New Authors, White Noise and Getting Noticed…
The transition from a centuries-old system of publishing to the open environment of the Internet has forever changed the publishing world, and, forced authors to learn how to market a book all by themselves.
Now just about anyone can put their book out to market, no matter what the quality is like. Add to that the sheer numbers of the desperately unemployed, many of whom are dumping anything and everything they write on the Internet and you have a glut of material. The expanding minutia, often referred to by seasoned authors as “white noise,” has literally flooded the market to the point of insanity; essentially making self publication, as well as self promotion, extremely complicated.
Social Networking is Key
Of course the answer to all of this White Noise would be some sort of marketing. Let’s clarify something at this point. Marketing is not advertising! Advertising is only one tool in the toolbox called marketing. In fact the first thing that comes to mind for most when someone mentions the word marketing is just that… advertising. However, unless you have vast sums of money from which to manage long term ad campaigns, advertising is not a viable solution for most authors who are attempting to self publish.
So let’s look at another tool in the toolbox. This one would come under the heading of Public Relations–called Social Network Marketing. Once more because of the open nature of the Internet there are all kinds of options available for social networking (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, and so-on). All of these sites are free and are excellent places to promote you and your work. If you have little or no money you can effectively build an Internet presence and over time, gradually become recognized.
A word of caution though, everything in the marketing toolbox takes time to work, and response times vary dramatically. On average, it takes paid advertising campaigns five to seven months or more before sales start to trickle in. In the case of social networking it will take awhile and could in fact take up to a couple of years. So be realistic in your expectations about results.
The Service We Provide
To be affective at Social Network Marketing you need a website and you need to have multiple SNM sites that are connected and auto-post to one another. Once you’re posting, you need to do something weekly, if not daily (especially in the case of Twitter). Not to mention that you need to have links from as many Google-respected sites as possible to receive a decent ranking in their search results. Also, when possible, you should be submitting Press Releases to extend your exposure and help that ranking as well.
I have just barely scratched the surface of what’s out there that you can do to market your book or your website and I bet you’re thinking, “Well… let’s not go there.” My guess is your head is spinning. Worse yet, you’re probably thinking when will I have time to write? Once again you’re not doing what you do best.
That’s why we have surveyed about a hundred authors to discover exactly what services, provided at affordable rates, would help you get your books out there, while allowing you to continue writing. In many cases our services are far below other author marketing services. That’s because we believe in cooperative marketing, and, we are seeking ways to streamline and compartmentalize services so that they remain affordable.
Also, we will be adding other services that will be designed to get you specific results.