Self-Promote Your Book Using the Internet

An article in the Washinton Post titled On Web, A Most Novel Approach started me on a quest to find ways that authors promote themselves and their books. I found examples and advice from women who have been there and done that, and I found helpful resources to get you started on the same path.

The current hot trend is to create a book trailer. Book trailer sounds like a movie trailer, because it's the same concept. But it's an attractive and flashy video promo for a book, not a movie.

Here's an entertaining example of the book trailer, promoting A Lady Like Sarah by Margareet Brownley.

The author has placed the video on her own website at MargaretBrownley.com, on You Tube, and on sites like Book Screening and Book Trailers, two sites that aggregate book trailers and present them to readers looking for the next good book.

The trailer for A Lady Like Sarah is pretty professional in appearance. Book trailers range from amateur and homemade to slick and polished. If you are self-promoting a book, put a book trailer on your website and Facebook and YouTube and everywhere else you can make it available.

Kate Messner put her video together for The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z at what looks like a book convention. She added a bit of bouncy music and a few screens of text and — presto — book trailer.

Many of BlogHer's readers have already done similar video feats and wouldn't have to stretch much to envision a book trailer using the same techniques. Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos from Fertility Authority, Silent Sorority and Coming 2 Terms is a good example of successful self-promotion.

Scroll down the page at Coming 2 Terms where Pamela Jeanne promotes Silent Sorority. You'll see links to a book purchase on Amazon, a Twitter link, a link to an amazon.com author page, a link to Pamela Jeanne's video on YouTube, and a link to Silent Sorority's Facebook page.

I contacted Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos about how she self-promoted her book. She responded,

I stumbled into a large, underserved market. After a decade of trying to conceive -- using all that nature and science could offer -- I discovered I was among a silent sorority of women faced with the difficult road of trying to build a life without once sought after children. I searched at length in the "repro lit" area for an account I could relate to, but found that all of the books on infertility published in the past 20 years were authored, paradoxically, by moms. I decided to fill the void by writing a book and blog aimed at giving infertile women a voice. What resulted was a book called Silent Sorority. It's a hybrid of memoir, pop science, and social commentary.

I actively searched out other bloggers writing on similar topics. In reviewing their blogrolls, I reached out and got to know a wider circle of those writing and responding to common issues and challenges, commenting on their blogs and responding to those commenting on mine. I searched out and commented on forums. I branched out further still, developing and posting content on BlogHer and other online platforms from Open Salon to MORE magazine. I contributed to eZines such as Exhale and I landed a regular column on a website called FertilityAuthority.com.

I built a companion book website and became a student of search engine optimization. I set Google alerts for news articles on infertility and the mommy culture, leaving comments on websites ranging from the New York Times to the Orlando Sentinel to the Times of London with a URL that linked back to my book website. I subscribed to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and I pitched reporters and freelancers who had written on companion topics.

I embraced social media and social networking tools. I created a Twitter account and developed a Facebook Fan Page. I joined author forums such as SheWrites and book lover websites such as Shelfari. I developed an author page on Amazon.com's new Author Central channel.

Pamela has some tips for those of you who are thinking about self-promotion:

Know your audience, the market, for your book better than anyone else. Understand where they spend time online and participate in the conversation. Don't employ a hard sell, but rather engage in a dialogue. Write about what you know and where you have a passionate, informed point of view. Don't think of your book in isolation. Find issues and topics that are relevant and above all, take advantage of all the online world has to offer!

Another successful model to follow is Laurie Kingston from Not Just About Cancer. She's the author of Not Done Yet: Living Through Breast Cancer. Her blog has links to where the book can be purchased, to her book page on Facebook, and to her Twitter account. When I asked Laurie to share some tips on self-promotion, here's what she said.

My advice to anyone promoting a book is to use all the free social media tools that are available to them.

