BookLocker Online Marketing

During Week I, we talked about sad assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your free book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

During Week V, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

During Week VI, we subtly marketed our book to online discussion groups.

Last week, we subtly promoted our book on other people’s blogs.

This week, we’re going to subtly promote our book(s) while posting comments on major news sites.

I don’t know about you but I love reading Letters to the Editor in newspapers and magazines. The letters section is one of the first places I look when I’m reading a periodical.

The great news is, in increasing numbers, newspapers, magazines, and other news websites are allowing readers to post comments about articles, often instantly, on their websites, directly under each article.

You can find a list of the nation’s 100 largest newspapers right here:
http://nyjobsource.com/papers.html

That’s a pretty nifty page – but not all newspapers allow you to post comments online. So, let’s find the top five that do. They are:

USA Today
The Wall Street Journal
The New York Times
Los Angeles Times
The Denver Post / Rocky Mountain News

As in past articles in this series, I need to show you how to do this by example.

USA Today

To promote my book, The Emergency Divorce Handbook for Women, I went to the USA Today website and typed the word divorce into their search box there at the top of the homepage. I then had to sit through an incredibly boring ad (yawn), but then arrived at a page that lists their archives. Under “FROM THE ARCHIVES”, I found:

1. An excerpt from a book on divorce
2. A story about the Britney Spears custody battle
3. An article about Spain allowing fast-track divorces
4. An article about how caring for an aging parent can increase your chances of divorce
5. An article about how divorce increases your chances of foreclosure

That is just the tip of the information iceberg. There are hundreds to thousands of articles that I could post comments about…while subtly promoting my book at the same time. Luckily, the stories are arranged by date on that page so I can just post comments to the top 5 or 10 news stories.

The best part is, every single article allows readers to post comments underneath. Whoo hoo!

I would, of course, not blatantly promote my book to the masses because this might be considered spam. I would, instead, provide valuable and informative comments about each story and then post a “subtle signature” (my name, author, and book title) like this:

Angela Hoy
Author, The Emergency Divorce Handbook for Women

Anybody can find my book for sale online and can order it through their local bookstore so the title and my name are really all they need.

Okay, your turn. Go to http://www.usatoday.com and, using their search box at the top, search for the top keyword/phrase that describes your book. Find 5 to 10 articles that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each news story using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Next, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

The Wall Street Journal

Okay, again using my divorce book as an example, I surfed to wsj.com and typed divorce into the search box there at the right, near the top of their homepage. What popped up?

1. An article about emails being admitted as evidence in divorce cases. This is a blog on wsj.com that allows readers to post comments.
2. An article about the law of religion meeting the law of the state. This article also allows readers to post comments underneath it.

I’ll stop there but you get the picture. There are links to articles, blogs, and even moderated discussion lists managed by Wall Street Journal journalists and featuring discussions with their readers.

Go to wsj.com and, using their search box near the top (right-hand side), search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 articles/blogs/discussions that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each news story/blog/discussion using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Next, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

The New York Times

This website allows you to search specifically in their archives and in the New York Times blogs.

Go to http://www.nytimes.com and, using their search box near the top (right-hand side), search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 articles and/or blogs that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each news story/blog post using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Then, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times website features a link to their blogs page. However, you can simply use their search box at the top of their homepage to find their blog posts that may be attracting your book’s target readers. As with the other sites, yes, you can comment on the blog posts.

As of this writing, they don’t allow visitors to post comments about articles. However, that may change in the future. If you do see an article that interests you, you can write a letter to the journalist who wrote it. Chances are, they cover that topic on an ongoing basis and they may want to use you as a source in a future story.

Go to http://www.latimes.com and, using their search box at the top, search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 LA Times blog posts that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each one using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Then, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

The Denver Post

Oh goodie! Another news site that allow visitors to comment directly on articles!

Go to http://www.denverpost.com and, using their search box at the top, search for your top keyword/phrase. Find 5 to 10 articles that you think your book’s target audience might be reading. Then, post a comment about each one using your subtle signature (Name, Author and Book Title only).

Then, repeat the exercise for your other top keywords/phrases.

ONGOING

This should be considered an ongoing book marketing activity. You should never drop into a discussion and then disappear completely because somebody might step in and make a comment about what you wrote or somebody might ask you a question. In addition, there are new articles, blogs, and discussions being posted all day long, every single day. Stay on top of them and you’ll continue to sell books.

Don’t stop at just the top five news sites I featured here. There are many more newspapers, listed by size, at this site: http://nyjobsource.com/papers.html

Have fun helping others (posting comments/facts/opinions) while promoting your book!

