will you get a new free video tip each week, you will also have access to these videos anytime you want to view them just for joining my free video tips newsletter. Here are some of the things you will learn in the 45 minutes you get access to:

• Learn to connect your WordPress blog, Blogger blog, or any web site to your book's shopping cart so visitors can purchase your book with a click of a button
  
• Learn how to create custom title bars on your web page and why that's important for marketing your book
  
• Learn how to create virtual pages on your Blogger blog
  
• Learn how to integrate your blog into your current website even if your blog is hosted somewhere else (like Blogger, for example)
  
• Learn what a favicon is, why it's an important branding technique, and how to create a free one for your website (there are business that will charge you $50, $100, even $150 to do the same thing for you!)
  
• Learn how to create an Amazon Widget to sell your books directly on your blog, social media page or website
  

In past newsletters, we have also looked at how to use Google Analytics in your marketing efforts, Twitter Tools, Social Bookmarking Buttons and much more. To start watching over 45 minutes worth of tips right now, visit my video tips page. If you want to preview a sample video before joining the newsletter, scroll to the bottom of that page and you'll find a sample to watch today.

I am excited about making these 45 minutes of free videos available to you. I hope you enjoy them; more importantly, I hope they help you better market your book today.

Tony Eldridge

Marketing Tips Around The Net: April 17th

We have some interesting articles to look at today. Each one will give you ideas on how you can better market your book. Before we do, I wanted to remind you that our contest to win 5 marketing books signed by their authors to the winner of the contest ends this weekend. You still have time to enter now. The marketing books are written by some of the best names in the book marketing business. This contest prize package is valued at over $100. And as an added bonus, I will throw in a signed copy of my own book, the action adventure novel, The Samson Effect. Read the contest post entitled "Contest: Win Signed Library of Marketing Books" for the rules to entry. Remember, this is the last blog announcement you will receive to enter the contest before it's over. Don't wait; enter now.

Now, on to the trip around the net for some great marketing tips.

1. Virtual Author Tour How-To Guide- Penny Sansevieri puts her book marketing experience to use with her tips on building a strong Internet presence the right way.

2. Scams and Ineffective Advertising Opportunities- In our desire to find the perfect marketing activity for our book, we can sometimes become susceptible to some shady business offers. John Kremer lends his wisdom on how to evaluate legitimate opportunities and spot potential scams.

3. 23 Tips To Top Search Engine Rankings- We all want to have our page appear at the top of the search results when people search for the topic of our book or web site. Laksh Khamesra gives some practical tips on how to accomplish this.

4. Come up with 10 Post Ideas- In his series, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, ProBlogger's Darren Rowse gives advice on how to deal with Blogger's Block- running out of things to blog about.

5. Viral Marketing: How To Use Viral Content to Get People Talking About You- Zeke Camusio returns to our blog tour with this no-nonsense approach to viral marketing.

6. Top Gobbledygook phrases used in 2008 and how to avoid them- David Meerman Scott dives into the trite, business slang that we are sometimes tempted to use in our communications. David gives advice on how to void this and even provides a list of some of the top gobbledygook phrases used in 2008.

7. 8 Principles for the Modern Blog …at least for 2009- Jeremiah Owyang provides some key ideas for your consideration as you hone your blogging skills.

8. Online sales: Give people what they want – not what they need- LA Internet Business Examiner's Phyllis Zimbler Miller discusses the psychology of buyers and how to market to them.

9. 4 Ways To Use Images To Enhance Your Blog- Tim Scullin talks about using photos in your blog to make a killer first impression on your visitors and the search engines.

10. Top 10 Marketing Blogs – 2007/2008- Michael Stelzner shares his top picks for the best marketing blogs. Each one is worth taking a peek at.

That ends our tour around the net. No doubt, you will find a ton of ideas in these articles that will help you approach next week's marketing activities fresh and full of excitement. Until then, enjoy the weekend and don't forget to enter the Marketing Books contest.

Tony Eldridge

Marketing Tips Around The Net: April 17th

We have some interesting articles to look at today. Each one will give you ideas on how you can better market your book. Before we do, I wanted to remind you that our contest to win 5 marketing books signed by their authors to the winner of the contest ends this weekend. You still have time to enter now. The marketing books are written by some of the best names in the book marketing business. This contest prize package is valued at over $100. And as an added bonus, I will throw in a signed copy of my own book, the action adventure novel, The Samson Effect. Read the contest post entitled "Contest: Win Signed Library of Marketing Books" for the rules to entry. Remember, this is the last blog announcement you will receive to enter the contest before it's over. Don't wait; enter now.

