Fiction Scribe

My marketing and promotional plan is unusual to say the least. I have never really done things the normal way; instead, I take what I have learned from others and put my distinctive spin on it. To be honest it’s hard to describe what I do, because I never really stop. When I go out into the world, I am nearly always on and ready to promote.

One of the most effect ways I use is just talk about my books. I carry bookmarkers with me and give them out to remind people about my work. At book signings, I also gave away pens, notepads, coffee mugs and CDs with excerpts of both my novels even if they didn’t buy a book at the time. Giving away promotional items not only gives them a reminder of my novels, but how we met. A simple bookmarker not only keeps the place within a book, but it also anchors a memory.

Cold contacting bookstores is also an excellent way to get attention for you books in print. With most telephone plans now having unlimited long distance, it is no longer a hardship to reach out and touch someone. Originally, I called and talked to the owner or manager; however, this past year I relied more on fax and email.

Faxing, especially, gives them a hard copy of the information for the owner to use later for ordering; however, not every store has the capability of receiving them. Some people send flyers or postcards to the stores, but snail mail postage adds up quick and the cards are easily lost in the mail. The downside of emailing is that if the subject line isn’t written effectively the email could get lost in the spam box and be deleted without being read.

Online, I have an active blog, which has been gaining in popularity. Blogs are only effective if they are maintained and properly formatted with SEO keywords. You can have the most interesting blog in the world, but unless readers can find it, it won’t do you any good.

I do my best to post at least five separate entries a week. Not only does it keep your readers coming back, but it also helps the blog gain ratings with the search engines. Even if I don’t have anything to say, I will post a YouTube video that like just to show that it was updated. In addition, listing the individual articles with http://www.digg.com will add to the traffic. By using a tag generator, such as http://www.evilgeni usmarketing.com/ice/tag-generator.cfm., each posting catches the attention of internet services such as:

Technorati
Digg
Del.icio.us
Yahoo
BlinkList
Spurl
Reddit
Furl

Keyword sites such as:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

help generate the SEO keywords that will help the key generator attracted the search engines and target your niche market. Not only do this sites show the popularity of a keyword, but they also give alternative keywords that the author might have thought of.

Using SEO keywords and tags on my website has also increased the traffic. It is very important for site to be easily found not only by your readers but also by the search engines. The domain name should be logical. Mine is simple–www.theresachaze.com.

Using a nickname or one of your books, unless you intend to by more than one domain name, is simply making it more difficult for you to be found. It’s counter productive. My site and domain name are through Yahoo Geocities; it’s simple and cost effective. Although, I bought the domain name, viewers are redirected to a free site, which isn’t really free because I pay to have the ads removed. It’s a pet peeve of mine to visit a site and have to fight the pop ups. It looks unprofessional and really annoys people.

I placed ads in four national magazines, which targeted my niche market. When you are working with print, there is always a delayed benefits. In addition, if the ad isn’t a good quality, it will do more harm than good.

The first ad I placed didn’t get me much traction because the text neglected to mention where my books could be bought. I rewrote it for the last and it should get more attention. Ads should be simple and direct. Unless you are doing buy a half page or more, graphics should be limited. The smaller the ad, the less likely the graphic will retain its quality.

From Blank Page to Book Shelves–How to Successfully Create and Market Your Book explains not only more about marketing and promotion, but also has tips about writing and publishing. Currently, my ebook is available as an Amazon Kindle or on my website, www.theresachaze.com for $7.00. Copies bought on the author’s site are accompanied by a 345 page listing of over 2000 independent bookstores.