Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources
Last night was the launch of the International Association of Aspiring Authors.
The program was kicked of with a webinar with publishing industry trainers and I was included to talk about social media and book marketing.
You can view or listen to the presentation here
Are you aspiring to be an author? Start with the FREE Book Marketing Strategy Course for Authors I gave away during the call. As a reader of Best Seller Book Marketing Blog, you get it too.
As we prepare to go into 2010 I want to share with you how we can make a real difference and help each other.
This time last year I had an idea to give away some gifts for New Year’s Day. I wrote this blog post on Twitter Handbook and started using the #Happy09 tag on tweet for a little contest.
Soon it seemed that everyone on Twitter was using #Happy09 and it became the most popular term on Twitter for 3 days.
We had a lot of fun, and soon went way beyond the contest to talk about what we thought was really important.. conversations, relationships, happiness. I ultimately gave away the gifts to April Tara when she asked if it was okay to share all the gifts (April got the message! Read her post about it here).
Since #Happy09, I’ve heard from the people involved many times. New friendships were made, joint ventures started and even some new clients for myself and others, but Twitter has grown by over 1000% and it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever see this again.
But why not try?
Yesterday, I got thinking of what would make for a great #Happy10. The hashtag (that’s the made up word staring with #) was easy enough to come up with and I felt a contest wasn’t right. What we need today is a way to share the spirit of GIVING that makes social media perfect for authors and others sharing a message.
I connected with @ThomScott, Colleague of @BobBurg who co-authored the best selling book The Go-Giver with John David Mann. Thom is one of the most giving people I know. I asked if he and Bob could join me on Friday night for my Twitter radio show and do a special on giving and show an example of how Twitter users are going to give more in 2010. Thom and Bob said yes and the #Happy10 idea was good to go.
We will have lots of examples of authors, business people and entrepreneurs who have used GIVING to get more results in marketing and can say they have a more fulfilling life. I’ll also be asking Thom and Bob about their philosophy of book promotion and how they have sold hundreds of thousands of copies of Bob’s books and made multiple best sellers.
What you’ve read above is exactly what happened. I didn’t have to rent space, pre-order equipment or get an approval for Twitter or a government agency. More important.. I absolutely did not, and will not set hard and fast rules about how the promotion needs to go.
I have objectives.
I want to see my readers, listeners and everyone get the message of “giving”
I hope to see Bob and Thom sell a few more books and some people remember the radio show
It will be nice that some new people read this blog post and notice what business I’m in
That’s about it. All this will happen and MORE. I can imagine hearing stories in comments here, tweets on Twitter and likely will run into people during the next year who will say “Hi Warren.. You don’t know me but I watched #Happy10.” I also fully expect to see an outcome I have not thought of. I know this can happen because it always does.
Social media marketing is not something you can or would want to completely control. The thousands (and sometimes millions) of people that get involved will have ideas you could not dream of and will carry your message far beyond what you expected.
Please join me in sharing #Happy10. All you have to do is add “#Happy10” to any tweet you think appropriate. There are NO RULES… If you have an idea of how we all can give more for 2010.. more value, more service, more love, more sharing, more content.. just tweet them to me (use @WarrenWhitlock in the message if you want to make sure I see it) or comment here.
Share a link to this blog post by using the RETWEET button or the sharing options below… then watch for #Happy10 tweets using TweetChat or Twitter Search. When you see someone talking about giving (or whatever interests you) REPLY to them and start a conversation. If you use the #Happy10 tag for these conversations it would be nice.. but please don’t feel you have to (NO RULES).
Let me know if you have a positive outcome. I’ll be doing interview on the Social Media Radio Show and will be looking for authors and entrepreneurs who find new people they can help, readers or business ideas so I can feature you in an upcoming blog post.
Most of all.. HAVE FUN… Share your ideas about GIVING and have a prosperous New Year (or #Happy10 as we say on Twitter)
the age of social media, we often hear that email is dead or at least an outdated technology for connecting with your readers.