Now, on to the trip around the net for some great marketing tips.

1. Virtual Author Tour How-To Guide- Penny Sansevieri puts her book marketing experience to use with her tips on building a string Internet presence the right way.

2. Scams and Ineffective Advertising Opportunities- In our desire to find the perfect marketing activity for our book, we can sometimes become susceptible to some shady business offers. John Kremer lends his wisdom on how to evaluate legitimate opportunities and spot potential scams.

3. 23 Tips To Top Search Engine Rankings- We all want to have our page appear at the top of the search results when people search for the topic of our book or web site. Laksh Khamesra gives some practical tips on how to accomplish this.

4. Come up with 10 Post Ideas- In his series, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, ProBlogger's Darren Rowse gives advice on how to deal with Blogger's Block- running out of things to blog about.

5. Viral Marketing: How To Use Viral Content to Get People Talking About You- Zeke Camusio returns to our blog tour with this no-nonsense approach to viral marketing.

6. Top Gobbledygook phrases used in 2008 and how to avoid them- David Meerman Scott dives into the trite, business slang that we are sometimes tempted to use in our communications. David gives advice on how to void this and even provides a list of some of the top gobbledygook phrases used in 2008.

7. 8 Principles for the Modern Blog …at least for 2009- Jeremiah Owyang provides some key ideas for your consideration as you hone your blogging skills.

8. Online sales: Give people what they want – not what they need- LA Internet Business Examiner's Phyllis Zimbler Miller discusses the psychology of successful marketing to people.

9. 4 Ways To Use Images To Enhance Your Blog- Tim Scullin talks about using photos in your blog to make a killer first impression on your visitors and the search engines.

10. Top 10 Marketing Blogs – 2007/2008- Michael Stelzner shares his top picks for the best marketing blogs. Each one is worth taking a peek at.

That's ends our tour around the net. No doubt, you will find a ton of ideas in these articles that will help you approach next week's marketing activities fresh and full of excitement. Until then, enjoy the weekend and don't forget to enter the Marketing Books contest.

Tony Eldridge

10 Ideas for Nontraditional Book Placement

If you have a book in hand or soon will, then you are excited to see it on the shelf of a local bookstore. But with the mega conglomerate bookstores and the tough economy, shelf space at major bookstores is getting harder and harder to come by. But with a little elbow grease and some comfy shoes, you can find a home for your books.

Traditional bookstores are just one place that you can sell your books. Here are some ideas for you to go after. And when you find success with one of these, ask the owner for a referral. Business owners spend time with other business owners. If you present yourself with the confidence of an expert author, then you may be surprised at how many businesses start to contact you for book placements. And here's a tip for you: business owners tend to talk up books to their clients if they had the exciting privilege of meeting the author in person.

One more thing. Non-bookstores won't act like bookstores when it comes to taking on your book. You will be in the drivers seat many times and you can walk the owners through your business arrangement. Many times, your book may be the first book that a business owner tries to sell, so they don't come in with a lot of experience in selling books. How well you work with the business owner can make the difference in them carrying your book or not. It may take different deals to land your book in different businesses so you may need to have a few versions of contracts written to accommodate different deals you make. Here are a couple of arrangements you may work out:

1. Direct Buy: This is easiest for you and the least risky. The business will purchase outright your book at a discounted price and then take the risk to sell them. The only time you will hear from the owner is to sell them more books.

2. Consignment: This is at the other end of the spectrum. Consignment is when you give copies of your book to a business and they will pay you a discounted price if the book sells. You take the risk and you provide the investment, but this arrangement will often make a skeptical business owner decide to give your book a try when he or she may not be inclined to do so otherwise. If your book does well, then they may be willing to make subsequent purchases of your books upfront with a bit of a deeper discount.

Note: generally speaking, the larger the order is, the more willing the business is to make an outright purchase. However, you will need to be ready to deal a deep discount to close a big deal. Know what you can afford to give away to make sure you don't cut so deep that it's a losing proposition for you.

