Source: http://writenonfictioninnovember.com/2010/11/20/how-to-market-books-with-articles-podcasts-and-videos/

One of the best ways to brand yourself as an authority and increase book sales is to write articles and create podcasts and videos, and submit them to the major online directories, including EzineArticles, Itunes and Youtube. This approach provides links back to your Website as well as targeted traffic. Additionally, if you provide awesome content, your files can go viral, which will create a flood of traffic to your Website.

The key to maximizing your return is to use the same content to create all three formats. For example, you write a short article about your niche topic. You then read and record it as an audio file. Next you create a video presentation with voiceover. Once completed, you submit the article to an article directory, the audio to a podcast directory and the video to a video directory. This book marketing technique can be accomplished using free software.

Benefits

This approach provides the following benefits and should definitely be a part of your book marketing campaign:

* It helps your search engine ranking by providing three back links to your Website for the same content.
* Distributing in three formats can reach a larger audience within your niche.
* You can achieve multiple simultaneous “top-ten” rankings for your competitive long tail keyword phrases.
* Media reporters and producers can find your marketing material when researching story and show ideas within your niche market; being an author helps them to view you as an expert worth interviewing.

Eight Step Model

Use the following model to perform this effective book marketing technique:

1. Conduct keyword research to find the targeted low competition long tail keyword phrases that you can rank for in the search engines. You can begin by using the free Google keyword tool.
2. Use those keyword phrases to write articles (350 to 500 words) and include an effective resource box with the keyword phrase as anchor text in a link back to your Website.
3. Post the articles to the leading article directory EzineArticles.
4. Create an audio file of each article using Audacity, the free audio recording software. Include your Website in a call to action statement at the end.
5. Submit your podcast to Itunes (Tutorial).
6. Create a video file for your article using the free program Windows Movie Maker, or you can invest in Camtasia, the industry standard for Internet Marketing.
7. Submit your video to the video directory YouTube.
8. Once submitted, “rinse and repeat” by revising your article to be at least 50 percent unique. Then create your podcast and video files, distributing them to different directories. This provides three additional links for the same material and is now available to surfers who visit these other directories.

Conclusion

If you wish to sell books, you need to brand yourself as an expert first by providing excellent content. View your book as a credential that reflects your expertise and not as a product. When you build a relationship by helping others with your content, your books sales will soar because you build trust and a relationship. Articles, podcasts and videos need to be part of your book marketing strategy and this technique can triple your return.

About the Author

V. Michael Santoro is an award winning author and creator of the Author Intern System. Discover how using a student intern as your book marketing assistant can unleash your book’s potential. Sign up today for his free book marketing training course that covers the pros and cons of the various book marketing services and techniques available today. You need to complete this course before deciding to invest in these book marketing options.

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source: http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/103363/publishing/useful_web_sites_for_self_published_writers.html

Written by: Kev Woodward

It is amazing what you can find on the internet nowadays; instructions on how to download music to an ipod, on-line cookery lessons and mouth-watering recipes, broad-sheet newspapers and the history of European art, everything you have ever wanted to know about Elvis Presley , Cat Stevens or S Club 7 – the list is endless – literally. So when you are thinking about self-publishing and are looking for advice, resource or guidance, the Internet should really be your first port of call. But where do you start looking for information? And how can it help you?

There are four principle ways that the Internet can help ease the self publishing process;

1-Getting your text right in the first place and generating ideas
2-Providing you with a forum to learn from and talk to other writers
3-Listing literary agents, editors and designers who can help you improve your manuscript prior to publication
4-Walking you through the entire self publishing process

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Getting your text right in the first place and generating ideas

Nowadays there really is no need to purchase a multitude of text books on “How to use Words”, “Grammar”, “Generating creative ideas” or “Using Language”. Whilst one or two reference guides are always handy to keep on the bookshelf, the Internet can now supply you with all the information and practical guidance you should need on these subject matters. For help and assistance with spelling, word meanings and pronunciation, take a look at Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com) or Your Dictionary (www.yourdictionary.com http://www.yourdictionary.com). If its language usage or grammar that you are interested in, try www.usingenglish.com http://www.usingenglish.com and www.englishforums.com http://www.englishforums.com, where you can find answers to almost all of your word usage and grammar queries. You will also find a wide variety of grammar and spell checker software programmes and packages that you can purchase and load onto your computer – ‘White Smoke’ is one of the more popular software packages recommended.

