How to Promote Your Book

On A Shoestring Budget

Extras

In the book I promised to provide more info, updates and extras.  This page will feature some of those extras. I will be adding more to it as time goes by!

Success-full Self Promo

by Mark Sorrells

 
In Chapter 12 "Promoting Your Book" there is a list of promotional ideas from singer/songwriter Mark Sorrells. However, I had to cut his list short in the book due to space constraints, so here is Mark's entire list:

  1. Develop an email list and use it.  It costs nothing.  Mailings cost dollars, managerial time, paper, postage.
  2. Get a Mac.  Their elegance will give you effortless access to self-promo, via iPhoto,
    Posters and Biz Cards via iPages, recording your music to put online.  Mac:  A creative artist's best friend.  Their millions in R&D work for you, if you're clever enough to ask 'em.
  3. Create a MySpace site.  It's free and better than ever.  Go to people's sites you like, and invite them to be your friend.
  4. Low-Tech Creativity is cheap and effective.  If you xerox a funny invitation 8 to a b&w page, and hand them out, your friends will take notice and come.  60 sec. of creativity will do wonders.  20 fans for expense of $.40 in ink & paper = $.02 per fan cost.  20 fans at cost of $200. ads in local papers = $10. per fan cost, but if you can get the venue to pay for it, it's great exposure.
  5. Creat a shortcut "most intense fans" list.  A great short list for last minute emergencies.  They really do want to know what's up with you!
  6. Keep your venues informed of what you're doing in other venues, but not too much.  It reminds them you're out there, and gives them a form of tennis envy.
  7. Thank you notes or phone calls.  Notice that timeliness is very attractive, and thank the folks who help you!
  8. Keep your eyes open for the next gig.  They all end. 
  9. Keep your integrity high.  Serve with the highest levels you can and don't be hard on yourself if the night sucks, or your fail.  Don't allow yourself to be conned.  If you get conned, wise up and learn your lessons!
  10. Love your people in your heart, and be kind.  You never know what someone else has been going through.  (that's a quote from Amy Grant.)  The energy your generate from inside, via your love, is astoundingly generative to all around you, and you will be amazed at the positive outcomes, if you could notice some of them, from cellular levels to universal.  Let wisdom inform your boundaries.  but not all the time.
  11. Life is not meant to be a struggle.  Read the tiny little book by Stuart Wilde, and see if this might be very important clue for your life, career and success.  Laziness breeds invention and the next new thing!
  12. Lighten up.  If Jesus says he saved the world, you don't have to argue with a million or so goofy Baptists about what percent of the world, and how.  It's done.  Enjoy!
  13. Flirt.  It makes most people feel good, and does no harm.  Most of the time.

Top Ten Social Networking Ideas

by Dan Meyers
 
Dan Meyer is a Christian Sword Swallower who lives in Hartselle, AL and raises horses when he is not performing around the world, checking e-mail, or maintaining social networking sites. Dan has set up one of the most comprehensive social networks on the web, so I asked him to share his top tips on social networking in Chapter 14 - "Utilizing Social Networks." As with Mark's tips, I had to trim Dan's tips for the book, but his complete list is provided here, and links to his many networks are included at the end:

  1. They say a picture paints a thousand words.  If that's the case, then social networking websites with their images, albums, music, videos, bulletins, blogs, microblogs, plurks and tweets speak volumes... Of course, nearly everyone who is familiar with the Internet has heard of MySpace (www.myspace.com). With the ability to post blogs, bulletins, leave private messages, post public comments, listen to music and view videos, MySpace is the most popular social networking site on the Internet today. But with MySpace attracting a number of adolescent kids, it has earned a reputation for being a more-or-less adolescent vanity site.  Some surfers find the content on MySpace a bit frivolous, others find it a bit tough to navigate, while others find MySpace hard to edit.
  2. Close on the heels of MySpace for social networking, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is one of the more popular networking sites on the Internet today.  With a cleaner interface and lots of add-on applications, groups, events, and lots of other ways of connecting with old and new friends, Facebook has become one of the most popular ways of networking on the Internet today.
  3. If you're looking for something for more professional networking, try Linkedin (www.linkedin.com). This is a no-frills network for professionals that allows you to reach other contacts in your contacts' contacts.  And while you're looking at professional networking, you might want to check out ZoomInfo (www.zoominfo.com) to make sure your ZoomInfo profile that has been compiled on your overall Internet presence is updated with accurate information about you.
  4. For a Christian networking alternate to MySpace and Facebook, try ChristianSpace (www.christianspace.com), Xians (www.xians.com), and ZoeCity (www.zoecity.com).  If you're interested in a Christian alternative to YouTube, try checking out the videos on GodTube (www.Godtube.com).
  5. If you like blogs, check out Google's Blogger or Blogspot (www.blogspot.com) or LiveJournal (www.livejournal.com).
  6. Remember when we used to read full-length books like "Homer" or "War and Peace"?  (No, neither do I!)  Or how about reading "Huckleberry Finn", "Swiss Family Robinson", "Treasure Island", or even the "Hardy Boys" or "Nancy Drew" mysteries?  In our fast-paced society today, many people don't have the time to sit down and read a book over a period of several days.  Today people have more of an aptitude for the Cliff notes or Reader's Digest versions of stories, or better yet, many people prefer to take in an entire story in a 100 minute movie in a theater or on DVD.  With our attention spans being constantly shortened to commercials that have dwindled from 1 minute to :30, :20, :10, or now even 5 seconds, it is no surprise that our online viewing habits have followed suit.  Enter the "micro-blog". With the micro-blog emerging as one of the hottest and most popular trends on the Internet today, it is no wonder that sites like Twitter have taken off (http://twitter.com).   A cross between a full blog and the immediacy of an IM (Instant Message), Twitter's "Tweets" let all your "followers" know what you're doing immediately and in 140 characters of text or less.  This is a great way for artists to reach their fans, for companies to communicate with their markets, and for friends and family to keep in touch on a constant basis throughout the day.  Twitter is by far the most popular micro-blogging site, but Plurk (http://plurk.com) follows close behind.
  7. And if you really want to stay up on everything, you can receive your Twitters as SMS (Short Message Service) on your cell phone, or you can use a variety of Twitter clients on your phone such as TinyTwitter, Twitterific (for Macs), TwitterBerry (for Blackberries), and a growing number of other client applications.
  8. Another tip for social networking on your cell phone - try browsing on your phone for the WAP version of your favorite social networking sites by replacing the "www" with the prefix "m" for mobile, such as m.myspace.com, m.facebook.com, m.linkedin.com, m.plurk.com.
  9. If this all seems a bit daunting and time-consuming for you, my favorite tip of all is to sign up at Ping (http://ping.fm) to create a Ping account where you can update all the top social networking sites - MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, Blogspot, LiveJournal, Twitter, Plurk, Bebo, Pownce, Tumblr, Xanga, and many others - by sending a quick micro-blog e-mail from your desktop or cell phone to update ALL your accounts at once!  Talk about a time-saver!  And Ping only takes a few moments to set up!
  10. And if you really want to make sure you have all your bases covered and reach EVERYONE you have ever known, you can set up accounts with ALL of the above networking services!   Just realize that in the time it takes to get them all set up, you could have probably read "War and Peace"!