The first thing I did when Not Done Yet was published, was set up a Fan Page on Facebook and send out a message to all my friends. I try and make sure that there is fresh content posted regularly to that page. I also make frequent use of Twitter. I find that it has helped to raise my profile over time.

I wouldn't suggest, though that anyone only use Twitter to promote their book because I have seen that this can really annoy other users. You told me Virginia, that it really pays to "be helpful" on Twitter. [Ed. Laurie and I talked about Twitter over Gino's Pizza at BlogHer09.] I have found that building relationships on Twitter has really helped to slowly raise my profile and, subsequently, the profile of my book.

The hardest thing for me was getting over the idea that it was immodest to promote my own work. It's become easier over time but it was really hard at first to come right out and say, "Hey I have written this book. I think it's really good and you should buy it." But the truth is that, in today's publishing environment (and especially when you are with a smaller publishing company) if you don't let people know about your book, then no one will ever hear of it. Ijust keep reminding myself that I am very proud of what I have achieved and that I wrote the book so people would read it. And they can't read it if they don't know about it!

I have also learned that I need to be patient. It's hard not to feel disappointed when your book is published and the whole world does not rush out to buy it the next day. Of course, there are people (especially folks we know) who will do this, but it takes time to get the word out but, in my experience, it does pay off to make consistent and regular use of social media and to make it as easy as possible for people to buy the book.

Here's Laurie's Facebook Page for Not Done Yet: Living Through Breast Cancer. Check it out and become a fan.

Rita Arens from Surrender, Dorothy is the author/editor of Sleep is for the Weak: The Best of the Mommybloggers. When I asked Rita about self-promoting a book, she said,

The blog is a platform for the book. The book is a platform for the blog. Both are about you and your writing and the art of trying to find people who love you both ways.

Your Internet readers love you from afar. It can be difficult to get them off their couches to come see you in person. If I learned one thing from the SIFTW book tour, it's this: Go to them. Don't make them come to you. Next time I'll do it differently.

If you want to use your Internet presence to promote your book, make sure it's easy to identify you as the author of your book. Make your Twitter handle your real name. Talk about your book on your Facebook page. Put a link to where folks can buy your book on your blog. Make it a part of who you are, and present that whole self to the public. Those who like you will buy your book. Everyone else? You've got a tough row to hoe -- it's a very full world out there.

Here's the Facebook page for Sleep is for the Weak. In addition to SIFTW, Rita has published a number of books for the Kindle, and has a page on her blog devoted to her books.

Some helpful resources for self-promoting a book

Here's an article from eHow explaining how to make your own book trailer using PowerPoint. Online apps for making slide shows are also a good way to make your own. Some of the online apps you might look at include Animoto, Smilebox, and Slide.

Darcy Patterson at Fiction Notes has an excellent list of resouces for Book Trailers to check out.

Get your book listed on Amazon. Amazon even lists indie books. Then complete an authors page on Amazon by joining Author Central.

Find writers on Twitter and build support and community with Twitter by taking part in chats for writers. Inky Girl has a good list of Twitter Chats for Writers.

Put together a virtual book tour. Write Well Me tells how in Virtual Book Tours Make a Splash That Lasts.

Here's how one writer put together a real life book tour: How to Set Up and Do a Book Promotion Tour on Your Own.

Here is my follow-up report on my 8-city, West Coast book promotion trip for An Amateur's Guide to the Planet. This was a freeloader special, done as cheaply as possible. Air transportation was via a free ticket on frequent flier miles. I stayed with friends and family as much as possible, otherwise in youth hostels or $50/night motels.

Even though the tour didn't net many sales, the author found other benefits in doing it. For example, she honed her message and learned to sell better from the experience.

Study the promotion and marketing blogs for writers. Shrinking Violet Promotions: Marketing for Introverts and Book Marketing Maven are two sites full of goodies.

Copyblogger has an article about creating fans, but the advice applies to self-promotion: 5 Social Media Lessons I Learned from Working with a Hollywood Actress.

-- Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor |Web Teacher|First 50 Words