Both fiction and non-fiction writers find that they need to research their subject matter and look up various dates, facts, places and names when writing their manuscript. The internet is fantastic in its ability to support this “fact-finding” process! Google’s answer to scholarly research is a search engine called Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.co.uk) which searches through a wide range of scholarly literature to answer the question or subject matter you pose in its search tool bar. If it’s an easier, straight forward encyclopaedia search you need, navigate your way to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), which is the most comprehensive on-line encyclopaedia I’ve ever come across. And most importantly, it is very easy to use.

Two websites that are particularly handy for generating poetry or story ideas are ‘Instant Muse: Poetry Generator and Story Starter’ (www.thestorystarter.com http://www.thestorystarter.com) and ‘Story A Day Writer’s Kit’ (http://westwood.fortunecity.com/smith/406/StoryaDay), both of which help you get your creative juices flowing with free, fun exercises or writing prompts.

Providing you with a forum to learn from and talk to other writers

Learning from other writers, self publishing or commercial publishing, is an invaluable tool. Other writers can empathise with your experiences and frustrations, they can offer advice and enable you to learn from their successes and mistakes, and they can provide you with a safe haven to bounce ideas around and request constructive feedback from those within the industry. The internet has revolutionised the way that we interact with others, and has significantly broadened our capacity to communicate with other likeminded individuals across the world. Through the introduction of user forums, online communities and networks, self publishing writers can now talk to other writers, editors and publishers across the world. A fantastic resource of knowledge and information can now be accessed, and accessed for free, from the comfort of your own home.

Good examples of forums and networking communities to take a look at are www.writing.com, www.publicityhound.com http://www.publicityhound.com, http://wordsworthreading.blogspot.com, www.writewords.org.uk http://www.writewords.org.uk, www.absolutewrite.com http://www.absolutewrite.com and www.writerswrite.com http://www.writerswrite.com. The last two sites mentioned have specific forums dedicated to Self Publishing authors.

When it comes to on-line forums and networking communities, it is important to remember that each forum is generally created with a specific purpose or discussion topic in mind – be that self publishing, marketing your book, or generating ideas. So you may find that you need to try out a few different forums before you find the one that best suits your needs.

Listing literary agencies and editors who can help you improve your manuscript prior to publication

As a self publishing writer, you can sometimes feel that you’d like a second, informed opinion on the manuscript you have produced or the poetry that you have written. You may want an editorial critique of your use of characterisation, language, structure, style and storyline. Or you may simply require a second pair of eyes to check your use of spelling, punctuation or grammar. There are several editorial agencies that provide these services for self publishing authors. Words Worth Reading (www.wordsworthreading.co.uk http://www.wordsworthreading.co.uk) provides comprehensive editorial packages for manuscripts of all genres and sizes – providing tailor-made services where necessary to cater for all our clients’ needs. As with most contemporary literary agencies or editors, Words Worth Reading can be found on the Internet, via online search engine tools or by typing in the website index into your tool bar.

The internet is also a very useful tool for researching and locating self publishing companies, printers, illustrators and designers – all of which are crucial contacts for a Self Publishing author. Most self publishing companies and printers offer a design service, giving you the opportunity to work with professionals when choosing your book cover design, typesetting style and paper type. However, you may want to work with an independent illustrator or designer, or at least investigate a range of designers and illustrators to compare cost and quality. www.contactacreative.com http://www.contactacreative.com can put you in touch with various illustrators and designers and provide examples of their work through on-line portfolios. Similarly, www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk http://www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk lists a vast number of children’s books’ illustrators, and www.writersservices.com http://www.writersservices.com has a particularly strong book cover service.

Website search engines such as Google and Yahoo have made the searching process for literary agencies, editors or designers extremely easy. All you need to do is type in your requirements, and a list of suitable companies or websites will appear!

Walking you through the entire self publishing process

So, you’ve got the idea, you’ve spoken to others in the writing community to glean their advice, you’ve written the manuscript and you’ve submitted it to an editorial agency to ensure its squeaky clean. You’re now ready for publication, which for many self publishers is perhaps the scariest stage! Where do you start? Who do you approach? How much should it cost? What about printing? Distribution? Marketing and selling? It can be a minefield. Fortunately there are some excellent websites that can provide you with the advice and guidance you need to make the self publishing process as pain-free as possible.

