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Author Marketing Tip: You Tube

January 6th, 2009

As an author, you’re a master of the written word .  So it may sound a bit odd to see an author marketing tip which instructs you to use the social networking online video site You Tube to promote – of all things – your BOOK! However, that’s exactly what Jen Lancaster has done in promoting her latest book : Such a Pretty Fat. Go ahead – type in the words “such a pretty fat” into Google and see what comes up.  The YouTube video below is among the top results.


This video has been viewed more 50,000 times. Remember, author book marketing is a numbers game pure a simple.  The more “target customers” you can expose to the existence of your book – the better your chances of selling more than a handful of copies.

The YouTube video is just one piece in the book marketing mix – but it’s been done extremely well.  To begin with, the video is “tagged” properly – thus the fact that it comes up when you search the book’s title in Google.  Had the BookVideos TV named the video “Jen Lancaster’s Fat Ass”, only her truly devoted fans would have found the video because Google wouldn’t have helped.

Remember, YouTube is among the top 5 sites on the internet.  Create a YouTube video – tag it properly and you’ll find a piece of your book marketing materials gaining a page one placement with Google no matter HOW competitive the keywords are.

Many  traditional publishing houses are just now beginning to discover the power of YouTube for book marketing.  Even if you’re not signed with a major publishing house, there’s nothing to prevent you from using YouTube to promote YOUR book.

The blog Truemors reports that online video viewing is up 34%.   Shouldn’t you have a video on YouTube to reach that growing audience?

If you have a face “made for radio” – then enlist the help of a video production company.  Short on funds?  Find an aspiring film student – or an aspiring animator.  There are many wonderfully talented college students with time on their hands who are loaded with talent AND have a need to build a portfolio of work.  I’m not saying you should ask them to work for free – but I am saying that it’s worth the time to find one of these “diamonds in the rough” to help you create your OWN YouTube author marketing tool!

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Posted in Amazon and POD publishers, Blog Basics, Easy Author Book Marketing, For the Writer, Selling Books, Successful Marketing Tactic, Web Site Basics for Authors, Writing as a Business

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The Best Reason to Write A Non-Fiction Book

September 30th, 2008

Just as there are two kinds of books, there are two kinds of authors.  There are authors who write Fiction and there are authors who write Non-Fiction.

This post is directed to the non-fiction author.

The best reason BY FAR to write a non-fiction book is to promote your business.

This is especially true if your business happens to be selling nothing but air.  Whether you’re a doctor, a lawyer, a dentist or a consultant, when your business revolves around selling a service, then your strategic internet marketing strategy should include writing a book to demonstrate your expertise.

That’s what Andrea Hess has done.  Andrea is the founder of the Soul Realignment professional intuitive training program where she assists clients and their businesses worldwide in creating a new level of financial abundance.  She calls what she does being an Intuitive Consultant.

If you’re an entrepreneur, struggling to make more money with less effort – Andrea is available to act as your secret weapon.

Andrea  understands that she’s selling nothing but air.   So, to market her practice, she’s set up a Blog Intuition in Business AND she’s written the book “Unlock Your Intuition: How to Accurately and Reliably Access Your Most Valuable Resource.”

When you visit her blog, you can easily see she’s written a book.  If you think she might have the answer for your business, you can do one of three things:

  • You can subscribe to her blog to get more “free” information.
  • You can buy her book.
  • You can schedule a free 15 minute consultation.

Chances are, you’ll first subscribe to her blog to get more information for free.  If, after a few posts, you like what you see there, the next step is to invest $11.53 to purchase her book.  You’ll read her book and see if she REALLY does have the answer you’re seeking.

Finally, after you’ve taken those steps, then you’ll be ready to click on the “buy” buttons she has on her blog pages.

Writing a non-fiction book can be the BEST advertising you can do for your service based business.  Combine writing your book with a blog and you have a powerful marketing strategy to promote your business.

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Posted in Author Web Sites, Easy Author Book Marketing, Marketing Basics for Authors, Selling Books

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Book Marketing: The Book Cover

August 6th, 2008

Yes Virginia, people DO judge a book by it’s cover. A great cover stops a book browser in his or her tracks during a lap around the local book superstore and makes the book browser want to learn more.

That is why one of the most difficult aspects of book marketing lies in the cover design.  An effective book cover will stop a book browser in his or her tracks and then, through color, images and typography, entice the book browser to pick up the book and, dare we hope, buy the book.  That’s a LOT to ask of a single image, but it’s what your book cover designer MUST be able achieve!

Over at Smashing Magazine, in the post Excellent Book Covers and Paperbacks

Book covers are hard to design and nice to look at. An effective book cover manages to catch human’s eye and convey the idea behind the book on one single page. However, it’s getting even harder: to make a book really hard to forget, designers need to design the cover in a unique, creative and striking way. That’s not that different from Web where it’s important to build a sound information architecture upon a rather restricted design layout.

The post includes a lot of “old school” book covers of best selling books from the past.

Charlie Johnson over at the Graphic Design Blog also has a great post on 12 Remarkable Book Covers – They Will Make You Grab the Book.

When I can’t say it better, I quote…. he writes:

An expressive cover page does not let the reader forget a book. Attractive book covers play an important part in making a person choose a book, while wandering in a bookstore looking for an interesting book.

It won’t be wrong to say that majority of people judge a book from its cover. These covers help the readers guess about the storyline of the book, so it needs to be attractive and revealing.

He then goes on to display 12 FANTASTIC book covers that would stop any book browser in his/her tracks.

If there’s anywhere in the book publishing process to try to save a buck or two, it isn’t in designing the cover!

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Posted in Easy Author Book Marketing, Marketing Basics for Authors, Selling Books, Successful Marketing Tactic

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