How To Promote Your Business by Publishing a Book!
There isn’t a more effective way for you to promote your business than to write a book! Writing a book not only allows you to provide information but it allows you to establish your company’s credibility, position yourself as an expert in your field, leave a lasting impression on clients you meet directly as well as to those they pass your book onto, as well as create a profit while you sleep!!
So how do you do this? Well, it is easier than what you may think. Here are seven easy steps:
1.Write the book! Create an outline of the information you want to provide in your book and write it! A full-length paperback book should be at least 50 pages.
2. Publish the book. The great thing about book publishing today is that you don’t have to mortgage your home to be a published author nor do you have to experience a slew of rejection letters from traditional publisher. You can self-publish your book and keep 100% of the products.
3. Promote the book! Once the book is finished send out a press release to your local and regional newspapers about its release. Also don’t neglect online newswires to announce your book to the world.
4. Give the book away for free to clients or potential clients. As a special “thank you” for your clients using your business offer your book! Not only will this help you retain the clients that you have, but they will share your book with the people that they know. Talk about inexpensive marketing!
5. Create a Website: If you don’t already have a website for your company, this is the time to have one designed even if it is just a contact page. The fact is that more and more people have access to the internet and they are always searching for information. No matter what your budget may be, you can have a website. Look into companies like www.freewebs.com or www.bravenet.com both are excellent for the novice and professional web designer.
6. Promote with E-Books! Turn your book into an e-book and offer it for free or for nominal cost on your website. If you choose to offer it for free this is a great way to build your email list. In exchange for visitors receiving your free information ask they to provide their name and email address. This will give you the opportunity to send them information about your products and services.
7. Write articles based on the content in your book. Take an extra step in establishing yourself as an expert by writing articles. Articles don’t have to be long they just have to be informative. Make sure to include short byline so that readers can find you and your company.
Writing a book can an inexpensive and practical way to promote your business. Self-publishing just may be the avenue you want to take when having your book published.
About The Author
Tamika Johnson-Hall is the CEO of Anointed Word Media Group, an award winning Christian book publishing company. The author of four books she is committed to helping people put their voice into print. For more information please visit: http://www.publishyourchristianbook.com or call 1-800-597-9428.
10 Tips for Marketing Your Book Online
1) ALWAYS have a link to where your book can be purchased in your signature line. Never send an email without it. You can link to a website, your blog, newsletter, etc. as well. Keep the number of lines between two and four–it’s considered good ‘netiquette’ especially when posting to regulated groups or forums.
2) Request to do a chat in every available online spot you can. Offer to send a freebie as a ‘door prize’ but DON’T offer your current release. This could slow sales as prospective chatters might wait to find out if they win one for free. Book thongs, markers (very cheap to mail,) older releases, and other related promotional items work well . You can also offer a critique if the chat is writer-related. Get creative.
3) Target websites and blogs that are in the genre you write and offer to do a Q&A or an interview on the site or blog. (See above for possible prizes you might offer.)
4) Get your own website. This is important because no matter how much advertising or promotion you do, it’ll be hard to generate internet interest without a web presence. Even if it’s a smaller, free site, it’s better than not having one at all. Check into some of the more prominent websites that cater to authors and look into their specially discounted hosting/design packages.
5) Create a newsletter. Try to make it fun and interactive for both writers and readers. In my newsletter I include chocolate recipes and a family-friendly joke section. Depending on the genre you write in, you can even gear it toward your target audience. If you write YA, you can make it more teen-friendly.
6) Start blogging. Write as often as you can on your blog, even if it’s just a few paragraphs every other day or so. When you blog, try to include links to other places (even if it’s just to your own website) so that you’ll generate more ‘hits’ from searches to your blog, and hence to your title(s). Don’t forget that you can comment on other people’s blogs as well, leaving again, a link back to you.
7) Join groups and use them wisely. If you’re on MySpace, send bulletins out when you blog (which can be cross-posted between your MySpace blog and your personal blog.) Visit your ‘friends’–try to aim for at least five a week, for just a moment, to drop them a note. Keep it casual and friendly. Join other groups on the net that are for readers (like book club groups) and post occasionally–where your signature line will be seen by everyone. Aim for groups with large memberships.
Once you have your website, do “link” or “banner” exchanges with friendly authors or others that you know. Cross-promotion is fabulous for getting your links in front of new internet users.