Take a look at Parapublishing (www.parapublishing.com), a website which contains numerous articles, resources and signposts to books and links that will get you started. The website is built up of comprehensive, informative articles that really dive into the detail. For example, in the ‘Book Design’ section of this website, everything from book covers, printers, audio publication and the benefits of Hard Copies are discussed. Furthermore, each information page includes additional downloadable resources that can be saved onto your computer, or printed.

Another great website to browse through is www.bookmarket.com which covers everything you’d ever want to know about marketing your own, self published book. Whilst it is an American website, it is still very relevant to the English reader, providing downloadable seminar sessions on marketing that you can watch or listen to. This website also contains free marketing reports on both bookstore and internet marketing, and a free online magazine (an “Ezine”) that you can subscribe to.

Don’t forget to take a look at the broadsheet paper’s online book supplements too, as they can help you understand bookseller trends. Most popular are The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk/books http://www.guardian.co.uk/books), The Times (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk) and The Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk).

Two further important websites to look at as a Self Publishing writer are www.isbn.nielsenbookdata.co.uk http://www.isbn.nielsenbookdata.co.uk and www.booksellers.org.uk http://www.booksellers.org.uk. The ISBN website explains how to use ISBN numbers, and their importance if you want to sell your book through book stores. It also provides the pricing list for purchasing ISBN numbers, allowing you to purchase your required numbers directly through the website. The Booksellers Association is a wonderful website for anyone interested or involved in the book publishing and sales process. As well as being a great forum for obtaining an insight into the book trade, this website also allows you to search for local book stores in a given town or postcode area, which is very useful when it comes to drawing up your marketing contact list! The website also provides the names and contact details of all the librarians in your area, so that you can address them personally when writing to encourage stocks of your latest book in their library environments.

There is a wealth of online information, support and guidance available to self publishing writers, so don’t forget to tap into the internet when you need some help or advice. You’ll be amazed at what you can find.

About The Author, Kev Woodward

Need your work appraising or proofreading? Words Worth Reading, an editorialservice for writers. Words Worth Reading provides comprehensive editorial services to writers, as well as running informativewriter’s workshops. It is predominately run by expert volunteers and donates part of all submission fees to Oxfam.

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source: http://www.millermosaicllc.com/facebook-book-marketing/

Written by: Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Conducting a book marketing campaign on Facebook has become much easier now that Facebook has expanded its features. And more and more people are utilizing this social media platform to promote businesses and brands.

On Facebook you must start with a personal profile account. (Be sure to post a photo to promote your brand and be sure NOT to post the year of your birth in order to protect against identity theft.) But after you get your profile page set up, you can create a group page and then a business (fan) page. Good social media marketers look at this as funnel marketing.

You connect with people first on the personal level, then they join your group to learn more info from you and others, then you funnel them to your fan page to learn about your business and from there to your own website.

Of course, in the meantime you have your own blog feed coming to your Facebook personal page (and into your Twitter account) and you are judiciously using your Facebook updates to let people know about your projects and you are making new friends on Facebook and keeping track of these new friends.

If you want to create a dedicated fan base, you must choose more liberal privacy controls so that people can easily see your profile and ask to friend you. But you do NOT have to put your phone number nor your email on your Facebook profile page. (If people want to privately contact you, they can send you a message through Facebook.).

You should put thought into what you put on your Facebook profile – you want people to get a feel for you without seeming to be all about promoting your book project. You want to include things with which people can relate to you, such as your favorite music.

Note that personal information is NOT private information. Personal information is the name of the rock band you like; private information is if you had a fight with your spouse.

As your update status goes out into your news feed, someone who’s your friend might see your status and in response write on your wall, which is public. The way you could use this to market your book is that you could put into your update status that you are editing the galleys of your book.

Every time you mention the book’s name you’re increasing awareness of it. And maybe a friend will comment on your update, which draws more attention to the project.

Once you’re comfortable on Facebook and have several friends, you should consider starting a group page and/or fan (business page). Group pages and fan pages have different functions and capabilities (which Facebook may change), but both can be used for showing your work projects.

Whether you start a group page or a fan page, let your Facebook friends know that you’ve done this. If you’ve started a group page, ask your friends to become “members.” If you’ve started a fan page, ask them to become “fans.” You can put this info into your Facebook status updates and tweet on Twitter about it.

