The Purpose of This Blog and Who It’s for
According to the people who follow such things, there are a million new blogs being created every second. Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but surely a million have cropped up since I started writing this post (I’m a slow typist). So why am I polluting the blogosphere by creating another one?
Basically, I’ve done some research and I haven’t found too many that do what I want to do. I want to create a resource for authors who are trying to promote their books via the Internet.
If you’ve published a book, or multiple books, and you’re not rich yet, you’re just the audience I’m looking for (if you are rich or you have not published a book, then please send this link to someone applicable and thank you for stopping by).
I am a writer myself (not published yet, but working on it!) and have come across quite a few authors in various workshops and critiquing circles. These authors have been published, but they quickly learned there’s more to selling your book than just getting it in print. Whether you are self-published or a publishing house printed your book, the sad fact is you’re probably on your own for selling it. From what I hear, all the marketing money seems to go to the big names with the proven record.
Many authors have turned to the Internet as a means of book promotion. When you look at the cost of traditional advertising methods, it’s not surprising. You can get web hosting and a domain name (the http:www.yoursnazzybook.com address) for about $100 a year. And just about everything else I’m going to talk about in this blog can be done for free (not that it won’t take you some work… it’ll just be your work instead of the work of someone you have to pay).
I make a living by writing content for a network of websites I’ve grown over the years, and the key to my success has been in learning how to get people to visit my sites. You can’t make money on the Internet (whether it’s from selling advertising or selling books) unless large numbers of people are coming to your site. But once you do get the bodies surfing through, you’re 95% of the way to success. (The last 5% rests in creating a web site that converts visitors to buys, and we’ll cover that too.)
I don’t claim to be an expert on viral marketing, social media, search engine optimization, etc., but I have earned enough to make a comfortable living. I’m tired of just working to further my own gains, however, so I’m creating this blog as a chance to help out a community of folks I hope to be a part of someday.
This won’t be a general book promotion blog, nor will it cover traditional (off-web) forms of marketing. I’m not in the book promoting business, and I don’t want to be.
What this blog will be is a resource for authors looking to use the power of the Internet to drive more readers to their sites and sell more books. As a bonus, we’re going to talk about ways to do it without spending a lot of money.