HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK ONLINE PART 1

You´ve probably written a book or are contemplating writing one. Truth is, writing a book is the easy part. Promoting and marketing your book to your target audience is the difficult one. Of what use is a book if it does not reach your target audience?

In the past, authors and publishers promoted books and journals majorly through book signing engagements, press releases and speaking arrangements. Times have changed. With the advent of the internet technology, publishers and authors alike are taking book promotions and marketing online. It is easier, cost-effective and has proved efficient.

If you are looking to promote your book online, here are some ways to do so:

1. Have a website or blog: The importance of a website in today´s marketing realm can not be overemphasized. The world´s bestselling authors have websites through which they market their books and themselves specifically to their target audience and their interests. Marketing your book on your website can take any dimension: You could provide free excerpts from your book on your site or as a download so as to pique their interest. You could also speak on why you decided to write the book, and provide a regular newsletter to keep your target audience informed on your latest book releases. You could also email them your latest write-ups or articles that border on your subject or line of expertise.

2. Join an online writing community: There are lots of them; writing.com, thenextbigwriter.com, writeclique.net, writerscafe.org are just a few of them. The benefits of being a member of these sites are that you easily get to connect with book publishers and marketers who could possibly pick up an interest in your work and market it for you on a contract basis. Furthermore, you can also hook up with other writers who constantly share book marketing tips and strategies on forums and message boards. You are sure to get fresh marketing opportunities and ideas from these groups. You shouldn´t miss out on this.

3. Write a press release: There are several websites through which you could submit a press release for free. Some of these sites include prwebdirect.com, pressbox.co.uk, free-press-release.com, and i-newswire.com. Write a press release- a short description of your book which should ignite a spark in the reader to want to read your book. Submitting your press release to these websites ensure that your press release is distributed round the world media, and your press release would appear in news websites and possibly on print media. The world becomes your potential audience.

4. Join Google Book Search: You must have heard of Google- the world´s undisputed leader in internet search. Apart from its flagship internet search service, Google has a diverse range of other internet solutions. Google´s book search program is one of them. With this program, all you need to do is set up an account with Google´s book search program. Having a Google mail account would make this process easier. With a Google Book search account, Google lets you to upload the title of your book, along with your ISBN, and a select number of keywords that easily identify your book. When anyone searches through Google for a subject or keyword related to your book´s topic, your book comes up along with the search results. Your audience is unlimited.

5. Write articles in content websites: There are a lot of websites that welcome writers from all over the world to submit articles to their websites. Some of these websites are ezinearticles.com, articlesbase.com, submittedarticle.com, articlefeeder.com and submityourarticle.com just to name but a few. While these websites do not pay authors for contributing to the sites, you can easily include a short biography of yourself and introduce your book as well in the byline. You could put a link to your book´s website as well. These sites get hundreds of thousands of viewers everyday. Lots of readers would definitely take notice of you and your book.

To be continued next week…