If you don’t have a large list of friends, it’s probably better to first develop your friends list before creating group pages or fan pages. That way, when you create a group page and/or a fan page, you’ll have a large friends base to notify.

For a book author, it’s important to get the name of your book in front of people and to keep that book name in the public eye. Social media such as Facebook are ideally designed to allow you to legitimately do this. And, yes, it does take work, but so did writing your book. – P.Z.M.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a National Internet Business Examiner at http://www.InternetBizBlogger.com as well as a book author, and her power marketing company http://www.MillerMosaicLLC.com combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

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source: http://www.millermosaicllc.com/author-website/

Written by: Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Do you have a book author website that when visitors come to the site they have no idea whether your book is currently available for sale?

Does your site have a big BUY THIS BOOK NOW or COMING SOON headline?

Your website visitors are not mind readers. And even if they were, they have better things to do than figure out what you want them to do in connection with your book.

If your book is for sale, make it easy for your website visitors to click a link and immediately buy your book. If your book is on Amazon, you can put your book’s Amazon widget “above the fold” and on every page of the site.

And even if your book isn’t out yet, it is a good idea to have a website to start attracting interest. BUT – and this is an important but – let website visitors immediately know the book is not yet out so they don’t get frustrated trying to find the BUY button and click away. And at the same time do try to capture the email addresses of the website visitors so that you can notify people when the book is available.

One good way to interest people in following the progress of your upcoming book is to include a blog on your website. Then, of course, the challenge is writing blog posts that your target market finds of value. While this is easier with nonfiction books because you can blog about your book’s subject area, writing blog posts about a novel can also be done.

Now that we’ve covered this most important book author website element, let’s briefly look at some other essential elements.

On the home page “above the fold” – let people know what your book is about. Don’t make people guess whether it is fiction or nonfiction if the title doesn’t make this clear.

Don’t use, for example, dark blue type against a light blue background. Or at least don’t use this if you want people to actually read what your book is about. Preferably use black type (of a large-enough size) on a white background for ease of reading.

Do include book discussion guidelines to encourage reading groups to consider your book.

Do make it very clear how someone can get in touch with you or learn more about you: Include your Twitter username, Facebook profile, etc. as well as email address.

And do include a photo of yourself on your website – readers like to know what the author of a book looks like.

One final recommendation: If your book is still in the planning stage, make sure that the cover of the book “reads” well reduced to the size of a book displayed on Amazon. If you have a great cover that only makes an impact full-size, re-consider that design. You want a book cover that can make an impact in a much smaller size. – P.Z.M.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a National Internet Business Examiner at http://www.InternetBizBlogger.com as well as a book author, and her power marketing company http://www.MillerMosaicLLC.com combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

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Source: http://www.millermosaicllc.com/discussion-questions/

You’re a book author and you want to promote your book. You have a website where you have downloads of your first chapter or chapters. Have you also made available discussion questions for book clubs to use?

Book groups can be a good target market for your book, especially if it’s fiction. But given how busy people are, it’s helpful for readers to know that if they suggest a book to their reading group they won’t have to struggle to come up with questions. All the work has already been done for them by the author!

If you haven’t yet provided downloadable questions off your website, do so now.

Here are 6 tips for creating these discussion questions:

• Direct your questions at the appropriate age level for your book. If you’ve written a children’s fiction or non-fiction book, questions should be targeted at the reading level of your book’s market.

• Questions for adult fiction or non-fiction books should include a range of questions so that different levels of book groups can find questions that appeal to their groups.

• For fiction books, are there any current or historic events that impact the story you’ve told? If so, create questions based on these events

• As people often read discussion questions before reading the book, be careful about accidentally revealing a fiction book’s surprise plot points in the questions. With careful consideration, you will usually be able to find a way to discuss a question topic without revealing these plot points.

• Before making available your discussion questions, test them on friends who haven’t read the book yet. Check that the questions mean to others what these questions mean to you.

• Offer the questions to anyone who might be interested besides making the questions available as a free download on your website or other author platforms.

