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.

[Tim Baker]

All right - let me ask a really stupid question...

If I sign on to Twitter how do i accumulate followers who will aid in my quest to sell books? Is it like facebook and myspace where you must solicit friends (or be solicited)?

I'm willing to try it if it has as much potential as you say.

[Joel Friedlander]

Tim,

Twitter is similar to FB but completely different.

On FB you "friend" mutually, both have to agree. On Twitter, you can follow anyone you want, they don't have to follow you, and vice versa.

On FB you have two areas, one news feed that scrolls by, the other is permanent stuff on your pages. On Twitter, nothing is permanent, it's all feed.

You acquire followers by offering something of value! If you do this people will gravitate to you and you will start to have a following. The idea is to connect your small but growing network to others with larger networks in the hope that they will find what you are tweeting so compelling for whatever reason that they "retweet" it into their network.

This network effect can be very powerful. You don't need 5,000 followers (although it would be nice if they were actually all interested in what you had to say) but you do need followers who have their own networks among the people you see as your potential audience.

Here's an idea: why not sign up on Twitter, find some people to follow (try wefollow for categories of people) and just observe for a while until you get the hang of what's going on.

Also, there's a search box on your Twitter home page that's incredibly powerful. Type in a keyword that you're interested in and you will meet many new people also interested in the same subjet.

Have fun, and good luck!

[Evelyn Burdette]

I have a facebook and twitter. My facebook page for my book is set up to where, when I update facebook, it shows on twitter. My book gained 1200+ fans in about 4 months and now I just started a page for my new book last week and now have over 200 fans and am getting awesome comments and reviews. I love Facebook for this.

[Steve Miller]

Can you tell us the url of the facebook page for your book, and your twitter account. Might be helpful for us to see. Thanks for letting us know the specifics!

[Evelyn Burdette]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Autumn-Dreams-Series/138281228379... is my new one, but I haven't linked it to twitter yet.

http://facebook.com/ForbiddenBloods
http://twitter.com/ForbiddenBloods

You're welcome!
And on the facebook page, every time I update a new status, I delete the previous so the page doesn't get clogged, but it stays on the twitter page. :)

[Susan Klopfer]

Friends of Justice, an advocacy organization, has launched a narrative-based campaigns around unfolding cases where due process has broken down, and empower affected communities to hold public officials accountable for equal justice.

Recently, representatives moved into Winona, Miss. to work on a murder case, asserting that the state’s theory of the murder crime accused of a Winona company's former worker, Curtis Flowers, "... doesn’t fit the actual evidence, and the state manufactured phoney evidence by manipulating, badgering and bribing witnesses."

Historically, Fannie Lou Hamer, a Mississippi Delta civil rights leader, was frequently the target of social injustice. The town where she was once beaten, Winona, has been long remembered for this crime.

We've made initial contact and it looks like we can do some work together, since they are interested in an historical perspective to this community.

[Sandra Mohr]

Video Book Trailers become the Best New Thing since the "Kindle" for Ailing Book Industry. These book trailers on Amazon are working. 2 best sellers have trailers written about in this article

http://www.prlog.org/10368985-video-book-trailers-become-the-best-n...

[Joel Friedlander]

I'm curious if anyone on Book Marketing Network has experience with book trailers, and whether they actually work in bringing in new readers, selling more books, or increasing website traffic. Anyone?

[Tim Baker]

I have no experience with trailers but plan to use one. One company I have heard good things about is called Blazing Trailers.

[Joel Friedlander]

Thanks, Tim. So I'll ask you: what do you hope to achieve by investing in a trailer? Do you have any measurable objectives, or is it just one more thing to "do for your book"?

[Edie Jarolim]

I have a great trailer that my publisher invested in, and that everyone loves -- but no one seems to be able to figure out how to get lots of people to look at it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C5FYjHgAHM

I'm told that it's a viral marketing tool but I can't seem to spread the contagion!

[Joel Friedlander]

Edie, just watched your trailer (#6). I'm amazed your publisher did 6 of these. 1 wasn't enough? 3? Anyway, it's very cute and it looks like you've got over 200 views on Youtube, which isn't bad. Is it your dog in the trailer? Terminally cute.