9) Enter your title into internet contests, usually for free, but you may consider a nominal fee. Whether it’s a cover-art contest, or just a contest decided by voters and even if you don’t win, your title will be listed on the internet in yet another place.
10) Write press releases, articles, and reviews and post them in the appropriate places. If you set up a “virtual tour”, if you have a new release, if you win a contest, you can write a press release. Write articles and submit them to free-to-use article places where content seekers can grab your article (with the source box including your links) and use it on their site or in their newsletter. Every time you finish reading a book, write a review for it and submit it everywhere you can–like online booksellers such as Amazon.com. (If you alter it a bit, you can even send it out as an article.) Of course, with a link back to you.
Make friends everywhere you go. Be helpful to others. Volunteer your time. Offer congrats and commiserations when someone else needs a friend. Most of all, be sincere. This is more valuable than any of the above because it not only makes your internet existence bearable, but you’ll get help, inspire others to promote you, and have a host of opportunities already in place when your next release comes out.
About The Author
J.R. Turner is the author of the award-winning novel, “My Biker Bodyguard” and the Knight Inc. action adventure series. Visit http://www.jennifer-turner.com for more details.
Audio Book and the Future of Libraries
Imagine a time when you could get any audio book you want to read from the library without having to physically visit the library to lend the audio books.
Well, imagine no more because it is now possible.
Public libraries from New York City to Alameda, California are now leading the packs of libraries that have begun allowing members to download audio books which they can listen to on their Personal Computers or portal audio book players such as PDAs — all from the comfort of their homes or offices.
>From Tom Clancy’s techno-thrillers, Arabic, Spanish, French tutorials to as many titles as possible, librarians can now enjoy the best of audio books without having to leave their homes or offices.
What better way for libraries to stay needed and relevant in the new digital age than this?
With the Internet, many people are beginning to lose interest in the libraries, but this move will help the libraries to retain their memberships.
When asked what prompted this development, Barbara Nichols Randal, the director of the Guilderland Public Library in suburban Albany, explained that they took the needs of their younger readers and other people that were too busy to visit the library into consideration before coming up with this move.
Specifically, she said, “This is a way for us to have library access 24/7″.
For example, the Madison Public Library has access to a subscription database of audio book content. It provides this service for people who want to access this information from the comfort of their homes or offices, without having to physically visit the library.
The name of this subscription database of audio book content is OverDrive.
Anyone that has a LINK library card and access to the Internet can benefit from using OverDrive.
Note that while some of the libraries allow you to download and even copy their audio books into your PC and/or other portable CD or MP3 players, others don’t.
With those that do not allow downloading or burning of their audio books, you will only be able to read them on your computer… while being connected to the Internet.
Whichever service or library you prefer, the point is that you can benefit from the audio book without leaving the comfort of your home or office.
Take the time to search for the particular library that you prefer and register with them. Some of them offer free registration for particular periods of time, while others charge a token fee to access their database of audio books.
About The Author
Peter B Butler is the Ceo of the Audio It Now Network at http://www.audioitnow.com.
Rare Books At Auction
Rare and antique book collecting is a hobby that any person can easily learn, it is fascinating and can turn your hard earned pounds or dollars into hundreds (sometimes thousands) literally overnight. The skeptics out there will be thinking surely this is not the case. In a Pygmalion fashion let me tell you a true story:
I was with a work colleague who started talking about hobbies, he informed me of his passion for rare and antique books. During the discussion he told me how easy it was to spot first editions and that if you were fairly savvy you could actually make decent money from buying old books at charity shops, car boot sales, garage sales and jumble sales. Admittedly being an avid reader and wishing to earn extra money, putting the two together seemed like an ideal pastime. I was fascinated and wanted to know more, he took me to a local second hand bookstore, then on a web tour of the major book sites just to show the money being asked for some of the rarer first editions. I was taken aback by the difference in price from the second hand bookstores to the cheapest available on the web; I realized (as all collectors know) that a profit can be made relatively easily and quickly, given the right selling medium. So it would seem a protégé was in the making. Over the next few weeks I spent my time scouring the web and visiting charity shops in the local area. To my surprise and his, one of the first finds was a true first edition first impression by Mario Puzo for which I paid the princely sum of one pound (Yes £1.00) for. I listed the book on a niche auction site for rare and antique books and ten days later the book sold making a whopping seven hundred and fifty three pounds (Yes £753.00) profit. Needless to say I am now a convert to being a rare book auctioneer in my spare time.
