We want to thank Brenna Lyons for offering This series in support of Small Press Month. Her experience as a senior editor, President of EPICauthors, and a 20 book (in print) published author is invaluable for our authors.
Book Marketing 101
By Brenna Lyons
http://www.brennalyons.com/ http://www.myspace.com/brennalyons
Blogs-
Back when I first started teaching Internet Marketing, I called blogs "the train wrecks of the 21st Century." They aren't always pretty, but you just have to look. Grinning... I also postulated that I'd never find the time to keep up with one. All of this was stated to show how a person's mindset can change in a year or so. I now have more than a dozen blogs, five of which I actually post on with regularity. The main one averages 35 reads per posting, and that's averaging in the early days of the blog, when not much happened on it. Some of the newer posts have averaged 50-60 reads per post.
As I admitted even then (when I first started teaching about blogs), blogs give readers more of what they're hungry for...you, your books, insight. In some cases, blogs also educate. I wrote a blog entry (how ironic) on the subject of blogging a few months back.
Why is it that people think you don't feel strongly about an issue or don't know the issue unless you blog on it? Or...conversely...why do people think that blogging on it means you know jack about it?
[snip the long, boring description of the precipitator for this commentary]
Okay...This idea really floors me. There are tens of millions (or more) blogs out there. Does anyone actually believe that blogging on a subject makes you an expert on it? Or that not choosing to blog on it means you're clueless?
You see, most people realize that seeing it discussed in great detail on so many lists means that, just maybe, blogging on it is a general waste of time. Those who need the information or want it are asking in those forums and getting it directly.
The point is that blogs do not prove one way or the other that you know the subject matter you're blogging about intimately. If you blog and give faulty information, you're just another hack with a blog. If you blog only what you feel the need to blog but consistently give good advice and solid facts, you know what you're talking about. Having a blog or not doesn't mean a thing, in the long run.
Have I used blogs to promote my books? Absolutely.
The main blogs I maintain bounce back and forth between social issues I address, industry articles I write for it and promotion of what I have out or coming (mainly a newsletter to my blog readers, blurbs and announcements...I send them to the individual series blogs for excerpts). The two main blogs get the most hits.
The EPIC one I maintain is all about e-publishing and EPIC events and promo. The Mundania one is for Mundania, of course. The EWAG one is for EWAG.
The rest are for individual series or characters. I've had characters get in arguments, which Brenna the author breaks up...grinning. I've had free short stories on them. I've had characters grousing about me or the timeline to their book's release date. I've had excerpts on them. Those are my mess around and have a good time blogs. They don't get much play, but when they do, the readers get a treat.
I do NOT post early drafts on the blogs. I don't let anyone see something until at least the scene I'm showing is done, if not the book/story is close to being done.
MySpace, Facebook, Amazon Connect-
These are perfect examples of venues that will take you time to make, a little time to maintain and no money, but they offer great returns.
Jolie duPre recently updated her top ten things every author should have in his/her marketing bag, and the top five things are "MySpace." I don't know if I agree with her, but I can offer the following. Charlee Boyett-Compo reported that, since her MySpace has gone over 2100 friends, her sales have tripled.
Take the time to do MySpace or Facebook all the way.
Join groups there.
Remember to post your blog, and remember to cross-post all of your blog posts between MySpace, Ning, Connect, Blogger, etc. Don't put separate blogs in each venue, though you may need to tweak things, here and there for different venues.
Take the time to personalize it. Don't just leave it the bland page MySpace starts you out with. I am available to those who want a simple design but don't know how to code it.
The same sorts of rules apply to these pages as do to web pages. Watch what colors you choose. A graphic background ONLY does you good, if you can see the writing over it...or if you can see enough of the graphic with your form blocks covering it.
Amazon Connect. Once you have paper books on Amazon, go to http://www.amazon.com/connect and start making your bibliography page. This is the most time-consuming part of making an Amazon Connect page. You have to find your paper books and select them. Then, you have to have an agent, editor or publisher confirm that your e-mail address is you, the author of those books. Go in with the contact information for your editor, publisher or agent in hand. Once the books are confirmed (at least one of them is), you can friend other authors on there, you can post blog posts to your blog on Amazon and your book pages... including outside reviews of the books... You can announce new books coming out, and effectively link your books together on Amazon.
Not that a ton of sales COME from Amazon, in my experience, but it's a good thing to do. Update on Amazon sales... Two separate NY-published authors I know have set their Amazon sales at 1% of the total units sold of their books.
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