I attended several workshops at the RT convention 2009. One of the best was:
E-book & E-marketing- How to build a loyal following in cyberspace for print and ebook authors- Presented by Ann Jacobs, Dakota Cassidy, Stephanie Burke, Judith Rochelle and Christina d’Albo.
Here are some advice:
Hang out
Live on line if you can
Never say anything nasty about anyone
Give yourself a certain flavor.
Always answer emails
Blogs are good, but blogging on MySpace or Facebook is even better
Show something of you that makes the readers feel that they know you.
Don’t answer anyone who badmouthed you. Don’t retaliate or flame. One of the panelists explained how she turned a person who verbally abused her into a reader and a fan by offering her a copy of her book.
Always turn a negative into a positive
How do you launch?
· Go to MySpace, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter or any other, and look for authors with similar books.
· Ask people to interview you.
· Leave comments on as many blogs as you can.
· Blogging on your own is time consuming, but being part of a blog is good promotion.
· Keep your post on a blog around 500 words. No one has the time to read several lengthy posts every day.
· Chats are useful as you present your excerpts to the public and have a sort of face-to-face conversation where you can answer questions.
· Run contests. Give your book as prize. It’s the best advertisement.
· Keep a list of your readers.
· Post excerpts on chat or reviewers’ loops on Monday, at Love Romance Cafe, Fallen Angel Review, Night Owl Romance and many others, or on Tuesday, at Joyfully Reviewed. But don’t post the same excerpt every week for a month. Readers get fed up of seeing the same excerpt.
· Be part of a loop or create your own chat loop.
· You can also send an email newsletter to your readers, either once a month or less often, to announce new releases, book signings, contests wins, reviews, or interviews.
· Create a video trailer. Remember an image is worth a thousand words.
Don’t:
Spend so much time on blogs and chats at the expanse of your writing.
Fin
ally remember that a good book is your best advertisement.
15 comments:
I'm always looking for new ways to get my books attention. Your blog provided very useful information, Mona! Thanks for sharing. :-)
Good info! Thanks, Mona!
This is one to bookmark. Thanx Mona. Excellent blog.
Very interesting blog!
It was really interesting in the debate. While taking notes, I promised myself to work on a thorough promo as soon as I returned home. I haven't. Yet the time to promo is now. Not tomorrow. I'm telling this to myself!!
Excellent advice. :) I enjoyed your post.
Thank you Mona. Excellent info.
Tessie Bradford
Mona,
Great information to share. And it's really important not to forget to save time to write! Promoting your work can be time-consuming!
That's great info, Mona. Always looking for ways to promo more efficiently.
Great information, Mona. Thanks.
Mona, thanks for sharing with us! It almost as good as being at RT with y'all. Almost! Naw, not really, would still rather have been there with Mary Marvella, Linda N and Marvelous Mona!
Scarlet
Thanks for the comments. Yep we need to promote those babies. God, give me time to do it all. That's my new prayer.
Good info! Thanks for sharing! I'm always looking for new ideas.
Thanks so much for the very helpful information. I'm on Facebook but don't know how to blog on it. On my own blog, I have been posting one chapter a week of an unpublished romance of mine every Friday. I have a following, not a lot, but it's been fun.
I wish I could've attended the workshops at RT myself, but since I couldn't I very much appreciate this post. I'm always on the lookout for the do's and don'ts of promotion and writing.
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