Angela Hoy is the co-owner of the ebook and print on demand publisher, Booklocker.com and the publisher of WritersWeekly.com.

During Week I, we talked about sad assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your free book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

During Week V, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

Last Week, we subtly marketed our book to online discussion groups.

This week, we’re going to subtly promote our book(s) on other people’s blogs.

In case you’re a newbie, a blog is a regularly-updated personal journal that is posted online. Special software enables bloggers to post their comments instantly online. No HTML! Yea! Blogs have exploded in recent years because they make publishing online so easy and because they are usually of a more personal nature than professional websites. Blogs seem to attract the voyeur in all of us.

This article may seem long but you have tons of real estate to cover when promoting your book through comments boxes on blogs.

Finding the blogs is very easy. At the very end of most blogs, you can see a box where readers can instantly post comments. Some require you to login but many allow anonymous posts (meaning you don’t have to get an account through that particular service/blog to post a comment). Some blogs are moderated. If your comment doesn’t appear instantly, it will after/if the blog owner reviews and approves it.

I’ve sold several copies of my book, DON’T CUT ME AGAIN! True Stories About Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC), by simply posting comments to blogs that are discussing VBACs.

When I find a blog post that may be attracting my book’s target audience, I read the post and then post my own comment. I don’t do any hard selling at all as doing so may be considered offensive (spam). I give my opinions and experiences (and I really enjoy doing that!) and then I sign my name like this:

Angela Hoy
Author, DON’T CUT ME AGAIN! True Stories About Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC)

Here are some of the most popular blog hosting services:

http://www.blogspot.com (owned by Google.com)
http://www.blogger.com (also owned by Google.com)
http://www.wordpress.com
http://www.livejournal.com

To find even more blog hosting websites, click ìfree blogî into your favorite search engine.

First, make a list of the top five keywords/phrases that you think your book’s audience might be searching for online.

Now, let’s find some blogs that are currently catering to your potential readers.

http://www.blogspot.com and http://www.blogger.com
These sites are owned by Google.com. If you go to their homepages directly, you won’t find any simple way to search the blogs they’re hosting. So, do this instead. Go to http://www.google.com. At the top of the page, under ìmoreî there is a drop-down menu. Click on ìblogs.î You are now in google’s blog search engine. Type your first keyword/phrase into the search box and start finding blogs to post comments under while subtly using your name and the title of your book as your signature (as I’ve done above). Once you finish with your first keyword, search for the other four as well.

http://www.wordpress.com
Go to http://www.wordpress.com. On this site, you have to find blogs using their categories instead of keywords. The categories appear on the right-hand side of the homepage. Click on the most appropriate category and start finding posts that may be of interest to your book’s target audience. When posting, again subtly promote your book by using your name and the title of your book as your signature.

DAY 47: livejournal.com
Go to http://www.livejournal.com. Click Explore LJ (top, left-hand corner), and then find the search box under ìFind people and communities interested in.î Type your first keyword/phrase into the search box and start finding blogs to post comments under while once again subtly using your name and the title of your book as your signature. Once you finish with your first keyword, search for the other four as well.

BLOG SEARCH ENGINE

A well-known blog search engine is: http://technorati.com

Technorati searches and organizes blogs and other independent, user-generated content online. You can use their search box to find more blog posts that may currently be attracting your book’s target audience.

Unfortunately, you’re going to notice some spam posts in there. Just skip those.

When you find a legitimate one, click on the title of the post. It will take you to a page where you can see a small version of the post with a link to the post just above, as well as a screen-capture of the actual blog and a link that takes you to the blog’s homepage. The post may not be the newest post on that blog so I suggest using the link that takes you to that specific post. But, you may want to go to the blog’s homepage and see what else you can find of interest there.

You’ll also notice that Technorati ranks each blog. The lower the ìrankî number, the more popular the blog.

If you have way too much time on your hands, there is a large list of blog search engines on this page:
http://websearch.about.com/od/internetresearch/a/newsblog.htm

INDEPENDENT BLOGS

Not everybody chooses to allow a hosting service to carry their blog for them. There is software that allows anybody with even a small amount of technical expertise to set up a blog on their own website.

If you go to google.com or your favorite search engine and type in your first keyword/phrase along with the word blog, you will probably get a pleasant surprise. For example, when I type divorce blog into google.com (no quotes!), I get a list of more blogs than I will ever have time to read and comment on.

This should be considered an ongoing online book marketing activity. There are new blog posts being made all day long, every single day. Stay on top of them and you’ll continue to sell books.