Also, if the business advertises, you may be able to talk them into featuring your book in their ad, especially if you agree to promote it with an in-store event.


Here are some ideas of businesses you may want to approach about carrying your book:

* Gift Shops- The chain shops probably deal with distributors, but you may still find fertile ground here, depending on the subject of your book. And the smaller, independent shops may be easier to strike deals with.

* Gas Stations- These can be great opportunities to sell to people on the road. If your book does well at one store, then you may find that the owners may buy for all his stores. And if you can get in a station that caters to long haul truckers, you may be surprised at how well your book sells.

* Hospital Gift Shops- The hospital is full of patients and family members who often have a lot of time on their hands to read books. Bill yourself as a local author and you may find a great opportunity. And if you can swing it, you may want to offer to donate a portion of the sales to a charity within the hospital.

* Online Specialty Shops- When you come across a business that sells products online, check with the owner to see if they would be willing to list your book. If you watched my video tip on using your search strategies to sell your books, you know that we found a shop that sold wine and beer items that would be perfect to sell our fictitious book on bottle cap collecting. Any online shop that is related to your book in any way is fair game to contact.

* Cross Selling Opportunities- Did you write a murder-mystery that takes place on the golf course? One of our guest authors to this blog, Michael Balkind, did and he successfully placed copies of his books in golf shops. What is your book about? What specialty shops would your book be a natural in, even if they don't currently sell books?

* Televisions Shopping- The Chicken Soup For The Soul's authors cut their teeth on selling their books in the wee hours of the morning on some of these shopping networks. Check out the station's submission guidelines to have your book considered.

* Book Clubs- This is perhaps the most sought after non-traditional opportunity to sell your books. You have to give deep discounts, but you usually get awesome marketing, recognition, and payment in full in return.

* Catalogs- Many catalogs are hungry for hot selling products. If you land a catalog spot and your book does well, you will have a recurring outlet for your book sales.

* Chamber of Commerce Members- Approach the chamber members in your community about selling your books. Chambers are organized to help each other succeed, so they may be fertile ground for you.

* Home Builders/Real Estate Agents- A signed book by a local author is a wonderful housewarming gift for a new homeowner. A basket of fruit rots- your signed book will have a cherished place on the owner's bookshelf for years to come.

The list can literally go on and will only be limited by your imagination. Never ever rule a business out. Would you believe that my action/adventure book, The Samson Effect, has found a home in a print shop and a home improvement store? It has, and I have even refilled orders!

Good luck with finding places to sell your books. You may be surprised at the word of mouth that your book can generate just because you made it visible in a nontraditional place.

Tony Eldridge

5 Tips On Offering Free Samples Effectively

One of the strongest marketing tools you have at your disposal is that of the "Free Sample." Everyone likes to get something of value for little to no cost, right? That's why grocery stores hire the demo ladies to cook up the micro bites of pizza to pass out to shoppers. People in our business give away e-books, videos, trial memberships, sample chapters or excerpts, free reports, white papers, 60 minutes of free consulting time, and the list goes on.

If you are an author, you have the perfect "Free Sample" to give- an excerpt of your book. However, you may want to consider other freebies to add, especially as you build your author platform. But there are some things you may wish to consider as you make your free offer. Here are tips on making your samples really work to attract visitors for you:

1. Offer something of value- As you think of a sample to offer, ask yourself, "What can someone use?" If you are honest with that question, you are going to be far more successful at using your sample as a tool to draw visitors. Your book excerpt is of tremendous value because you are giving someone an opportunity to see if they may like your book before putting their cash on the line.

2. Market the benefit, not the features of the sample- When you make your sample offer, do it in a way that tells people what benefit they will get from the sample, not just what the sample is. For example, you can offer people a free report on customizing their blog or you can offer them a report that will help drive people to their blog by following your tips on customizing it. You can offer an excerpt of your book, or you can invite them to read a portion of your book that will warm their heart and will keep them smiling the whole day.

For you non-fiction authors, this is where you really have an unbelievable opportunity. You can not only give them a taste of your book via an excerpt, you can give them real knowledge they can use today. If you do that well, they will want to read what else you can do for them.

