On November 1st, we will hear from Sarah Buhr of Big Star PR about how to effectively manage your PR Campaign. I will also be interviewing Sarah and releasing our podcast next week. PR is one of the most powerful tools to use to get the word out about your book and you can now upload your Press Release on Authors On The Net. To do so, just click on the menu button on the left.

While no one can guarantee a book to become a best-seller, book guru Michael Drew has taken on 48 books and all 48 books have made it on the New York Times best-seller list. Michael is hosting an event in Salt Lake City, UT on November 7th. Seating is extremely limited so make your reservation today. To find out more, click here: http://www.killingsacredcows.com/events/bookpublishing/

I just finished two days at the BookWise book convention where I was asked to host two break-away sessions. My topic was on self-promoting a book using a turnkey system. Authors are using many internet tools to promote their books these days, but we’ve discovered two difficulties:

1. Getting over the learning curve of using Internet tools, and
2. Using tactics in a strategic way

Response at both sessions was overwhelmingly positive. Basically, our turnkey system is based on the Self-Publishing in a Box program and goes something like this:

1. Build your book promotional plan, which is a book proposal combined with a simple financial plan.
2. Produce a bookshelf-quality book: cover design, editing, printing - all the components to make your book look like a book in Barnes and Noble.
3. Use a blog as the centerpiece of your promotional activities.
4. Interact with the top bloggers on your topic (create a non-fiction angle if you have a fiction book)
5. Build your Amazon profile and list your book on other online bookstores like Barnes and Noble.
6. Choose your social media site like Myspace or Facebook that fits your target audience and build your audience.
7. Start sending our press releases, mainly with PR Web, but the other free sites as well.
8. Send offline press releases to the mainstream media, local TV, Radio, Blog Talk Radio etc.
9. Write articles
10. Start speaking and seminar programs
11. Start doing Virtual Book Tours
12. Create a series of videos and book trailers.

These 12 steps make up an author’s core promotional plan. Once these pieces are in place, the author can begin other tactics, but the key is that every other tactic you take will tie back in with your core promotional platform.

If you’d like to learn more about creating a turnkey promotional plan, please email us at

info@authorsonthenet.com

Author Blasts is the Authors On The Net Podcast. If you are a member of AON and you have a book, we would like to interview you. Simply send us an email at info@authorsonthenet.com. We are also interested in speaking with publishers, distributors, book designers, editors and other people who have a publishing or book promotion message.

In today’s podcast, we speak with Kristie LeVangie, author of Libidacoria: In a Plain Brown Wrapper Selling poetry books is not an easy task, but Kristie uses Podcasts, fused with Indie music, to attract readers. Listen to learn more and you may come up with ways to start your own podcast show. Be sure to visit Kristie’s website at www.libidacoria.com and listen to some of her podcasts. Warning: for mature audiences.

Click here to listen to the podcast now. Listen to Author Blasts show now.

http://authorsonthenet.com/audio/kristielevangiepodcast.mp3

Note: depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download. You can also download the interview through itunes. To subscribe to this podcast, go to the itunes store, click on podcasts and search for “Authors On The Net.” Subscribe and you will receive our podcasts directly to your itunes.

As you probably know, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Like buying links. Google and the other search engines are pretty good at ferreting out bogus schemes to get websites and blogsites ranked high on their search engines. So if you’ve ever wondered how to create high-value, relevant links to your website or blogsite, read this great article I found on a blog called SEOptimise.

More and more conventional link building methods, like directory submission are of less and less value, Google does not even recommend high quality paid directories any more. In fact soon we’ll see a situation where all artificial ways of link building will be frowned upon.

On the other hand former SEOptimise writer and renowned UK search marketing blogger Patrick Altoft reported a few days ago about companies which spend thousands on link buying budgets per month. This way of link acquisition is not allowed by Google for a long time by now and many high profile sites have been penalized already.

While the urge of spending money on links comes as no surprise it is met by an often low quality shady part of the SEO industry. Getting links naturally requires also an investment, an allocation of time and resources combined with know how in some Internet industries like web design or development but not solely.

The money gets spend not on the links directly but on a web venture that gets links naturally and sustainably over time. The allure of “free” is in most cases the key to get links but also altruism leads to a direct ROI in terms of links. So think twice before spending money directly on low quality links.