True, email mailing response is down, but unless you have a huge following online already, you need to have a mailing list and stay in touch with readers and prospective readers.
Even more.. people working in publishing, vendors, media and a large number of readers (your end customers) will still want have a way to connect with you and stay in touch that they are comfortable with. For the time being, that certainly includes email.
I recommend building a database of those that opt in to hear form you, answering email enquiries as fast as you can, and giving readers in any medium easy ways to close the loop and stay in touch. Communicate on your blog (and others through comments), social media, and email.
To grow your mailing list with people that would like to hear from you, join my FREE Email List Buliding Network
Here’s some help managing the email overload we all face today.
Think of email as if you were are store with customers coming in the front door. A busy store will hire help, change pricing, set hours or publish guidelines on signs, but never think of closing the doors when customers are flooding in.
Like the store with vistors, buyers and VIP customers, put policies into place to handle everything.
Most of all, don’t wait till you are on top of the best seller list. Building capacity to handle the crowd will be a key asset in getting you there.
Free Training for authors.. click to register
You put so much into your book.
Not just the time it takes to write and edit, not just the publishing and promotion and marketing of your book. The content in your book represents you, your life experience and everything your had up to the release of your book.
That’s a sizable investment.
Many of our most successful authors report that an audio CD product based on their book has produced more income, created more opportunities for the author and reached people that would have never gotten around to reading their book.
I believe that any author can easily create an audio CD information product from their book, so I’ve asked my friend Mike Stewart, the Internet Audio Guy, to come on a FREE Webinar this week and show you how.
There is no charge for this event. You see, Mike has the contacts and the technology to produce instant audio and video. He has built relationships with hundreds of online entrepreneurs and supplies equipment, software and services for their studios. If you decide you want to buy equipment to make better audio and video, Mike is the guy to see.
But here’s the SECRET.
We know you you will buy from people that you know, like and trust. We don’t need to give you a sales pitch.. in fact both Mike and I have found that most of what you need is in the computer you already own, and you don’t need a high pressure sales pitch when you are ready for new stuff. We’d rather see that you are profitable from the start.
So here’s my promise to you…
Register for the webinar for free. I’ll be there with Mike and we will pour in every bit of information we can. Including STEP BY STEP instructions on how you can produce your own income producing audio CD programs. If you’d like, we’ll let you know how to get more from Mike. If not, we just hope you’ll tell your friends that Warren and Mike give real value when they teach a class.
Here’s how you register.
If you have a question about the program, you can ask in a comment here and I will personally answer.
The training is completely free. All you need is a computer with a live Internet connection.
As an author you are considered an expert in the field in which your book is written. The press is always looking for experts to interview, especially during a timely news release. For example, my book on Social Networking for Authors recently drummed up some good press as someone interviewed me about the popularity of Facebook. The press called me because they noticed I was an expert in the field of Social Networking. You can get the same exposure for free, by going to PitchRate.com.
Pitch Rate is a free service that connects journalists with subject experts for free media coverage.
Simply create an account at Pitch Rate and fill in your profile as completely as possible. Your profile is what members of the press read before they decide to contact you. This is your chance to show the world what you are an expert at and why you should be considered an expert.
You can set your account to receive daily emails from Pitch Rate to see who is looking for experts in your area. Requests can be easily sorted by category or keywords by visiting the “Search Requests” tab once you’ve signed in. Once you’ve found a request you’re interested in, simply make a pitch and all of your contact info contained in your profile will automatically be attached. At this point, it’s just a matter of playing the waiting game to see if someone is interested in you and your book.
One of the constant struggles I see with authors is the need to be continually marketing your book to be successful. A website like PitchRate.com is great for authors to be able to quickly set up an account and receive marketing opportunities for an extended period of time. With just a few minutes of work, an author can expose him or herself to potentially hundreds of press opportunities.
For more tips and tricks on how to sell a ton of books, go to Michael Volkin’s new website SellaTonofBooks.com and purchase his new book Social Networking for Authors-Untapped Possibilities for Wealth.
