The Web-Savvy Writer

Try one new publicity idea at a regular interval–either monthly or quarterly, depending on your available time. I know you’re busy, but unless your current promotions are resulting in thousands of new book sales, you need to keep trying new things to continue generating publicity, particularly for a book that’s been available for a while.

Some ideas could take considerable effort to implement, such as creating your own podcast, but others take only a few minutes of your time. This blog, my workbook, and special reports provide plenty of inspiration for new things to try.

Tags: book promotion, book publicity, book marketing, book publishing, self-publishing

One of the most important rules of online book promotion — or any form of promotion for that matter — is to focus on your audience. Here are three tips for developing a reader-focused online book promotion campaign:

• Develop an audience profile. Knowing who might potentially buy your book and the sites they visit on the web is your key to success. Naturally, this is easier if your book is on a tightly targeted topic. But even if you’ve written a general interest book or novel, you can still develop some form of profile.
• Once you have that profile, focus your promotional efforts on the sites your audience frequents and the type of content to which they would most likely respond. For example, let’s say you wrote a book about skiing. Your audience could potentially visit websites devoted to skiing or to travel areas frequented by skiers. They could also respond favorably to your own site full of skiing advice and short ski-related video clips.
• Remember to focus on the interests of your audience, not your own personal interests.  Many authors focus on online promotion techniques that interest them rather than their audience. Cool new technologies like video book trailers, multimedia, and podcasts work great for some books, but not so great for others. Pick the tools and techniques that will make your audience respond.

The 2008 edition of The Web-Savvy Writer: Book Promotion with a High-Tech Twist has just arrived! Choices include an online workbook available for instant download and a spiral-bound printed workbook.

Called “brilliant … indispensable … and a must read” by publishing and PR insiders, this edition includes numerous revisions and additions to help you keep up with the fast-changing world of online book promotion.

If you’ve been waiting to order The Web-Savvy Writer, now’s the time. If you already own a previous edition and are looking for entirely new content, you may prefer one of my special reports or my new program, Online Book Promotion Blitz (more news on that in a couple weeks).

Tags: online book promotion, book publicity, book publishing, self-publishing, The Web-Savvy Writer, Patrice-Anne Rutledge

Just published a new article on my website:

As a published author, or soon-to-be-published author, you are one of the rare few who have actually made your dream a reality. But publishing your book is only the first step. Promoting your book is the next, and often larger, step. Reaching out to the Internet’s more than one billion users is one of the best ways to easily and inexpensively promote your book to your target audience. Creating a book video–also known as a book trailer, book teaser, or book presenter–to pique interest in your book is a great way to reach this audience.

Now that you have a video, you need to let the world know about it. Here are seven of my favorite ways to promote your video book trailer…and generate more sales:

1. Promote on Video Sharing Sites

YouTube is the obvious choice here, but don’t just stop there. Google Video, Yahoo! Video, and Veoh are other good options. Also check out Revver, which offers a way to generate revenue from ads inserted into your trailer. For even more ideas, view the list of video sharing sites on Wikipedia.

Continue reading …

Tags: online book promotion, book publicity, book publishing, self-publishing, book trailers, book videos

One of my articles on this site, Your Author Website: Five Tips That Generate Results, was recently reprinted in the anthology The New Writer’s Handbook 2007: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft and Career. Edited by Philip Martin, it contains advice on the craft of writing, pitching and proposals, motivation, marketing, and more from industry experts.Keep your eyes open for anthologies and other opportunities to get excerpted and quoted in books. Then be sure to publicize your participation on your website and blog, to promote your own work as well as the work of your fellow authors.

Tags: online book promotion, book publicity, book publishing, self-publishing, anthologies

A reader recently wrote to me, concerned that my suggestion to recycle blog content would result in duplicate content penalties from search engines such as Google.

To clarify this myth and alleviate your concerns, read this excellent post by SEO (search enginge optimization) expert Jill Whalen: The Duplicate Content Penalty Myth.

In summary, don’t be afraid to syndicate your content and articles to selected sites. You’ll reach potential new readers who aren’t already part of your audience and get links back to your website. Google’s filtering mechanism should be able to determine the original source of the content (you) and even if the duplicate content appears in search results the link will take people back to your originating site.

I’m happy to announce the release of the first in my new series of special reports: Video Book Buzz: Create a Book Video That Generates Publicity and Profits. Based on feedback from recent surveys and the email I receive from readers, book videos (aka book trailers or book teasers) are getting more and more popular.

Video Book Buzz is a 25-page downloadable PDF available for $9.95 that offers a step-by-step system for creating and publishing a book video that will generate publicity and profits for your book. Includes dozens of clickable links and a clickable table of contents.

With Video Book Buzz, you’ll discover:

• Why book videos (also known as book trailers and book teasers) are becoming so popular and why you need one, whether you write fiction or nonfiction
• How to create a quality book video with software you may already have on your computer
• Secrets to converting video viewers into book buyers
• Step-by-step instructions for creating your own book video with free software
• How to avoid the pitfalls of using copyrighted images and music
• Where to promote your video for maximum impact

Tags: video book buzz, book trailer, book video, book teaser

Recently, reader Jane Beman asked my opinion about recycling blog posts. Actually, I think this is a great idea. It’s a big timesaver and also gets your message out to a wider audience.

I’ve taken material from my blog posts and reposted on my Amazon plog and on others’ blogs. I’ve also expanded blog posts into articles and created blog posts from sections of articles. Also consider converting blog posts into ezine tips and discussion group postings.

The only caveat is to be wary of recycling when someone expects original material (for example, you’re being paid to blog or write an article). Otherwise, get creative and start thinking of new ways to reposition your existing content.

Tags: online book promotion, book publicity, book publishing, self-publishing, blog content

Industry analyst eMarketer has released some new statistics that indicate online video viewing will nearly double in the US by 2011. What’s the best way to capitalize on this trend? Use video to promote your book. In addition to creating a trailer-style video for your book, also consider other creative uses of video:

• Offer a video welcome to your website or blog
• Post videos of your author appearances or interviews
• Create short how-to videos related to the topic of your book

To learn more about book videos, see my special report Video Book Buzz: Create a Book Video That Generates Publicity and Profits.

Tags: online book promotion, book publicity, book publishing, self-publishing, book trailers, author video

If you couldn’t make it to BookExpo America this year, take a look at its official podcast site. Several interesting podcasts are already available with more to come over the next few weeks.

Tags: BookExpo, BookExpo podcast, book publishing, book promotion