By making available good discussion questions for your book, you’re providing book clubs with the resources for a better discussion. And, with any luck, the better the discussion the more buzz will be created. – P.Z.M.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a National Internet Business Examiner at http://www.InternetBizBlogger.com as well as a book author, and her power marketing company http://www.MillerMosaicLLC.com combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

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Source: http://www.millermosaicllc.com/cart-before-horse/

Book marketing in the age of the internet provides numerous opportunities for an aspiring nonfiction book author to have a following before he or she submits a nonfiction book proposal.

The typical advice for someone about to write a nonfiction book proposal is that the person must first have a platform – which basically means a huge following (such as host of a national tv show) or a huge mailing list (perhaps amassed from years of doing business).

The reason for this is that publishers want to know there’s already a built-in fan base of people presumably eager to buy the potential author’s book.

And for someone who doesn’t have this huge following or huge mailing list – it’s too bad but agents and publishers probably won’t be interested in that person’s nonfiction book proposal.

In the past it could take years to “grow” a following. Perhaps, for example, starting off with an advice column in your local newspaper, then working up to an advice column syndicated to a few newspapers, and finally achieving a national syndicated column.

Or you could start off as a talk show host on your local station, work up to a talk show on a few local stations, and finally achieve a national talk show.

The good news is that the internet has changed everything. In fact, the internet has completely eliminated most barriers to entry.

Thus today there’s no reason to put the cart before the horse. Don’t write that nonfiction book proposal until you have established a solid online reputation. Why ask to be rejected when, with some targeted work, you can position yourself as someone to whom agents and publishers should say yes?

If you have an expertise – let’s say you’re a relationship expert with a unique spin – and you want to write a book about your relationship advice, here are some of the internet opportunities you can use to get your own platform BEFORE you write that proposal:

• Start a blog that offers your relationship advice.
• Leave insightful comments with the URL to your blog on other relationship blogs.
• Write guest posts for other people’s blogs.
• Start a BlogTalkRadio show giving your relationship advice and interviewing people who need your advice.
• Join Facebook and start a Facebook group for relationship advice.
• Join Twitter and tweet about your BlogTalkRadio shows.
• Join LinkedIn and start a relationship advice group there.
• Join other social media sites that offer the opportunity for you to demonstrate your unique relationship advice.
• Launch a website that includes testimonials to your advice with an irresistible free offer for people to give you their email addresses (building your list).
• Post brief videos on YouTube and other video sites of you giving relationship advice.
• Make podcasts about relationship advice and have the podcasts downloadable from your website.
• Write reports or e-books about specific areas of relationship advice and distribute these for free or for a fee from your website.
• Offer your reports or e-books to others to use for premiums for their projects.
• Do free or fee question-and-answer teleseminars.
• Write relationship articles and post on free article sites such as ezinearticles.com.
• Write press releases about your teleseminars and post on internet press release sites.

Does this take work? Yes, it does. And will you do all of these? Probably not.

But if you start doing some of these activities as a preamble for writing a nonfiction book proposal, you will be much better positioned to convince a book agent and/or a book publisher that you have the required platform to sell your book.

And the added benefit of doing all this work first? With all the advice you’ve dispensed on the web, your book will almost be totally written thanks to all the material you’ve already produced. –P.Z.M.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a National Internet Business Examiner at http://www.InternetBizBlogger.com as well as a book author, and her power marketing company http://www.MillerMosaicLLC.com combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

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By: Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Source: http://www.millermosaicllc.com/build-bond-with-readers

In order for readers to spend their money on a novel, they must have the desire to spend time (plus their money) in the world that you the author have created.

To encourage readers to want to do this, you should provide information that helps them enter into your world.

One way to do this is to provide the first chapters for free on your website so that prospective readers can get a good feel for the story and characters. You can do this with PDF downloads or audio or video recordings or all three methods. And you can encourage book groups to choose your book by providing book club discussion questions off your website.

If you have other information related to your book that you can share on your website, do so. For example, if your novel is connected to an historical event, you can include photos or videos or commentary about that actual event.

Or let’s say you wrote a novel about a woman fighting breast cancer. You could include on your website names and contact information for organizations that help breast cancer patients.  By sharing such information with your prospective readers you’re creating a bond between you and them.

Of course, there is the basic question of do you need a website at all? Couldn’t you put your book club discussion questions and sample chapters on book author websites and forget about having your own website?

Yes, you could. But you’d be foolish to pass up the opportunity to have a destination URL for you and your books.

