WR Recap: Building the Buzz Online

What do vampires, books, moms and drag queens have in common? Well, this week on Writers Revealed four authors, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Kevin Smokler, Andi Buchanan and Dave Wellington, all revealed how they have successfully marketed themselves online: from virtual blog tours to blog outreach to posting one’s entire book on the web (and this does not, DOES NOT cannibalize book sales - it only gives you a wider audience and makes a reader’s purchasing decision that much easier) to MySpace marketing to the power of community - these authors have redefined guerilla marketing.

Missed the show? Click here to listen to the podcast.

We chatted about blog outreach and how it’s not just a numbers game, the importance of offering up exclusive content, how “viral” (the buzz word in the industry) videos really work, and most of all - how marketing yourself and your book is really about building your readership and relationships in an organic way.

Hot Tips:

  • Don’t expect anyone else to do it for you - get involved, be creative, be persistent and don’t stress out over your Amazon.com sales rank and technorati rankings because you will go insane. Let go
  • No life changes - don’t buy a house, go under the knife for surgery, have a baby when the book comes out
  • Assume there will be another book & assume what you’ve learned now will be valuable for your next book
  • Think big, but work small
  • Don’t think you’re selling the book, think of starting relationships
  • Don’t buy into the three-month window of publicity - no one else in the world knows this and the book is always new to the reader
    • Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
    • Digg
    • del.icio.us
    • SphereIt
    • Ma.gnolia
    • Reddit
    • Technorati
    • StumbleUpon
    • NewsVine

    This entry was posted on Sunday, June 17th, 2007 at 5:37 pm and is filed under WR Recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

    4 Responses to “WR Recap: Building the Buzz Online”

    1. Suzanne, on June 17th, 2007 at 6:42 pm , said:

      LIvely and entertaining guests, lots of wonderful ideas - great show! I’m totally inspired!

    2. admin, on June 17th, 2007 at 6:46 pm , said:

      thanks, Suzanne! for listening.
      Cheers, Felicia

    3. Lorissa Shepstone – Vampires on Video, on June 21st, 2007 at 1:03 am , said:

      […] Yep, now that’s how you promote a book. YouTube is obviously a hot spot for promotional videos and perhaps, in many cases, it’s losing it’s charm, but I found David’s video to be really well done and it did give me even more incentive to go out and buy the book. There are some other great tips from authors at Writers Revealed: Building the Buzz Online. […]

    4. crossword, on February 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 am , said:

      I clicked the link to take me to the podcast but it doesn’t work. I would like to access the podcast. Can the link be fixed? Or is there a transcript of the show I can read? Thanks!

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