Stop link building artificially and use one or several of the following 30 ways to get links naturally: Read the rest of this entry »

I received the following message from a Facebook group I joined a while back. I’m sharing this for two reasons: first, to announce this contest and second, to show you an interesting way to use a blog to promote a cause, like selling your own book.

Raz Godelnik sent a message to the members of Eco-Libris: Plant a Tree for Every Book you Read!

——————–
Subject: A great giveaway of Little Green Books on our blog

Dear friend,

Last month we announced on our collaboration with Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing in an educational contest - I CAN SAVE THE EARTH!. This was in a celebration of their new line of eco-friendly children’s books, Little Green Books. In the next couple of weeks we will review in the blog the first four books that were published so far. Today we have the pleasure to start with two of them that are about two good friends - ‘Little Panda’ and ‘Little Monkey’.

We also have a great giveaway - Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing are giving away one package of the 4 books published so far in the Little Green Books line: Little Panda, Little Monkey, I Can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and The Polar Bears’ Home: A Story About Global Warming.

How you can get a chance to win this great prize? all you need to do is to add a comment to the post http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://%28http%3A%2F%2Fecolibris.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F10%2Fmondays-green-books-serieslittle-panda.html%29 with an answer for the following question: what is the best way to plant the seeds for earth-friendly living at an early age? if you have stories from your own experience with your kids that would be great. Submissions are accepted until Sunday, October 19, 12PM EST. We will pick the comment we liked best and the winner will be announced the following day.

All the best,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.ecolibris.net

I received the following message from, Michiko, one of our authors. Michiko has had one of her art pieces ripped off by Camel so she knows what she is talking about. This concerns all of us and I encourage you to write your congress person and voice your opinions. Here’s the email Michiko sent me:

Are you an artist, photographer, writer, musician, performer, creator….or do you know one who may be affected by this in the coming weeks?

The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act is a proposed change to our existing copyright law that has been in place protection artists, writers, photographers, musicians and various creators since 1976. By default the current copyright law, which we love, protects your ownership of anything original you create from the moment you first put it into a fixed form, whether you formally register it or not (sure, you get additional protections and the right to sue only once you’ve registered it with the U.S. Copyright Office in D.C.). By letting our creative work automatically belong to us without being required to formalize it to prove ownership, the US is in compliance with the international Berne Convention treaty protecting creators in other countries as well (and their work if it falls into US usage). Read the rest of this entry »

I have submitted my book, Fast & Furious Book Promotion, to be available as an ebook on Kindle. However, after uploading my book, I have been unable to set up my account. When I looked into this issue, it appears many other people are trying to set up their accounts as well with no success and it appears this has been going on for some time. The service is still in Beta. You might want to wait until the service actually works before wasting too much time. I’ll keep trying and when I can successfully set up the account and actually see my book available for sale I’ll let everyone know.

The prevailing feeling I get when I speak with authors and surf the web is that book promotion is a necessary evil. Many people, myself included, are trying to take the pain out of book promotion. This morning I woke up and wanted to know if any author out there is having any fun promoting his or her book.

Personally, I like selling. Selling my business, my book and my kit, Self-Publishing in a Box is fun for me. I like having a goal and working to attain that goal. But what about authors in general? Are you having fun promoting your books? If so, let us hear what you are doing. Promoting your book should be as fun as writing your book. Is it?

Somehow I came across this site called Plain Language (www.plainlanguage.gov) and not only found it funny, but also a simple and effective tool writers can use to keep their grammar in check. Here’s a brief sample of what you’ll find when you click over:

1. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
2. Avoid cliches like the plague—they’re old hat.
3. Employ the vernacular.
4. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
5. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
6. Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
9. Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
10. Always avoid alliteration.

I strongly believe the author’s main job is telling a good story or conveying a compelling message and then it is up to the editor to fix all the mistakes. However, many authors, especially self-publishing authors, do not invest in editing. If paying a good editor is out of the question for you, you might want to print this list and keep it handy as you edit your own book.

One reason published books have more credibility than independently published books is the vetting process these books go through. Mainstream publishers have expert editors they use to take the great idea the author has created and polish the grammar, spelling, flow and other aspects of the book.

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/examples/humor/writegood.cfm