For those of you who want to follow Dan on Twitter, Plurk, or any of the other social networking sites, here are his links:

Tips, Ideas & Updates

This is the place for more tips and ideas. When this section gets too big, I will create a new page.

Writing A Simple Release

This article on writing a simple press release is based upon the chapter in my book. I hope you will find it helpful!

Bukisa - Taking Your Writing to the Next Level of Earning 

I have just written an article at the link above about a fabulous way for writers to gain more exposure, develop their craft, promote themselves and their projects, and earn a passive income while doing so on a cool new website! It's called Bukisa!  Bukisa is a content-driven website that accepts articles on almost any topic. Articles on  Bukisa place near the top of Google searches, so you can get a great deal of exposure writing brief articles for  Bukisa on a variety of topics. You will never "get rich quick" on Bukisa, but you will earn a passive income as your articles attract readers. So get more exposure for yourself and your books by posting some articles on Bukisa! 

 

Speaking of Twitter...

One of the chapters in my book is "Utilizing Social Networks." In that chapter, I mention Twitter and said that as I was going to press, the Twitter creaters had admitted they weren't exactly sure what the purpose of Twitter was. Well, it looks like some folks are figuring it out! Find out more at the Twitter Wiki!

 

Advice to First-Time Authors
by Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers
Excerpt: Educate yourself. If you want to publish with a general market publisher, read 2008 Writer’s Market by Robert Brewer. If you want to write for the Christian Market, read Christian Writers’ Market Guide 2008 by Sally Stuart. Both books include writer’s guidelines and submission procedures for publishing houses. These books will give you a good overview of the literary marketplace.


Top Five MySpace Mistakes 

 As part of the "continuing education" here, I wanted to share this interesting article on the Top 5 MySpace Mistakes. These are the mistakes covered:
    1) Using MySpace as your website
    2) Using MySpace as your email
    3) Having an impressive background image
    4) Embedding lots of media
    5) Writing lots of text

 

Christian Authors Group

There is a new Christian Authors Group on the Christian Activities Network. The Christian Activities Network on Ning has created a group where Christian entertainers: musicians, comedians, radio personalities, entertainers and authors can mix and mingle and network. As part of the larger network, there is also a Christian Authors Group. If you join the Christian Activities Network, you get to set up your own free page where you can post info about yourself and your books. Then just join the Christian Authors Group to share info with other authors.

 

100 Personal Branding Tactics Using Social Media

Excellent article on using personal social media.

 

Inexpensive Postcards

I made my own postcards at Staples yesterday - 4 to a page, 25 pages, color copies on card stock paper - $34. That's 100 postcards at 34¢ each. If you find a cheaper way to get nice quality postcards, please let me know! 

 

Unleash the Book Within plus Niche Marketing Guides
 
Discover How to Write Your Own Outrageously Profitable Book & Become a Recognized Expert in Your Field of Choice! New Audio Book Reveals How to Write a Profitable Book – Even If You Aren’t a Great Writer & You Failed English in School! I have ordered it, but I am on Mac and can't open the application. It sounds like a good deal for authors, though, and I am looking forward to getting it in a format I can actually read!

 

The Gild of Outside Writers

The Gild of Outside Writers for independent writers. Be published, share your opinions & talk about writing.