Do you blog? Do you comment at other blog sites related to your topic/genre? I know all too well how difficult it is to do all of the promotion it takes in order to succeed with a book project. It’s impossible to do everything you should be doing and cover all of your bases. Here’s a tip that could become a good habit for authors with books to promote.
This tip is especially valuable to those of you with nonfiction books whether your topic is pets/animals, childhood or teen issues, sports, household subjects, traveling, writing, grandparenting, history, religion, spirituality or?????? If there is an audience for your book (and you wouldn’t have produced it if there wasn’t), there will be other blogs, websites, newsletters, magazines and so forth reflecting the topic. Here’s the hour and a half morning (or night-time) book promotion exercise I recommend for busy authors.
1: Before you post your informative blog for your potential audience, use Google Alerts to locate posts on other blog sites related to the theme of your book—those directed at your target audience.
2: Where appropriate, take a moment to comment on those sites. Be sure to include the title of your book and leave a link to your own blog site.
3: Log the link to the site where you posted a comment so you can go back and address any comments to you.
4: Now, write your blog post. It may or may not relate to one of the posts where you left your comment. If you feel so inclined, you might mention something valuable you read at one of the other sites. It’s likely that others interested in your topic and who follow the other site, will see it posted in Google Alerts and take the opportunity to visit your blog site.
5: After you complete your post for the day, announce the topic through your Twitter account.
6: But don’t stop there. Now, turn that blog post into an article and submit it to several regional publications on your topic and a national or internet publication that has a large circulation.
Think about this—it took you approximately an hour and a half to reach anywhere from 100 to 1,000 or more people than you would have if you’d gone directly to work without doing this bit of early morning promo.
Get up an hour earlier than usual, if you must, to follow this routine. Or stay up an hour later.
Google Alerts is a free service: http://www.google.com/alerts.
Get many, MANY more tips and resources for promoting your book from my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html. Read the articles and check out the resources at my site: http://www.matilijapress.com> http://www.matilijapress.com
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