3. Deliver what you promise with the sample- How many times have you seen an offer of an e-book, report or anything free and thought, "Wow, that's just what I have been looking for!", only to find that what you got was a dud? I have, and I bet we all have. For example, I can't tell you how many articles I read where the headline talked about the importance of creating a marketing plan for your book, but when I read the article, it gave no practical tips I could use to create a book marketing plan. The whole article was nothing but statements of how important it is to have a marketing plan and it may have thrown in a few examples of why it's important to have one. In the worse cases, the author offers an e-book or report you can buy to get the answers.

If you are like me, you will have serious doubts that this person can deliver on his or her promise by now. If you promise them the world in the free sample, then you need to deliver. If you let them down with the sample, you will have a tough time getting them to sign up for your newsletters or to purchase your books.

4. Give the best you have- Your free samples are the last place you want to skimp when it comes to quality. I am amazed at people who throw out scraps as samples because they want to keep the juicy stuff in the paid book or product. The truth is, people will use the free sample to decide whether to buy your book or not. You need to not only capture their attention, you also need to overwhelm them with how totally awesome that free sample is. If you do that, then someone will be eager to sign up for your newsletter or buy your book. If your sample is so-so, then so will be people's response to it.

5. Leave them wanting more- The purpose of the sample is to scream to your visitors, "Do you see how great I am? There is much more waiting for you!" The perfect novel excerpt is the one that quickly invests you into the life of a character, sheds light on a goal, and introduces an obstacle. You want the reader to want to buy your book to see what happens.

The perfect excerpt for a non-fiction book is one that addresses a common problem and provides a real solution for the reader to use. There is a time and place to list all the problems your book can solve without providing the solutions (i.e., your table of contents listing or your book description), but it should not be the sample. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest mistakes authors make when using samples. Think how strong your appeal to buy the book will be if you provide an answer to a problem and then say, "My book will also show you how to do this, this, and this."

Samples can be powerful marketing tools for your book. Use them right and you can have people taste your work and be eager to order the whole course.

Tony Eldridge

Submit Articles For Author Exposure- Christopher Vaughn

This week's guest writer is Christopher Vaughn, author of the The Man Beneath Lake Union, a contributor to the online magazine Americanchronicle.com and 21 other affiliated online magazines. He is member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Chris is a prolific writer and will be talking about how regular article submission drives traffic to his book site. He will share tips on how you can do the same for your book.



Submit Articles For Author Exposure
By Christopher Vaughn


Whether you're selling gadgets or widgets, it's no secret that marketing yourself is a daunting task. Especially when you're a self published author!

As daunting as it can be, don't give up, it's not impossible. Since I began taking my writing seriously I’ve taken steps to market my work. I've used word-of-mouth marketing, book trailers, networking on forum type websites, and even unconventional tactics such as placing business cards in books of the same genre. But without a question the marketing technique that has had the largest impact has been doing what I enjoy... writing.

In 2007 I began writing for an online news magazine called American Chronicle and realized its potential to help drive visitors to my personal website, Alleywolf.com. By 2008 I had made the decision to create a reoccurring article that like-minded writers and readers would find useful, and on April 1st 2008 the first "Author-2-Author" article was published.

With my Author-2-Author articles I've been able to interview several New York Times Bestselling authors such as Christine Feehan and author team Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I've also had the opportunity to interview some other great authors like Jeremy Robinson, who also started as a self published author and worked his way to not only a traditional publishing contract but a very decent movie rights sale. Of course, it would be rude to not mention my interview with our host, the great Tony Eldridge of the Samson Effect. But as exciting as it is to rub elbows with well known authors, the real benefits lay in two parts.

First, it allows me to network with other authors who have more experience than I do and since I'm writing the questions, I can direct the interview to get the answers I need. Not to mention that several of the authors I've interviewed or spoken too were originally contacted through queries sent to their agents and publishers... a very useful resource to include in your email marketing campaigns.

The second part is that Author-2-Author has given me some great public exposure at zero cost! According to my website provider 68% of my traffic comes from direct access, bookmarked visitors, and email links. 12.9% of my site's visitors are due to search engines, and 18.3% are due to American Chronicle. Considering that 18.3% of my potential customers are the result of a zero cost advertising campaign, I'm not going to complain. In 2008 my website was visited 18,403 times… without paying for any search engine boosters like Google’s AdWords.

