Podcast Covers Tips on Blogging to Sell Your Book
I enjoy listening to podcasts, since it makes me feel my dog-walking time is more productive. Exercise for myself and Goblin is all well and good, but why not learn something at the same time? For many of you, the same probably goes for that time you’re commuting in the car. Think of how much more enjoyable sitting at red lights can be when you can listen to information on internet marketing. Ok, maybe “enjoyable” isn’t a word you associate with studying marketing, but I bet you’ll be interested in the topic this podcast covers:
Blogging Can Help Sell Your Books
The interview is with Yaro Starak, who is one of the bloggers I’ve watched come into his own over the last couple years. He’s studied internet marketing in depth and now makes a good living from blogging, and he’s recently started a subscription site that teaches people how to make money with their blogs.
I listened to the interview yesterday, and I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re struggling to get traffic to your blog and folks to buy your book through your blog/website. If you haven’t started a blog yet for book promotion purposes, then the interview will also help you see why a blog can be such a boon for book sales.
How to Use Your Blog to Establish Yourself as an Authority
I always enjoy checking out author blogs. You never quite know what you’re going to find. Day-in-the-life kinds of posts are frequent, with entries along the lines of “I wrote this many words today, I just got back from this book signing, and the cat won’t get off the keyboard.” That sort of thing is pretty standard. Of course, there are some more memorable blogs out there from the fiction authors. Actually, they’re written by the authors’ main characters (who knew that a band of unlikely heroes hell-bent on thwarting the evil sorcerer’s plans has time to whip out the laptop and find a wi-fi connection?).
I’m not going to pass judgment on the character blogs. They’re probably fun to write, and while I doubt they’re going to bring in hordes looking to buy books, they’re a nice way to give potential book buyers a preview of your characters and writing style.
On the other hand journal-style blogs don’t really serve any purpose insofar as marketing your book goes, especially for non-fiction authors. (I’m not saying you can’t keep a journal-style blog, but you might want to make that one for friends and family and create another one for selling your book.)
Once you’re a celebrity, people may very well want to know what you had for breakfast and what kind of progress you made on your current project today. Someone who isn’t’ a reader (yet!) and just came to your site… probably doesn’t care.
So, what does that potential reader want to see?
If I’m looking to buy a book–and it doesn’t matter whether it’s fiction or non-fiction–I want some hint that the author knows his or her stuff. I’m buying this book for one of two reasons: I want to learn something or I want to be entertained (maybe I’m really greedy and want both).
Before I plunk down my money, I want to believe you can deliver.
Yes, I’ll probably read reviews at Amazon to help me decide, but what happens if you’re a new author and you don’t have many reviews yet? (And the ones that are there are blatantly written by friends of the author.) How else can you sell me on your book?
Yup, it’s your blog.
Your website is where you tell me what your book can do for me. Your blog is where you make me believe that.
A blog is a wonderful opportunity to establish yourself as an authority in your field. Whatever niche you wrote your book on, you should be blogging about.
If your book is on dieting, your blog is a great place to tell me about quick but healthy snacks, recipes I can try, inspirational stories of folks you’ve helped, etc. etc. etc.
Does your book focus on business and explain how I can retire a millionaire? Then in your blog, tell me about how you made your millions, make up a survey that has me measure my financial progress, offer tips on investing.
Include information that can genuinely help readers before they even buy the book. And don’t be afraid to give away the good stuff either! (See my post on Giving Away Your Best Information to Sell Your Book). This is away to build a potential reader’s confidence in you. Your blog is your chance to make everyone believe you are an authority on that subject and your book has information people need.
Fiction authors, I haven’t forgotten about you.
Your blog is also your chance to establish yourself as an authority in your area. Keep the day-in-the-life-of-my-main-character blog, but create an author blog too–one that convinces people you know your stuff and your book is sure to entertain.
Let’s say you’re a mystery writer. There are a number of ways you could convince me that you know what you’re talking about (and therefore probably write a decent tale). Consider any or all of the following:
- Give tips for budding mystery writers on the fundamentals of the genre.
- Review other mystery authors’ novels.
- Give tips on getting published or writing a first novel (lots of readers are amateur writers who dream of being published too!).
- Debunk myths and offer interesting facts that are in some way related to your story (Can you really kill someone with a well-placed bash to the nose? What is the oldest known poison? How long does it take for rigor mortis to set in?).
These are just a few ideas. I’m sure you can brainstorm more. Just remember that the idea is to establish yourself as an authority on the topic. Whether you’re selling information or entertainment, people want to buy from the best!