Self-Publishing Marketing Guide for all Indie Authors by BookRix .com (story reading TXT) 📖

Facebook and Twitter are the two most popular social media outlets for authors and readers alike. Using them to your advantage is easy and fun.

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/
It’s hard to imagine life without Facebook. You keep in touch with family, share photos with your friends, tag yourself at your favorite hotspots, and share what’s on your mind. As a writer, the next step is to create your own Facebook Fan Page so that your fans can follow and share your posts. This is a great resource for spreading news about upcoming books, giveaways on your blog, or even thoughts and musings from your everyday life. By creating a Facebook Fan Page, you can connect with authors, give reading recommendations, discuss book tours, and much more. Another benefit of having a Facebook Fan Page is that you can focus on expanding your fan base, while keeping your personal profile for close friends and family members. You can use your Facebook Fan Page almost the same way as your own website or blog (see Author Website/Blog section below for more information) but by having a Fan Page, you can target audience better without spamming your friends and coworkers with up to date info on your written work

Having fans visit your Facebook page is awesome, but having fans on your email list is a completely different ball game. Email interaction establishes dialog and allows you the ability to deliver what you want, when you want. If you have a lot of information you’d like to share, perhaps a weekly or monthly newsletter would be best. We suggest establishing a simple ‘mailing list’ App to your Facebook page. This easy to use application gives users the option of providing their preferred email address for you to utilize.

You should also find literary related groups about book, self-publishing, and writing workshops– be active and get yourself out there. You might be surprised by how many active groups are available. Joining Facebook groups is a simple one-click process. Once you’ve joined you should participate in conversations, start new topics, and share what you’re working on. The key to groups is staying active and engaging with likeminded people. It’s an excellent networking resource.

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/
For anyone who doesn’t already know, Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send/read text-based messages knows as “tweets”. It has over 500 million registered users who generate over 340 million tweets daily. Twitter is now one of the ten most visited websites on the Internet. Being active on Twitter is a no brainer.

Similar to Facebook, Twitter is an effective yet simple way to stay connected with people and things you love. It’s also a great way to network with others and promote! Have a favorite author? Chances are they’re on Twitter. (To start, try this list of 100+ Authors on Twitter: http://mashable.com/2009/05/08/twitter-authors/). You can also find publishers, agents and industry news. Branch out and find the people you want to receive updates from by expanding your follow list. Not sure where to begin? Try using hashtags – it’s the # symbol (referred to as the “pound key” or “number key”) followed by a topic. Here are a few examples: #booklover, #ebooks, #writing, etc. By entering phrases like these into the Twitter search field, you can locate users from all over the world who have included that particular hashtag into their tweet. This cool feature allows you to discover new people and topics that interest you. Your outgoing Tweets can be about the book you’re writing, things you derive inspiration from, events you plan on attending, and so forth. You can find writers working on similar projects and share challenges and personal progress as a means of inspiration. The Twitter world is your oyster! And while you’re at it, don’t forget to install the Twitter application to your Smartphone. This makes Tweeting-on-the-go a breeze. The best way to experience Twitter is just to dive in and have fun!

Running your own personal website is the most effective way to gain readers and then keep them interested. Many authors associate a blog with (a lot of) work, stress and time. They often question themselves:

What’s the benefit of a blog and why should I take the trouble to create one? Sure, it’s true that you can gain readers without a blog, however, with a blog you will end up with a lot more. Thanks to the Internet, creating and maintaining a blog really isn't time consuming any more: There are different “model sets” and "templates" helping to conjure a blog within a few minutes.

Why should an author invest their time in a blog? Let’s start with the most obvious advantage: Bloggers often connect with each other. On almost every blog you can find the so-called “link list” which directly links to other blogs recommended by the blog owner. It’s really easy to get added to these lists because between bloggers it’s common to see: “you link me, I link you” – especially for authors with similar themes and genres. The more links to your blog, the more readers will visit it. And new blog visitors are almost guaranteed to become new readers at the same time!

Attracting new readers depends on how the author presents themself. A blog offers countless opportunities to introduce yourself and your work. Here are several useful tips for your website:

Make it easy to use. Short profiles of the characters, an extensive biography of you (the author), a summary of your work, a reading sample, a list of links to external interviews and book reviews – All of your information should be conveniently gathered in one place to be accessed by the reader so they don’t have to go searching for it.

Have your very own author email address for fans to connect with you personally.

Have a “follow me” area where users can either check a box or enter their email address to follow along with your blog. You can inform them about anything exciting on your website and let them know when you are releasing a new book. If readers don’t know you have a new book, how can they be expected to buy it and read it? Using this, you can also offer your own newsletter. Just make sure you don’t bombard your readers with daily emails – Save the newsletter/email for the really important news.

Hold giveaways and contests. This will hook your readers in as well as drawing new fans who love free stuff. Be as creative as you want!

Have a live story that you add to every day until it’s finished. Your readers can comment and criticize you along the way, making them feel like they are part of your creative process. They can also watch the story grow, something that is unique only to live stories!

Create a fan art page – Your readers can share their artwork based on your book(s). This works best for Fantasy and Science Fiction, but can be fun for any genre.

Using your blog, share personal info about your daily life. Readers love learning more about their favorite authors. You can also use this to personally inform them about upcoming book releases and it won’t seem pushy. Besides, readers can give their feedback by using the comments section. In so doing, all reader comments are clearly visible for the blog owner. As a result, the blog serves as a communication platform between authors and readers.

Offer exclusive content. Have a new book set to release next month? Share a short story based on one of your characters to give your fans a little taste of what’s to come. What you choose to showcase is entirely up to you (i.e. an exclusive interview, a signed eCopy of your book, release of the first chapter in your upcoming book, etc.). This content can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, your newsletter or your blog. However we suggest posting the content in only one channel, yet advertising it across all social media platforms. This way you ensure your fans are reached, yet you’ve demonstrated its exclusivity. Entice them by showing them that you are forever grateful for their support.

Include links to your author pages on Twitter and Facebook (and your blog if you decided to have a webpage AND a blog). After you've published, make sure you also have a Wiki page. There are so many ways to get yourself out there. The more effort you put in, the more results you're going to get.

Have a camera or a camera phone? Take some photos! It adds a nice touch to your blog and really helps personalize your blogspace. Not sure what to capture on virtual film? How about a photo of your workspace, the view from your window, nature around you, your favorite reading spot, local library, things you see while exploring, a family pet (careful not to get trigger happy with the cat photos!), a nice meal you made for dinner, etc. Get creative! You can incorporate a variety of things into your blog; the idea is to have fun with it!

Fans can now find all the important information on one website. Beyond that, they can use this website for getting in touch with their idol (that’s you!).

If you already have a blog, feel free to share the link with us in our “Web Writer's” group!

We would like to use this opportunity to inform all authors who have published on BookRix, about a right you all have: The right to distribute free copies of your book for reviews. However, it is important that this marketing opportunity is not taken lightly. Out there, in the all mighty