YOUR OWN BLOG?

You can, of course, start your own blog at a variety of sites. But, if you already have your own website and ezine to maintain and publish, I wouldn’t recommend setting up shop on these sites just to republish what you’ve already published on your own. I’ve found it’s less labor-intensive and more effective to simply comment on other people’s existing blogs, where you can take advantage of a preexisting audience.

Next week, we’ll have even more free online book marketing fun. See ya then!

During Week I, we talked about sad assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your free book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

Last week, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

This week, we’re going to meet some new groups of people while subtly marketing our book.

I’m quite a social butterfly online and participating in online discussion groups is something I’d do for fun – if I weren’t so busy promoting my books and publishing books for other authors through Booklocker.com.

There are really only two things you need to ethically promote your book to discussion lists/groups. They are:

1. a sincere willingness to help others
2. a very short signature that subtly promotes your book and that doesn’t give the impression you’re spamming the masses

The only way for me to teach you how to do this is to show you how I’d do this with one of my books. This week, I’ll use my book, The Emergency Divorce Handbook for Women, as an example. Sadly, since so many marriages end in divorce, there is a never-ending source of online discussions for unhappy married people, victims of domestic violence, people involved in ongoing custody disputes, and even people whose children have been kidnapped by their spouse. Before you start to think that I wrote this book to prey on suffering people’s pocketbooks, I need to tell you that I offer the entire ebook as an instant, free download to women who can’t afford to buy a copy. It’s my way of giving back to the community that helped me when I was going through a nasty divorce.

However, YOUR book is not free so we won’t discuss the free part during this exercise, okay? Here we go.

Keywords are topic-specific descriptions (single words and phrases) that generate the results people see when they use a search box on a website. The top five keywords/phrases I use when promoting my divorce book are:

Divorce
Custody
Legal aid
Domestic violence
Protective order

Discussion Groups/Lists are places online where people congregate to discuss a certain topic. There are large websites that host numerous discussion groups/lists.

What I’m going to be looking for online today are my keywords in some of the top online group websites, which are:

• http://groups.google.com
• http://groups.yahoo.com
• http://groups.myspace.com
• http://groups.msn.com
• http://lists.topica.com

(If you want more choices, just type the word ìgroupsî into your favorite search engine.)

For this example, I’m going to type my top keyword, divorce, into the search box on this page: http://groups.google.com

The top two results are active discussions under these groups:

alt.support.divorce
alt.child-support

When I click on these links, I enter a page that takes me to numerous other pages, almost all of which contain prospective buyers of my book (women seeking a divorce). I can then start clicking and actively participating in these discussions, offering advice when/where appropriate.

I found one discussion on parental alienation. Not only can I offer advice to the woman who posted that note (as well as the other moms who are actively discussing this with her online) but I can also post the entire chapter from my book that covers that subject directly into my response. It’s free information and I’m sure nobody will object.

I will, of course, mention that it’s an excerpt from my book.

Whether just participating in a discussion or posting an excerpt, I will always use this signature underneath my posts:

Angela Hoy,
Author, The Emergency Divorce Handbook for Women

My book, published by Booklocker.com, is available for special order anywhere so the title is all people need if they want to find my book on Amazon.com, anywhere else online, and even in their local bookstore’s system.

After I finish searching all the sites above for “divorce”, I would move onto my next primary keyword/phrase and start all over again.

This should not be considered a one-day-only marketing exercise. Since these groups are so active and often have participants who post all day long each day, participating in discussion groups/lists should be considered an ongoing marketing activity. At least once a week or even on a more frequent basis, come back to each page and see if anyone has left you any questions/comments, and also look for new discussions to participate in.

Fiction Authors will also have no shortage of discussions to participate in. Readers love to discuss books online! Fiction authors can find reader groups online, at the sites above, who are discussing books in their genre. They can actively participate in those groups and also subtly market their book(s) in their signature as I have above.

For example, romance authors can participate in these groups:
rec.arts.books
alt.romance.chat

Mystery authors can find discussions about mystery novels at:
rec.arts.mystery (717 members!)

And, guess what? You can even set up your very own discussion list on many of these sites. Romance author Rebecca Goings has one here that has more than 300 members:
http://groups.google.com/group/themagicofromance?lnk=srg

Once you’re an accepted and welcomed member of a group, you can add more to your signature, like a plug for your ìfree ebookî (if you’re offering one to get people to sign up for your ezine/blog) or even a plug for your website.

Next week, we’ll learn how to subtly promote our books on other people’s blogs. See ya then!