A check of my American Chronicle statistics shows that my articles in 2008 were read by 15,887 readers, two of which included articles I wrote regarding my own work, 'Garbage Vortex' with 1,112 readers and 'I See Aliens' with 573 readers. My interview with Tony Eldridge has thus far been read by 937 people, which at the moment is beating my interview with Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child by 84 readers. With the articles remaining on American Chronicle’s searchable database, the more I write, the stronger my no-cost-advertising campaign gets. Since my very first article on American Chronicle in 2007 I've gained a readership of 26,111 readers!

Hopefully by now you're saying to yourself, "So how do I get in on this?" Simple, visit their website and click on the 'send us info' link. They then give you three options: press releases and announcements, website submissions, and established contributors. Visit their writer information page and follow their instructions. Then write, write, and write some more.

My main website: www.Alleywolf.com

My American Chronicle article page
http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/1874

American Chronicle home page
www.AmericanChronicle.com

Create Your Author Platform in 10 Steps

Whether you are a seasoned author or just dipping the tip of your toe in the waters of writing your book, it won't be long before you hear that you will need to have an "author platform" if you wish to sell your book with any success. And if you are looking to land a contract with a traditional publisher, having an author platform can mean the difference between being published and not being published. So, what is a platform and what do you need to do to develop one?

An author platform is your sphere of influence when it comes to your notoriety. It encompasses many things that converge to tell the world who you are and why you are a person to listen to when you have something to say. The greater your platform, the higher your book advance. That's why ex-presidents, celebrities, and previous bestselling authors can command multimillion dollar advances. A platform tells a publisher that if they take on your book, their risk exposure is limited because you have people who already know who you are that will hear about your book.

Ideally, a platform will tie in to the subject of your book. For example, if you are an oncologist, you will probably have a stronger platform if you write a book about cancer than if you write a book on the history of NASCAR. However, if you are an oncologist who blogs every weekend about NASCAR, then you may have a platform for your History of NASCAR book that other oncologists won't have.

That said, you can still leverage your current platform for an unrelated book. How? Because if you have any authority in your field, and if you are followed by others, then you can use that to help you promote your book. This is exactly what actors and actresses do when they come out with books on subject matters that they hardly qualify as being an expert on. However, they have people who know who they are, who are willing to listen to what they have to say, and are ready to buy a book that they write. You can use the same premise to leverage your platform with your new book.

Here are 10 tips on how to create your author platform:

1. Chose a subject related to your book and become an expert on that subject. Blog about it, submit articles about it, speak on it. The more you communicate on the subject, the more you are building your author platform.

2. Comment on other people's work. Visit blogs that deal with the same subject matter and lend your authoritative voice to the conversation.

3. Create articles for giveaways on your site for people to download or read on the subject.

4. Take advantage of guilt by association. Who are the perceived experts with the same platform? Find them, communicate with them and submit writings to the same places that publish their writings. If you are able, go to the same conferences and conventions they go to.

5. Join appropriate trade associations. If your subject has professional associations, then look into joining one or two.

6. Become active in civic/community organizations. Not only will you get your name out there, but you will find speaking opportunities through those groups that may give you air time or get your message in print.

7. Become active in a charity relating to your platform. Many organizations desperately need volunteers to carry on their good work. You may find yourself in a position of helping with a noble cause while gaining notoriety in that role.

8. Mentor others who are looking to build the same platform that you are building. This can be one-on-one or by teaching classes or conducting seminars. This is a way to position yourself solidly in a leadership role regarding your platform.

9. From business cards, e-mail signatures to personal meetings, always introduce yourself as it relates to your platform. "I'm Tony Eldridge, oncologist and NASCAR historian..." If you have two separate platforms you are cultivating, you may want to have your business collateral separate (i.e., one business card for your oncology practice, another for your NASCAR gig).

10. Stay up to date in current news/events relating to your platform and comment early when news breaks. Don't be afraid to strongly state your opinions. Experts are people who commentate on important events; reporters are people who regurgitate it. Be an expert, not a reporter.

All of this can be summarized to say:

1. Know your platform well
2. Communicate your platform well
3. Commentate on on your platform well

Do this, and not only will your followers continue to follow you, but your platform, sphere of influence, and your credibility will get stronger and stronger over time.


Two Quick Notes:

1. The new videos tips are out. You should be getting your e-mail soon with this week's tip and link location. If you have not joined the Marketing Tips For Authors Video Newsletter, then you can do so now. This week's video walks you through how to use a back door way to create multiple pages on your blogger blog and how to integrate your Blogger blog into your current website.

