Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

Connect Your Book With Real World

One of the few areas growing in publishing is the Blogoshpere. While others are shutting down, worried that e-books or the economy will kill sales.. the bloggers I know are talking about bigger advances, best sellers and respect from media and publishers.

How to connect with Bloggers.

There are millions of blogs and bloggers. The vast majority are splogs (blogs set up to spam) or static, underutilized locations with a few posts talking about themselves.

These are NOT the ones to talk to 🙂

Instead, meet the bloggers. They love to congregate. There is a blog meetup or seminar every week in some cities.

This is how Twitter Revolution got started. I wanted to connect with bloggers to promote books, found them online, at blogger conventions and on Twitter. I started using Twitter just to promote other’s books.

At a recent convention, I met Murry Newlands. He pulled out a camera and asked me about my book. You’ll see that I didn’t have one in hand.

Murray did not edit the interview.. put it up on YouTube and I just grabbed th code from them to embed here (a simple cut and paste).

Now I’ll add a link back to Murray to thank him and encourage him to talk about my book and this site.

Watch the video and see how easy this is:

http://www.murraynewlands.com/2009/10/warren-whitlock-an-interview/

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How Can An Author Find Time To Build A Netork of Authors and Readers Online

By now, you have seen the power of social media marketing for authors to attract new readers, sell your books and build a launch promotion to make you a best seller online

There are many networks you need to join, accounts you need to create and update and then the myriad of relationships to keep track of

How will you get to them all? How can you take advantage of the power of social marketing in a reasonable amount of time.

My friend Adam DesAutels is a powerful networker using the social media sites and Web 2.0. He has been testing a service call Ping.FM and has this review.

The Shortcut for Authors Looking for Media Exposure

Are you still waiting for Oprah to call?

News show, interview programs and reporters of all types now depend on blogs and social media to get their ideas.

Debbie Weil posted the stats.. 75% of reports are reading blogs

Get know online, get a blog and user profile at the social networking sites.. participate by leaving a comment when you read a good blog post. It works.

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)

The Secret to Selling Books Online

Selling books online is faster, easier and more profitable than traditional book store sales, yet most authors are missing out on most of these sales because they haven’t learned the secret to online book promotion.

I am going to tell you the secret, and give you a quick action plan to start using the secret right now.

The secret is simple. It comes from my marketing mantra “Find out what they want and get it for them.” In online book marketing, you know where the market is. Your readers are on the Internet, in social networking groups, web sites, blogs and media sites. They want to find meaningful discussions on topic that interest them.

You have to be there to be seen.

That the secret — To sell more books online, you and your book have to BE ONLINE.

I said it was simple.

Now, ask yourself.. have you put off:

  1. Building an online mail list
  2. Writing a blog about your topic.
  3. Making comments on other blogs
  4. Creating a profile on social network sites
  5. Tracking your online reputation.

I know the answers for most of us.. “I’m going to get to that when…” No more excuses. Let do something today.

Today’s reader starts by reading about you on the Internet. If they know you, they may be searching for you on Amazon.com, but more likely, they search for word or phrases that they are interested in.

So let’s find out where you are.. right now. Open a browser search and type in the key words or subject of your book. Look at the top page or two of results.

You and your book should be at the top of this list. Let’s talk about what best seller authors do to get to the top and stay there.

While you have the list in front of you, take a look at what does come up. I’ll be there are other books, blogs and videos. Find one that is interesting and see if they have a community, comment section or area to join. Get on the list, post a comment and find a way to participate.

Don’t SPAM the site. Add value to the discussion and put one link back to you and your book website. This is not a place for a promotional message.

There are millions of blog sites out there. Do a search by adding the word “blog” and you’ll see plenty of places to join a discussion. All these writers and readers are interested in YOUR topic.

Get involved in the conversations that are already happening online.

There are forums, social networking sites, photo sharing sites, video sites, podcasts and more.

The secret to this is to get started. Then make it a habit to spend a few minutes each day (or a few times a week) to check in with sites where your potential readers hang out.

You are already online surfing the web, checking email. You are reading a blog right now. The next step is to network online and build relationships that will promote you and your book.

Does it work?

Timothy Ferriss, author of the New York Times Bestseller “The Four Hour Work Week” told me that networking with blogs and bloggers was a primary marketing tool for his rise to the top.

High tech “social marketing” authors are turning out books in this new field. Many are instant best sellers because they have a following they have build up on their blogs. In the tech world, online relationships and networking are everywhere. If you don’t have a high tech topic, you are at an advantage.. you still can be at the start of this revolution.

Don’t just “go online” .. today you have to “be online”

By now, you’ve left at least one comment on a relevant blog. (if not, what are you waiting for?) Post another comment here and tell me what you think of this article. As long as it’s relevant to the topic, it’s okay to add a link out to your own book site.