3 S.R. Johannes: Marketing Monday - eMarketing for Authors

Monday, October 20, 2008

Marketing Monday - eMarketing for Authors

I had a great question today on The SCBWI listserve so I thought I would include it in Marketing Monday!

Question: How effective is Internet marketing for selling your book or just getting the title in front of people?

Answer: Internet marketing or "emarketing" is fast, cheap and can quickly reach a global audience. The trick is to have targeted messages to targeted audiences. It must be done right.

Here are some great emarketing techniques...

1) Web Promotion Plan - get an Author website up and running. A good quality web site not a cheesy one. There are many low-cost providers that have easy tools you can use - godaddy is one of them. It should not be too verbose and should be concise.

2) Search Engine Optimization - get your web site ranked high. This can be done through keywords. http://www.seoconsultants.com/seo/tips/

3) Email Marketing - Set up email marketing to subscribers or contact emails you collect as you begin networking for your book. This keeps audience informed of your upcoming events and news. I use constantcontact.com for my business but godaddy.com has a package that includes email marketing - again with templates that are easy to use. It must be an opt in - have people add their emails at signings/ presentations/school visits etc.

4) Vlog/Blog/Blog tours/Interviews - Blogging can help create a network and a buzz about you as an author. If you can find a niche to blog about. The Kitlitosphere is a great community of bloggers and you can post your blog on amazon for those who buy your book. Commenting on blogs is a great way to make connections online as well. Vlogging is video blogging where you tape your journal entry. Its a way for readers to connect with author.

5) Online Articles - submit articles to online ezines. There are hundreds of them. Find the best one in your target audience. It gets your name out and you usually get a tag where you can promote your book. Don't do articles on your book - do them on a topic.

6) Online press releases - http://www.prnewsonline.com/ Some groups already have

7) Run online contests - give away a book. maybe ask for an article or illustration of the week or month. This keeps people coming back.

8) Social networking sites - Get a facebook or myspace or twitter page or goodreads. Find out where your target audience goes and create a page. Link to your blog and other pages on your web sites. Link in friends - this also helps create a buzz

9) Podcasts - Post radio style interviews.

10) Online Video/ Book trailers- This is the newest trend. It's helpful for

Using the internet is easy and fun and essential to reaching audiences. Don't leave it out of your plan.

Hope this helps!

4 comments:

Kimbra Kasch said...

I don't have a published book but it's fun learning this stuff in advance. A girl can always hope she'll need this info.

Jessica Burkhart said...

Great info! :)

Carrie Harris said...

How is it that I haven't thought of email marketing yet? I think it's a little early in the process for me to start, but brainstorming never hurts, right?

Anonymous said...

Submitting online articles would be an excellent marketing strategy for me, especially in the NF arena. guess I just added to my To Do list!