Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

My Argument With Best Selling Author Seth Godin

Seth Godin started it.

He has this crazy idea to build traffic for his web site by encouraging people to argue

I heard about a hot new technology that I thought would be great for promoting authors. But when I got there, I saw the part about arguements, and build this lens

Hey Seth! Arguments are a Waste of Time

I have a lot of respect for Seth, and love the Squidoo site. When you go to the link above and vote to agree with me about arguments, stick around for a few minutes and see how easy it is to set up your own “lens” (page) on that site. You can get free traffic for your projects, more respect as the expert on your topic, sell books and even earn a little bit of money for your efforts.

Remember to post a comment when you see something that’s interesting. Every comment is your mark that you were there. By joining in the discussion, you are seen by hundreds or thousands of readers, some will want to know you better and come to your site.

Why You Want to Comment on Blog Posts

I’ve written a few times about the power of blog cross promotion.

Still, some authors ask if it’s worth the time and if will really work for them.

Yes! There is nothing more powerful in online promotion than the simple comments you post. In the past 48 hours, I posted a book marketing tip and encouraged comments. Then I went to the blogs or web sties of the commenters and posted comments or signed up for the newsletters.

Results, I strengthen two joint venture relationships and privately discussed making more money together. Plus, I found a new partner to cross promote with, and recommended another to a friend I work with.

These releatoinships will be worth thousands of dollars in commission.

But what about the time commitment.

The time to post an honest comment on a blog is a little as a few seconds, and certainly less than five minutes. If you weren’t reading blogs, it could be a major change in behavior, a learning curve and then maybe some time each day… but I know you are reading blogs, because you are reading this!

To leave a comment, just scroll down to the bottom of the blog post and click on the comment link. (sometimes a form is already on the page you are reading). The first time you leave a comment on a blog, you will need to type in your name, email address (always kept private) and your URL (you want to do this, it gets you the link you want).

Then put in a couple of lines about what you think of the article you just read.

That’s all it takes. You get a qualified link back to your web site, a new relationship, and a chance to show your expertise online.

Here’s some of the blog articles I found from recent comments on this blog:

Dreams Become Reality

The love tank

Making Money With Your Blog

Much Ado About Nothing Exegesis

Take a moment now and click on any of these links. Then tell the author what you thought of his/her posts. It’s okay to mention your book title or business in the comments.

Don’t be surprised if you see some new business from this.

Marketing Book Review: “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”

I was prepping for a class teaching online book marketing and came across David Meerman Scott’s “The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing * online media to reach buyers directly”… and since I haven’t posted a review, thought it would be appropriate to share it here.

The book came out last year, and uses numbers from 2006, but there isn’t anything in the book that wouldn’t be appropriate for authors to put into action right now. As Scott admits at the end of the book “I don’t expect you to implement all of this as I haven’t myself.” I admit the same. There is a lot to keep up with to market today.

The key point Scott makes in “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” is that we should not be pitching media for coverage. There are millions of bloggers, social networking leaders, and other who are already having discussions on your topic. All of them need content, and once you start getting a reputation online, the traditional media will find you in search engines.

The recommend actions for an authors wanting to become a best seller online are much like I talk about here.  I’ve summed these up in terms of author promotion, but companies are advised to do the same things.

  1. Get a blog and post quality content
  2. Comment on other blogs
  3. Issue press releases designed to be read by your readers
  4. Make sure you are present on social networking sites.

If you have a background in PR or marketing, you’ll especially like the Scott’s frame of reference. The book is written in a style that anyone can follow. The examples show how many authors, bloggers and companies have found new readers, launched products, increased sales and made best sellers.

Do these an you will see more traffic, readers and sales of your book.  Post a comment here and let me know how you are planning on getting more web presence, or ask a quesition about book marketing so I can answer

Web 2.0 is a Farce.. Nothing New About Social Media

In 1995, FastCompany debuted with this cover.

We knew that computers were more than number crunching machines way before that and use out PC’s to connect with modems to BBS (bulletin board systems) and send messages about topics of interest (mostly tech, but there were long threads about current events, politics, religion).

And since when is the idea of giving a friend a tip on what movie, music, TV or product they would like a Internet idea?

Granted, the new technology has allowed us to be online constantly, keep in touch with more people quicker and stay in touch with old friends while developing new friends.

It’s a must for any author marketing his book today.

Speaking of marketing. What about the “new idea” that the consumers are in control?

Weren’t they always in control of what they decided to consume and purchase?

There was a period of time when large advertisers seemed to get the upper hand. Spend enough money on national TV ads and people will try your product.

The key word is “try” not “love”

David Ogilvy, in “Confessions of an Adveriisng Man” in the 1960’s told us that we could get a consumer to try a product, but if the product sucked, the advertising would just speed up it’s demise.

With today’s technologies, your bad product or false promises will spread faster than ever. You might try to fool some of the people some of the time, but with social media and networking technologies, you can’t fool all the people all of the time (not a new idea either)