2. Make sure you enter the "Win A Signed Library Of Book Marketing Books" contest going on now through April 19th where you can win a library of book marketing books signed by their authors to the contest winner.

Tony Eldridge

Contest: Win Signed Library of Marketing Books

**Update** Join me in congratulating Christina McWaters for winning the library of signed marketing books from some of the top experts in the business! She is working on her first book now and is already thinking ahead to marketing it. Congratulations, Christina!

**Update** The winner has been contacted. I am waiting to hear back from her.

**Update** This contest is now closed. Once the winner has been confirmed and contacted, we will update this post. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who entered and to the authors who graciously agreed to sign their books to the winners. Stay tuned for further contests.

Today, in lieu of my normal Friday marketing tips from around the net, I am using the post to introduce you to a new contest that gives you the chance to win copies of 5 books from book marketing experts who have contributed articles to my blog. What's cool is that these authors have agreed to inscribe the book personally to the winner of the contest. Here are the quick details.

(Oh, make sure you sign up for free weekly marketing video tips . You can see the sign-up link in the right column --->)

When:

The contest will run from now through Sunday, April 19th. The winner will be chosen on Monday, April 20th.

Prizes:

Signed copy of the following, personally inscribed to the winner

Red Hot Internet Publicity- Penny Sansevieri
1001 Ways To Market Your Book- John Kremer
The Frugal Book Promoter- Carolyn Howard-Johnson
The Naked Author- Kat Smith
Successful Social Marketing*- Dana Lynn Smith
The Samson Effect- Yours Truly (not a marketing book, but a heck of a prize anyway!)

*Successful Social Marketing is an e-book due out in late April. Dana Lynn Smith will send you the e-book with a personal message in lieu of signing a physical book.

**UPDATE** Carolyn Howard-Johnson has graciously added an e-book copy of both The Frugal Editor and The Frugal Book Promoter to her physical copy of The Frugal Book Promoter for the contest.

How To Enter:

Entering is free. Just use your Twitter account to complete both steps below:

1. Retweet the following message exactly, as it's entered below. Our program will look for this exact phrase to capture your entry, so please do not alter/add to it in any way:

RT @tonyeldridge Win library of book marketing books personally inscribed to the winner by their authors: http://tinyurl.com/dhf5bs

Copy and paste the above message (tweet) and send it in your Twitter account.


2. Follow me on Twitter- If you have not done so already, follow me on Twitter. Visit my Twitter profile at http://twitter.com/tonyeldridge and click the "Follow Me" button under my picture.

If you don't have a Twitter account, you can create a new one for free at:
http://twitter.com/

That's it! Once you complete both steps, you will be entered in the contest for the signed marketing library. Remember, the contest runs through Sunday, April 19th. Good luck all!

Twitter is an amazingly popular micro-blog that allows you to send and receive updates (Tweets) that are 140 characters or less. Here is a video to explain a little more about Twitter in plain English if you are not familiar with it.




Tony Eldridge

Create Relationships On The Internet With Key Websites- John Kremer

Today's blog is one I have been anticipating for a while. Book marketing expert and guru (a word I do not use lightly), John Kremer, has agreed to share with Marketing Tips For Authors readers the most important promotion you can do on the Internet for your book. John's decades of book marketing experience and bona fide sales success is available to you through his website at Bookmarket.com, his blog, and in his many books and products including his 700+ page book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. An entire blog post can be devoted to uncovering the gems and resources he has for authors at his website and blog. You will be doing yourself a favor by visiting it and poking around. No doubt you will leave with some nuggets of advice you will want to put to use today.


Create Relationships On The Internet With Key Websites
Book Marketing Advice from John Kremer

The most important promotion you can do on the Internet is to create relationships with the key websites that your targeted readers are already visiting on a regular basis. You want to look for websites that fit these criteria:

• Rated among the top 30 for the keywords that your readers would type into Google to find websites featuring content like your book. For example, if you are writing on crocheting Halloween costumes, you'd type in Halloween costumes or crocheting costumes or the full keyword: crocheting Halloween costumes.
  