On the other hand, there is an alternative to having a website designed for you. You could do what many people are doing now – using WordPress blog software to create a website. This is usually less expensive and easier than having a programmer design a website, and you have the added advantage of more easily changing content.

With your own website featuring sample chapters, helpful information and book club discussion questions, you will be providing prospective readers with a number of reasons to say yes to reading your book. – P.Z.M.
___

Yes!  You can use this article in your ezine, blog or website as long as you use the article in full and include the following resource box:

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a National Internet Business Examiner at http://www.InternetBizBlogger.com as well as a book author, and her power marketing company http://www.MillerMosaicLLC.com combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

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Source: http://blog.marketingtipsforauthors.com/2010/08/clone-yourself-marketing-tips-that-help.html

By Tony Eldridge, creator of Marketing Tips For Authors

Do you ever wish you had 26 hours in a day or that you could be in two places at once? One way to handle this conundrum is to hire people to do some of the things you just don’t have time to do. But in some cases, the answer to your time-crunch dilemma may be a simple, free solution that you can set up today. I’m talking about automated services that help you get your marketing messages out for you so you can focus on other marketing activities.

In the near past, I would have provided a list of services that you can use to accomplish this. While I will mention a few services that I use, this post will focus simply on educating you on the types of activities that you have available. Why? Because these time-saving services are so widespread and similar in features that a simple Google search will return a virtual smorgasbord of results for you to feast on.

1. Automatically Announce Your New Blog Posts- You could spend an hour each day manually adding your new post to your social sites or you could hire someone to do this for you. But in today’s world, you can set up a service to automatically detect and post the title and link to your social sites. Most of these services will even shorten your URL for micro sites like Twitter.

Before you get all excited and start to sign up for these services, I have a some advice.

• Check out the free services before you pay for this. You may eventually decide to pay for services that offer unique benefits you find desirable, but you may also find that the free services do exactly what you need.
• Be careful not to sign up for multiple services that do the same thing. You may find two cool services that offer unique benefits but they both also post your new blog title to your accounts. You don’t want to flood your social followers with the same announcements over and over.
• Remember that you can set these services up coming or going. What I mean by that is that you can have sites like Twitter pull in your new blog posts or you can even have your blog send out your new posts to sites like Twitter. And there are a host of third party applications that will act as the go-between between services like your blog and Twitter.
• Many applications will post to multiple spots like Twitter and Facebook at the same time, so you may want to look at managing one application rather than managing multiple applications that all do the same thing.

2. Automatically Schedule Your Messages- I love services like Social Oomph. Their free version will allow you to create a tweet that you might want to send out multiple times, save it, and schedule it to run whenever you wish with a few clicks of your mouse. I have hundreds of blog titles going back a couple of years that are still relevant today as they were when I first posted them. Now, once a week or once every two weeks, I can schedule old posts to tweet out to new followers. This can keep great content out of the morgue and help them continue to give benefits to your followers.

3. Have Your Mail Client Sort Your Incoming Mail- Rather than spend your day prioritizing your e-mail or hiring an assistant to do it for you, you can set up folders for incoming e-mails and then set up rules to have incoming mail automatically move messages to these folders. Then, all you have to do is glance through your folders to visually see priority messages.

For example, I never want to miss an e-mail from my wife, Emily. I have a folder in Outlook called, creatively enough, “Emily.” Anytime she sends me an e-mail, it goes straight to that folder and the folder turns bold to let me know an unread message is there. I have folders set up for blogs I follow, incoming bills, Twitter alerts and about 25 other folders. TechTrax has a great written tutorial on setting up rules or for those who learn better by watching, VideoTrainingPro has a video tutorial that will help you set up rules.

4. Make It Easy For Your Followers To Share Through Automation- You love it when people tweet about your post or share it with their Facebook friends, right? Well, people are more likely to do just that if you make it quick and easy for them. Early on, I actually changed the HTML template of this blog to add the TweetMeMe button on all my posts. Now, Blogger has a tool that will add it for you with a click or two of the mouse. Regardless of what tool you use, or where you get it, if you give your readers a simple button to click in order to share your posts, it will increase the chances that they will follow through.

I hope these ideas help you find ways you can automate your daily tasks and free up time to do the other marketing tasks that need to be done. If so, you will be surprised at how productive you will become.