Try it yourself, read the various articles out there on how to identify first edition books, go to your local charity shops and car boot sales and see what you can find. You never know what you will come across, or, how much you could sell it for.
About The Author
John Harvey has been an avid collector of rare and antique books for several years. In 2005 he started up his own antique and rare book auction site http://www.bid4abook.co.uk. The site is free for buyers and sellers of books.
Why Anyone Can Write A Book
Ask anyone that you meet if they’ve ever had an idea to write a book and I bet that 99% of the time their eyes light up and they say ‘Yes.’
Everyone has numerous wonderful book ideas. My experience and conversations with thousands of people tell me that this is true. The difference between those that actually write a book and those that don’t is simple. Those that don’t write a book don’t believe that they can.
That’s simply not true. Anyone can write a book.
If you can talk, you can write.
Take a look at 5 of your favorite books, fiction or Non-fiction it doesn’t matter. In fact, grab a few of each. Now, open each book and read a few paragraphs. What do you see? What you’ll likely notice is that there is a common theme running in all of them.
They’re written conversationally. They’re written like you talk. Conversational style is the best style because it is easy to read, easy to understand and easy to write.
Take a look at some of the most prolific authors, both fiction and Non-fiction. Stephen King comes to mind as a very prolific fiction writer. Non-fiction writers might include the Chicken Soup series and co writers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. All of those books are written conversationally. They’re accessible to readers of all ages, income levels, and IQ’s.
Conversational style eliminates jargon. It eliminates large words that people have to rely on a dictionary to understand. Conversational style also uses the word ‘you’ often. It’s written as if you were writing a letter or telling a story to a friend.
Basically, if you can write a letter to a friend, then you can write a book—I promise. Of course you need to be able to plan a book too but all that requires is a plan or an outline. Once your outline is established, writing the book can take as little as a month to complete.
About The Author
Bob Burnham
Entrepreneur, Consultant and Author of ‘101 Reasons Why You Must Write A Book’
For Your FREE MP3 (Value $97.00)
‘How To Make A 6 Figure Income Writing & Publishing Your Own Book’ Go To: http://www.expertauthorpublishing.com/eap/
Book Review: Dance Of The Heart
“Dance of the Heart” is a quick-read novel of only 118 pages, however, there is so much more to this story than one would expect. First of all, Therrian does a fantastic job of setting up the scenes, the characters, and the beginning. It was very clear to me who the characters were and what role they played.
Michael Baldwin is successful and flourishing. He is well-balanced in his career as a successful professional dancer and home life with a longtime partner, David. And, they just built a beautiful home on Lake Michigan. All goes well until his lead partner, who is morbidly disliked, accidentally dies.
Michael has mixed emotions over her death but even more so, mixed emotions when a new dance partner, Elizabeth, replaces Margo, the dead lead. Michael, acknowledging being gay from as long as he can remember, is extremely attracted to Elizabeth. The drama continues as Michael struggles with his emotions and ultimately discloses his feelings to his partner David.
Of course, David, as any partner would be, is crushed and reacts accordingly. In the meantime, Elizabeth, being only a temporary replacement for Margo, returns to her home. Michael, with all intentions in place, was going to tell Elizabeth how he felt, however, she left before he was able to do so. This results in more mixed emotions for Michael.
“Dance of the Heart” is appropriately named, because there certainly is a lot of heart dancing in the book. Does Michael ever tell Elizabeth how he feels? Can a gay man actually fall in love with a woman? Was Michael’s infatuation with Elizabeth real or a fantasy? Does David move on to other lovers?
What a wonderful story! “Dance of the Heart” is an account that proves how complicated love can be. Therrian’s story shows how we, as human beings, can spin ourselves into a hole of confusion when we don’t follow our true feelings. Michael’s mother, Sally, summed it up best by saying “You can’t choose who you fall in love with, but you can choose what you do with it. In the end, it’s all up to you.”
ISBN 9780615135007
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (5/07)
About The Author
James Therrian was born in Michigan and spent most of his early years in the rainy Northwest before following the sun to Maui, Santa Fe, New Mexico & California. James is an avid writer. You can find out more about Jim and his books at http://www.danceoftheheart.net/
My fantastic daughter!
I have a wonderful daughter, and I really want to write a book about her but I just don’t know where to start???
How do you find the words to describe someone so fantastic?
I’m certainly lost for words, but I’m sure I’ll think of something one day….
By Susan Denny