Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers
Successfull Actions Marketing
August 27,2011
I am a new author and I am trying to fugue out how to market my book"Long Island Boy Find's Truth". Any suggestions on what you have done that have been successful would be helpful. I think that we can all help each other out.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stacy Eaton on
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Tommy - Do you have a Facebook page for either you as the author or a fan page for the book? Do you blog? Are you on Twitter? Those are three of the easiest ways to get out there.
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Permalink Reply by scribbler on
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Tommy, your first stop should be at Marketing & Promotions and the Free Book Marketing sections in Groups (see tab above).
There's lots of good information in both and if you add a new discussion there you're posting directly to Authors.com members who have joined those Groups and have an interest in that specific topic too. It will show up in the Group and also they will get an email notification of your post (assuming they have that set up in their personal settings).
There's many Groups to discover. Don't miss them! :) Social media is very important too like Stacy said. There's a Group for that too and every Authors.com member has a blog of their own here at Authors.com.
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Permalink Reply by Jock Brocas on
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start your own blog and create a stir about your book. Get other authors to read your book and comment on it. Facebook, personally i think it will fade when google + launches. Try and get an invite and develop a very good website.
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Jock - Do you think Google + is really going to take off? I'm on there - but I haven't really done anything with it. What are the advantages of it - what is different from Facebook?
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Hi stacy, yes i really do. I think it will be slow to take off but it is already creating such a stir. I also develop websites and was invited to try google, and as you can imagine, there was an air of skepticism around it. However, some of my colleagues in various design groups have used it longer than me and they have only great things to say. I particularly feel - as authors - if it is used correctly, we could benefit from it better than facebook. I think facebook has been dangerous for various reasons, and google - rightly so, plugged up these holes and weaknesses. Obviously it will take a while to settle and claim its rightful position, which is why it is only open to a certain number of individuals to test before it goes global then i feel we will really be onto something that will aid us better. Google +has many advantages over fbook, one is the advent of circles. With fbook it is difficult to really separate business from pleasure and control who sees what and who can communicate with you. For instance, you can now have fans for your books and family members or other work colleagues separately and one will not over shadow the other if you so wish. There is a lot more to it and i will go into that on one of my blog posts on my new site for authors websites, which i am developing now. Overall though, google has done well with this and it will benefit rather than hinder the author if used correctly.
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Jock - Do me a favor and let me know when the blog is done for that. I am a member of google + but like I said - I haven't really spent any time working with it. I'd like to see what you have to say about it and try to get more involved.
Thank you for your time in answering!
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i sure will, it will be on http://www.authorswebsites.net as soon as i can tidy things up with other jobs i have on. The blog will focus on author marketing using these platforms.
as a tip if you sign up here http://www.socialmonkee.com/index.php you will be able to develop links about your book and get your site recognized.
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Jock - tell me something.. What are backlinks?
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these are inbound links from good ranking page rank sites. Google takes more notice of backlinks than any meta keywords you have. So if you want your book noticed you need to get these backlinks pointing to your book, site, blog etc. Now to build great quality links can take forever and a day and can be expensive. I know how you can do it free and harness that same power. I know how tough it is being an author - especially financially so anything we can do to get our work noticed is worth it.
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Sent you a friend request so I can DM you and ask you a few questions.
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Permalink Reply by Kay Elizabeth on
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Google+ isn't that exclusive. There were 25 Million users according to comScore at the beginning of August even though it's still in beta. Really I think that was more of a marketing ploy on their part than anything else to give this air of exclusivity.
I have an account too. Last I looked everyone that does has 150 invites to share. All anyone that wants one need do is check the page at plus.google.com regularly to see when registrations open up again or get somebody to invite them that has spare invitations.
Circles is the best thing Google+ has going for it as you can place different friends/acquaintances/family in different groups and they only see what you post to those within that group. I don't know why Facebook didn't consider from the start that you may not want your great granny to see the same posts you want to share with business contacts or best friends. Circles is the reason I joined.
What's a big problem with Google+ right now is that if you fall foul of their rules, like for example the current controversy on their insistence on real names being displayed and no aliases, you lose access to whatever you've built there unless you change it to their liking. So any author that uses a pseudonym can't register under that without violating their terms of service. You do not have the option to not display your real name publicly, so you can't input that and show your pseudonym as your display name. The cull is now progressing as Google sifts through accounts and when they find you, I believe you're given 4 days to change it or you're out.
I vaguely remember reading too (and I could be wrong here) that they also take away your access to any Google owned integrated services you use that same login name for like YouTube for example, which is owned by Google. Willing to risk that? I don't think many authors that use a pseudonym would if they had built for example a collection of videos up in a channel of their own as part of their promotional efforts.
There's many reasons why people would need a pseudonym apart from being an author. This is a very good article on why their insistence upon enforcing that policy is a bad idea.
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2011/08/04/real-names.html
For now, even if all you think about is brand visibility, it's going to take a lot for G+ to catch up on Facebook despite all its faults. They have at last count 750 million users. I'm no fan of Facebook myself, but if I was an author with the choice between which I'd be focusing on right now to raise awareness of a book, I'd choose Facebook.
People don't like change, even when it's for the better. They don't like learning curves and prefer the known to the unknown. Most internet users are familiar with how to use, connect-and more importantly for authors wanting to promote their books- share what they like on Facebook with their friends there. I wouldn't want to have to wait until they all decide that G+ is the superior option (which I think it is and will be feature-wise because of Circles) and migrate there.
I don't see the point in putting a lot of time and energy into promotion on a site that- at the moment- is less popular, less familiar, and not even opened up yet, to all internet users. Maybe as a secondary marketing platform, it would be fine but I wouldn't be putting all my eggs in that G+basket as a top priority. And I like Google Plus, don't get me wrong! I don't even use my Facebook account. I just think it's all about timing and it's not yet G+'s time, for authors with promotional needs anyway.
Just my opinion. :) My very long opinion LOL. Sorry about that.
Tommy, I eventually got around to answering your question at the last gasp there. :) Be sure to check out the Social Media Group in Groups too btw.
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I think some people will love it and some will obviously not be drawn to it. My personal choice is google plus and i am sure it will develop very well over time. I do agree that there shouls perhaps be a way of using psuedonym's but i also see that it could create issues. Like anything that is new, it takes time but already by preference is with Google and i feel that when it does launch properly, it will benefit authors. I like the idea of a "hang out" perhaps for your book and interact with readers. You do miss the easy access to services like webmaster but they are easy to circumnavigate.
Kay, like you i have not used either service much, but i do intend to see where plus takes me.
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