About the Author

Tony Eldridge is the author of the award winning action/adventure novel, The Samson Effect, which Clive Cussler calls a “first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure.” He is also the creator of Marketing Tips for Authors, a site that publishes free tips and videos to help authors learn marketing techniques for their books. You can read the serial release of The Samson Effect at http://samsoneffect.marketingtipsforauthors.com/

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by Eric Gruber

source: http://www.sellingbooks.com/best-ways-to-overcome-writers-block-and-save-your-sanity-and-your-hair

Are you experiencing writer’s block?

Whether you are a new writer or an article writing and marketing expert like me, there comes a time when you just stare at the blank white screen with your hands ready at the keyboard – but they’re not typing. The dreadful writer’s block is stopping the words from flowing as they should.

It is frustrating to be stuck especially when you know when you write and submit articles online you will get more website traffic, prospects and profits. So, you start pulling your hair out and grinding your teeth.

See, I know exactly how you feel. There were many times that I wanted to throw my laptop and my desktop right out the window. I know what it is like to try to force yourself to “work through it”, and when you sit down to write you are numb and feel like your brain is composed of concrete.

I also know that the longer you stay in this state the more discouraged you get, which makes it even harder to write. That’s why I am going to help you get out of that dark, cold, gloomy corner and see the light so you can start writing articles faster.

7 Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block and Banish It Forever

1. Use instant article writing templates — You want to use article templates that literally guide you through the article writing process. For example, my 40+ Instant Article Writing Templates Kit, is filled with worksheets and ideas. All you have to do is enter the information that the template asks for – where it asks for it. Not only will you generate article ideas, but you’ll be able to organize your ideas in a way that gets your prospects to read your articles from top to bottom.

2. Host a teleseminar – Greg Ivers of Church Loan Services, an article marketing coaching client of mine, has the hardest time putting the information inside his head into words. No matter how much time I spent with him – he just wasn’t getting it like many small business owners. However, he has no problem speaking about his expertise. So, using Instant Teleseminars, I’m having him do a teleseminar recording that he can use as a lead generation device. He’s then going to use the recording to create a number of articles to promote his free audio program.

3. Keep a digital or analog notebook with you 24/7 — They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Coming up with compelling ideas to write about is sometimes the hardest challenge of all. But, if you have an “idea pad” with you at all times, you can build a reserve of good topics to draw upon as you need them. You’re working proactively to prevent writer’s block.

4. Start writing without constraints– Consider this: Have you ever been blocked while playing Frisbee? Eating doughnuts? Dancing naked in your living room? Those are joyful things and there’s nothing at stake. If you fail, who cares? Nobody. If there are no rules, and no judgment, psychological blocks are impossible. So, start writing without constraints. Deliberately write badly, but write.

5. Write about how it feels not to be able to write. It’s sneaky, but, it works. The voices in our heads are always saying something, so get it down. Imagine yourself as a recording device, writing down the radio broadcast of some other person who happens to live in your head. Eventually your mind will hit thoughts on the topic itself and, presto, you’re on your way.

6. Make Lists – List making is never as threatening as “writing”, so go there first! As far as I know, there is no shopping list block, is there? For example, when I created this list article, I kicked my list around for awhile. I made changes. I did lots of moving and shuffling. Then once it reached critical mass, I put in a document and created my article.

7. Keep writer’s block away by writing daily — Just like someone who is out of shape could not run a mile in a respectable amount of time, someone who doesn’t write frequently will not be able to write high quality articles fast. You have to train your body to run, just like you must train your brain to write. And, you become a faster runner and writer through repeated practice and perseverance.

So, pick up my article writing templates at StartWritingArticlesFaster.com and put these ideas to use. You’ll be amazed how fast ideas will start racing to your mind.

Article marketing expert Eric Gruber created online marketplace opportunities for authors, small business owners, speakers and internet marketers who want more website traffic, prospects and profits. Now you can get started with writing and marketing your business with articles, by getting 3 free article templates that will help you write articles faster. Get it now at: http://www.trymyfreearticletemplates.com

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source: http://www.authorinsider.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1150940828&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7&

Selling your book will be ten times easier as soon as you can accept this one, think-out-of-the-box strategy: your book doesn’t have to be inside a bricks-and-mortar store to sell copies. Too many self-published authors get caught up in trying to figure out how to get distribution which will get their book into big box stores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble. The process can be expensive and daunting. But these days the best grass-roots marketing that can sell tons of books happens on the internet. Using a few tricks of the trade you could reach a wider audience, sell more books and do it while spending less money!