  
• Ranked among the top half million websites according to Alexa.com. Rankings in Alexa roughly reflect the number of visitors to that website: The lower a website's Alexa rank, the greater the number of unique monthly visitors to that website. You want to contribute content to websites with lots of traffic.
  
  
• The website features content contributed by other people. If a website features little outside content, you will have a tough time creating a relationship with that website. You'll find that many government, educational, and association websites feature very little contributed content. Also, some retail websites are reluctant to accept outside content.
  
  
• Check to see that the website is open to the kind of content you can contribute. If you like to write articles, does the website feature articles written by outside contributors? If you like to be interviewed, does the site actively interview outside contributors?
  
  
• Finally, can you control the content? Wikipedia entries are often highly rated in Google, but such entries are hard to contribute to and, more important, hard to control. Anyone else can come in after you and edit your contribution.
  

The protocol on the Internet is that if you contribute content to another website, that website has an obligation to link back to your website (or blog or Amazon sales page) with a credit line you write. Note: The top-rated websites are always looking for new content. That's one of the key ways they stay top-rated by Google and top-ranked by Alexa.

New content draws repeat visitors. Most websites can't create all the content they need to stay top-rated. Hence, they need you. All you have to do is determine the content they like to feature that matches the content you can provide. Content might include articles, guest blogs, blog comments, interviews (written or audio), teleseminars, radio shows, Q&A columns, book reviews, book excerpts, forum posts, and videos.

Remember to target high-traffic visible websites focused on the keywords which reflect the topic of your book. You can have all sorts of great content on your website, but if no one comes, it really doesn't matter. That's why you want to contribute great content to websites that area already getting the traffic you crave.

Over time, as you contribute to more and more high traffic websites and get links back to yours, your website will become more highly rated and more often visited. That's the goal of Internet marketing: getting eyeballs. Note that the above advice applies to fiction and poetry as well as nonfiction. With fiction, your targeted keywords might be horror thriller or contemporary romance or John Grisham (if your novel is a thriller in the style and plot of a Grisham novel). You'd want to find high-traffic websites that feature author interviews, book reviews, fiction excerpts, and fan interaction.

With poetry, your targeted keywords might be rhyming poem or e.e. cummings or absurdist poetry. Or, if your poetry has a theme (such as golf), your keywords would be golf poem or golf poetry or golfing poet. There are thousands of websites that feature poems and poets.

Creating relationships takes work. It's not necessarily easy in the beginning to track down the people behind the websites who decide what to feature on the website. But it can be done. Your goal should be to create one new relationship per day (if you are working full time on marketing your book) or two to three new relationships per week if you ware working part time.

The neat thing about taking the time to create these relationships is that they can be good for a long time. You can go back to the same websites and blogs again and again to contribute new content. In my Ten Million Eyeballs online marketing course, I start with a ten-hour lesson on how to create relationships because they are the basis for everything else you will do on the Internet to market your books, including giving things away free, doing joint venture campaigns, creating viral videos, and building viral websites.

This first step of creating relationships should not be ignored no matter how much Internet promoters want to sell you on the next hot thing. Without these relationships, your marketing campaign becomes a one-hit temporary wonder (at best) or a complete bust (at worst). Your goal should be to create long-term relationships that will help you sell books for years to come – with less and less effort!

-- John Kremer is the author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, webmaster of BookMarket.com (top ten rated in Google for more than 100 keywords), and developer of the Ten Million Eyeballs online marketing course. For more information, see http://www.tenmillioneyeballs.com.

HTML Or Text Newsletter Format: 10 Considerations

There are two basic formats you can choose when you send out your newsletters to your subscribers: HTML or text. Many Email Service Providers (ESPs) give you the choice to choose to send out both, that way if someone only accepts text, they will receive the text version rather than a text rendering of the HTML format (which can look very yucky). But the format you SHOULD choose may surprise you. Here is a comparison of features for you to consider when you choose the format of your newsletter:


Text vs HTML Head to Head

Round One: Interactivity- The ability for the reader to interact with the e-mail message itself via quizzes, embedded videos, animation, photos, and much more. HTML allows rich, colorful content. Text has virtually no interactivity except in allowing a reader to click on a full hyperlink...
***Advantage: HTML***

