Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

Does Your Book Get the Attention the Author Deserves?

We live in an attention economy today. There is no doubt about it.. so much information, you’ll never keep up.

For your book to stand out, you need to do something more than YELL THE LOUDEST.. no, yelling usually doesn’t work and is annoying.

The secret is.. we all really want more information. There are readers out there that want what your book offers, if only they knew about you and how the book fulfills their perception of needs and want.

Many author come to us hoping that our blast to millions of readers will click, and in fact, a few million emails sent to opt in readers of other newsletters and blog will get you to the best seller lists. However, the vast majority of reader will not get that day’s email blast.. they don’t subscribe or don’t resonate with the message.

But they do want to read, learn, grow, solve problems or enjoy your book.

So how do you reach them?

Go where they are looking for information. Hundreds of thousands a day are joining social networks, millions are sending text messages (to each other.. please don’t spam us) and having conversations on Twitter.com, Utterz.com and many others.

“But I looked at Twitter and just don’t get it”

Joining a online community is not like buying an ad. You can’t just place a message and hope that the phone rings. (and today, who has time for more phone calls<g>)

Think of these communities like a party. If you go to the event, stand in the corner and wonder why you aren’t invited to dance, you probablly won’t due as well as the people that get involved in the conversations already going on.

Here’s how to get involved quickly and find out if the conversation is right for you…

First off, accept the fact that not every party (social network) will work for you. But you won’t know until  you try.

I’m going to use Twitter.com as an example here because it’s so easy to join, use, and extend through technology. If you have a cell phone, laptop or public terminal handy, you can send a “tweet” (that’s a 140 character or less.. 10 to 15 words) that tells your followers what’s up.

  1. Join the network http://Twitter.com
  2. Find some people to interact with.. Use http://Twitter.com/warrenwhitlock to follow me. All you do is look for that box under my photo that says FOLLOW and click it.
  3. Likely many people in your address book use Twitter.

Best Selling Author Works When And Where He Wants

I helped Pat O Bryan launch Portable Empires last year… Best Selling Author is just one of the things Pat does in his spare time.

As Pat puts it.. you can see that life today can be all spare time

It’s not about how hard you are working.. it’s about what you get done. Pat has it right (except for the odd coffee shop choices)

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.

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)

When Your Are Connected, Book Marketing is Easier

I’m working with Larry Benet, the most connected person I know.

At the Rich Prosperity Blog, I wrote:

Everything you do will be amplified by the power of connections.

When you think about what you could accomplish if you just had the connections… you know that it could

  • Open up opportunities
  • Increase your earnings
  • Double productivity