Create a Website That Does More Than Look Good

Nearly every author has a website these days, but not every site helps sell a book. Yes, it’s great to have photos, calendar dates and an order button for your book. But a website can do a lot more. Put a sign up box on every page of your site and offer a free gift to people who fill it in. That will give you a great head start in building your mailing list. You can also use your site to showcase your talent: post clips, sample chapters, your resume and a way for editors looking for freelance writers to contact you. Give your readers reasons to come back to the site regularly. Some authors hold contests and showcase readers or book clubs that loved the author’s book. Have a speakers kit on your site as well for easy downloading so you can direct inquiries for appearances there. You can even feature periodic sales on your site (perhaps during holidays or your birthday!) where readers can buy your book in bulk for gifts.

Enlist Others to Assemble a Special Offer Package

Everyone knows you have to get your book on Amazon.com. It’s the easiest place for people to go to find your book. But how do you get them to go there and buy it? The key is to get other people (preferably with lists of their own) to help you put together a special offer package.

You ask people to donate services, a free download, or gift certificate (the idea is this helps them promote their businesses) and you bundle these goodies up into a bonus package that people receive when they buy your book. The offers should appeal to your target market. Then you set a launch day and everyone who contributed to the package sends an email blast to THEIR lists telling them of the great offer. So you not only have a great offer to entice people to buy, you also have the offer going out to A LOT more people!

I’ll give you an example so you can see how this works. I recently participated in a special offer for Christine Martinello to promote her new book, The Momager Guide: Empowering Moms to Leave A Loving Legacy. You can see her offer, as well as the list of goodies she gave away, at http://www.christinemartinello.com/specialoffer. This offer was only supposed to last a week, but it’s been so successful that Christine has allowed it to continue. She also went, in just a few days, from being ranked #2.4 million on the Amazon sales list to being ranked #13 on the parenting and families bestseller list and # 238 in overall book sales. A true bestseller!

Use Many Tools

A great website is just a start. To maximize your exposure, use more than one of the many internet tools available. Use a blog to increase your search engine visibility. If you’re posting on a regular basis and on subject matter connected to current events, your blog could also become a source of free publicity. Just make sure your blog postings note you are “author of your book”. Podcasts are another way of establishing credibility and getting the word out. An aspiring author recently asked me about how to create buzz around a book he’s writing about a historic sports broadcaster. A podcast is a natural outlet for him. Not only can he produce shows about sports broadcasting that show off his expertise, he can also play old clips of his book’s subject and stir up interest in him as well.

E-newsletters, like this one, are a great way of establishing rapport with your readers and keeping them up to date on what’s coming next. I recently signed up for Stephen King’s newsletter so I can see how this mega-selling author continues to put himself out there. (Note: King and his publisher sent out text messages this week to random cellphones to promote his latest work, Cell. A great use of a different marketing tool!)

Don’t overlook your email signature. I still get people interested in my book just because they saw it mentioned in my email signature. Keep it simple: mention the title, a great review and tell them where to get it. Since you can set your email up to put your signature on everything you send out, this is marketing you can just “set it and forget it”.

Show Up in Many Places

The internet is a big place and the people you’re targeting to buy your book visit many sites. Your best bet is to figure out where they go and show up there in a variety of ways. For instance, you can design a banner ad for your book and get it posted on targeted sites. In some cases you may have to pay for the advertising, but if you have a site that someone wants to show up on themselves, they may be open to swapping ad space with you for free. Same thing goes for newsletters. Write articles for other newsletters, swap articles with other authors. Or, better yet, post articles to sites such as isnare.com or EzineArticles.com, and your writing will be sent all over the internet. You never know where your article will show up. One of my articles recently led to me being interviewed by Investors Business Daily. The reporter simply found it while doing a search on the topic of her story.

One last note: Because the internet is practically limitless in its reach, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the marketing possibilities. Take a deep breath and map out your strategy. Not every tool will suit you, so don’t try to do everything. It’s better to choose two or three techniques and work those to success rather than do ten things, in a scattershot way, with poor results. Remember, technology is supposed to make life easier!

By Sophfronia Scott

© 2006 Sophfronia Scott