Round Two: Ease To Read- Ultimately, newsletters deliver one thing of value- information. To do this well, you have to make sure the content is easy to read. Most people who use text format don't know how to format the newsletter for ease of read, though it can be done. (i.e., you need to to manually adjust each line to be no more than 65 characters long, you need to change the curly " and ' marks you pasted from MS Word to straight quote marks or they will turn into strange looking symbols, and you need to make headings stand out).
***Advantage: HTML***

Round Three: Security- By it's nature, HTML is more susceptible to carrying security breaches. Because of this, many end users opt not to receive HTML e-mail.
***Advantage: TEXT***

Round Four: Deliverability- For many reasons, including that mentioned in Round Three, HTML is not always delivered to the subscribers. Under certain circumstances, the e-mail may even be blocked at the server before the subscriber even sees the message. Text formats have far fewer deliverability issues, meaning more of your messages will reach the subscriber.
***Advantage: TEXT***

Round Five: Privacy- With text messages, everything is laid bare for you to see. With HTML message, the sender can often hide things in the code (i.e., tracking links, affiliate links). HTML messages even send an invisible image, that when the e-mail is opened, sends back stats to the sender so they can track what percentage of the HTML messages are opened.
***Advantage: TEXT***

Round Six: Offline Reading- Many HTML messages have images or videos linked to a server. If the reader is not connected to the internet when reading the e-mail, then that content is not viewable. By its nature and limitations, text messages are always readable offline.
***Advantage: TEXT***

Round Seven: Ease To Create- This is a slam dunk. Text newsletters are much, much easier to create. There is no code that you need to know. If fact, the ease to create is such an advantage that it often contributes to the poor formatting that gives HTML the advantage it has in Round Two- Ease To Read.
***Advantage: TEXT***

Round Eight: File Size- With all things equal, the smaller the file size needed to deliver your message, the better. HTML file sizes can often take much longer to open in your subscriber's e-mail program, especially if they are downloading their messages from the server to a program like Outlook.
***Advantage: TEXT***

Round Nine: Aesthetics- No doubt about it, HTML is almost always much prettier and appealing to look at. Color, photots, videos, font styles all conspire to create eye candy that can make your subscribers enjoy the reading experience.
***Advantage: HTML***



THE KNOCKOUT ROUND

I saved the best for last. In fact, it really doesn't matter who wins in Rounds 1-9, the winner of Round Ten should be the one you always go with when sending out your newsletter- Always.

Round Ten: Testing- To really find out which format to send your newsletter out in, you need to test both and go with the winner. Actually, you need to test all three (HTML, Text, and Both- remember, some ESPs give you the choice of sending out one or the other, or both). Depending on the following factors, you may find that the text format gives you consistently better conversions. And if that's the case, you need to put on your business hat, do away with the personal preference, and deliver the message in text.. at least until, through your testing, you find an HTML version that can beat your text message. Here are the factors that may give the text format an advantage with your newsletter:

* Your subscribers- some subscribers types will set their default to receive text only. If you have a lot of these, then text may be the way to go.
* The ease of getting your message through the spam filters.
* The length/complexity and timeliness of your message. While some message may be too complex for text only, when you need to respond quickly to a time sensitive message, text can be the way to go.

Testing will tell you which format to send. In my last position, I tested our newsletters in Text and HTML format fully expecting to have more conversions with our HTML format. I was surprised to find that our text messages consistently delivered more sales than the HTML version. Since my main job was to increase sales, it became silly for me to continue to use HTML until I could find an HTML format to convert more sales than the text format.

Are you looking to get people to sign up for a newsletter, make a sale, or visit a page? Then test both formats and let the winner of the test determine the format you will use. Then, continue to test and improve your text and HTML messages until you fully optimize your newsletter.

The bottom line is this: It doesn't matter how eloquent your argument is for one format or the other, if you are going against the winner of your tests, you are missing out on the success you are trying to achieve in your newsletter. And never trust your gut for any length of time without testing to see if your intuition is correct.

***Advantage: Toss-Up***

**NOTE** A couple of options that I did not mention are delivering your newsletter in a PDF download or sending a link that the subscriber can visit to view your newsletter online. Personally, I don't like to add steps that subscribers have to take before they get to my message, but that's my gut and if I test these two as well, I will have an unbiased answer to how they affect my conversion rate.


Good luck finding the perfect format to deliver your message in. Approach it like a business and you will have no problem doing the best thing to sell your book.


Tony Eldridge