What's Working for You?

[John Kremer]

I'd like to start a new forum where people can talk about what's working for you right now in marketing your book.

I think this will help other authors to prioritize their activities if they can find out what's working for other people. This would be especially valuable to new authors.

I've share the hottest tool that I'm using right now. And that's Twitter. As you will note on the main page of this Book Marketing Network website, both my http://www.bookmarket.com website and this network have been rising in Alexa ranks (and visits) because of my use of Twitter.

[John Kremer]

If you want to learn how to use Twitter effectively, check out http://www.bookmarket.com/50WaystoTweet.htm and download the free Word document: Twitter Mania Manual. 82 pages of free advice on how to use Twitter to build the audience for you and your book.

[Marilyn Z.Tomlins]

Hi John;

I joined Twitter a while back and you know I can't figure out what it is all about. On my first view days I received invitations to join groups and then these stopped and to be honest until I now read your post I'd forgotten that I had joined Twitter. I find LInkedIn a much better tool to get known and to get to know people. Unfortunately I just do not have the time right now to download and read the 84-page Twitter Mania Manual so I will remain 'in the dark'

[Susan Klopfer]

It ain't that hard! Just start slowly. I recently got a great interview with Christian Science Monitor because of twitter. LinkedIn is great too, but seems to take a lot more time. I agree that twitter can be sort of intimidating at firs.t

[Carol A Buchanan]

I downloaded the Twitter Mania Book, John. Thank you very much! You're a model to follow. I watch what you do and copy it. You give away information; I do, too. (See: http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2009/05/19/successful-self-publ...)

Thanks for modeling the marketing you recommend.

[Susan Klopfer]

Isn't John the greatest? He IS a good model. I've been trying to really follow his suggestions on relationship building and it is working. Twitter has made a big difference, too. I just need to spend more time following the RULES. ;>)

[Monica T. Rodriguez]

Thanks for the link! I'm also trying to figure out Twitter, but like others here have said, I'm just not seeing how it's so different than Facebook (minus the pics & stuff). Unless you spend hours on it (how do these people find the time?) you're just skimming through and not really getting out of it what I hear it's good for.
It would be great to know about some Twitter pages that are important for writers. I've found WeFollow, but you can't customize what comes up, so again, you're swimming through a lot to find the nuggets. Recommendations would be welcome! And of course, I'll read the article. ;-)
Monica

[Dr.Mani - Internet Infopreneur]

Monica, you *could* follow Twitter users who are writers, but as an author trying to sell books on or through Twitter, it may work better when you engage potential readers of your book - ie your 'target market'. You can find them through keyword searches, using services like WeFollow, or simply by exploring the 'Following' of interesting people you discover on Twitter.

Hope this helps :-)
Dr.Mani
@drmani on Twitter

[Kira Rosner]

Hi Dr. Mani, I have over 5,000 followers on Twitter and it continues to grow. While it has helped me practice promoting myself and my books, I agree with your comments about the importance of finding a target audience. I welcome any suggestions you have. Right now my focus is on promoting an Ebook version of a book on understanding death and coping with grief. Blessings, Kira

[Dr.Mani - Internet Infopreneur]

Kira, here's a thought. You could set up alerts or run searches for words like 'death', 'loss', 'grieving' or such - and when you find people tweeting about it, you could contact them with a helpful message.

When someone mentioned losing their pet dog, I responded with a tweet about my own loss a few months earlier. It coincidentally happened that we both had named our pets the same - and that led to a nice exchange of messages over many weeks.

As you well know, relationships lead to more sales - so that bit could happen incidentally and in time... with the extra benefit of THEM helping spread the word to others about YOUR book!

Hope this helps.

[John Kremer]

You create such alerts using TweetBeep.com or TweetLater.com. Those are two services I use for this purpose.

[Susan Klopfer]

I've found that sending out updates when I post to me book blog has made a difference. Daught the eye of an international reporter..

[albertasequeira]

Hi John,

I started promoting my second memoirs a year ago. It's about losing my husband to alcoholism. The title is Someone Stop This Merry-Go-Round; An Alcoholic Family in Crisis. I did speaking engagements in rehabilitation centers, half-way homes and any organization wanting to hear my story about losing my husband from this illness.

Now I'm visiting the locations to introduce the new book they have been waiting for because of the promoting. I'm also advertise that the sequel will be out this year, Please, God, Not Two; This Killer Called Alcoholism. It's about losing my daughter in 2006 from the same demon.

So my way of promoting is getting out there way before the book is due out and getting involved with locations that relate to my topic.

I'm due to go on my second cable TV and radio show because of my topic. After two years (working with the first memoir A Healing Heart; A Spiritual Renewal) I feel my hard work is just starting to open doors for me. This one is about my relationship with my dad who was a Brigadier General and my pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia.

I talked at the Magnificat, a Catholic Woman's Ministry, at the Providence Marriott Hotel in Rhode Island for an hour. I sold 26 books and got invited to their Boston location in December. This is the importance of networking. I'm learning I need the Christian locations to talk about my first book.

I guess authors have to decide where their books fit in best with an audience. I'm just starting to see the benefits of knocking on the right doors in the right neighborhoods.

I hope this helps others with my information.

Alberta Sequeira
www.albertasequeira.com