If you want to stay up-to-date with the happenings be sure to sign up for my Web Savvy PR & Marketing newsletter.

I haven’t personally invested any time working with the new tool but if you know me, you know I’m a BIG Google tool fan and I’m sure this will enhance your opportunities to connect, grow and promote.  I’ll be spending time over the next week jumping in and growing my circles and I’ll be anxious to see what you are doing and hear what you think.

If you’d like me to send you an invitation to Google + send me an email or sign-up for the Web Savvy PR & Marketing newsletter. I’ll be submitting requests from both sources to Google over the next few days and from what I hear, it can take 24 hours for them to respond.

Be sure to send me a gmail address. Don’t have one yet?  You can easily get one here http://mail.google.com/

See you inside Google +

-Laura

Steven Lewis has four books on the Kindle and, through his website and blog, Taleist , he helps other writers become published authors. I talked to Steven about some of his top advice for authors.

What do you think is the most important thing an ebook author can do to promote their book?

I saw Michael Connelly at the Sydney Writers’ Festival recently. Even for a hugely successful traditionally published author, he pointed to word-of-mouth as being critical. Not all traditionally published authors get a decent marketing budget from their publishers, but Connelly would so it was interesting he singled it out as critical.

That’s good news for self-published authors because the playing field is leveled. We might not all have the money to put our books on the side of buses, but we all have what it takes to get word-of-mouth. And the best way to get it is to ask for it.

How do you ask?

There’s no room for an author to be shy about their work. You wrote your book because you thought the idea was good enough; you self-published it because you thought someone other than your mother should read it; and once you’ve done that you can’t hold back on talking about it and asking other people to do the same.

All of my books include my contact details, so I can gather any great feedback to publish on my blog. I also ask people to leave reviews, send a tweet or use Facebook to let other people know about the book. Why trust in the idea that a reader’s first thought will be to do that? It costs you nothing to ask and it puts the idea in their mind. Get them at the end of your book and ask them nicely.

It’s even easier now that Amazon has introduced the Before You Go… feature to all Kindle books. I explain how it works in In-Book Promotion. It’s a powerful word-of-mouth tool and, if you don’t understand it, you should!

What else should authors be doing?

It’s all about making it easy for your reader to help you. It’s great when you get someone to read your blog, for instance, but much better when you get them to persuade someone else to read your blog as well.

All my blog posts have a sharing feature at the bottom of the post. With a couple of clicks, readers can share what they’ve read with their friends and followers on social networks. And, if it’s good material, why wouldn’t they? Sharing it rewards the person whom they appreciate for writing the content in the first place; and sharing makes them look good in their networks as someone who circulates good stuff.

The reason they wouldn’t do that for you is that you haven’t made it easy enough for them. You should look at everything you write and ask whether you’ve made it easy for someone to pass it on.

So the “new” technology is vital?

This is the best time in history to be a writer. Michael Connelly was worried about his word-of-mouth falling off as bookshops decline. That shows me he just doesn’t get what’s happening. How many people can a single bookseller reach with a recommendation? One tweet from an influential reader can reach thousands of people in seconds. I’m as sad as anyone that booksellers are having a hard time but less word-of-mouth is not one of the downsides. Ebooks give rocket fuel to getting the word out.

You have to understand how these tools work, though. Authors owe it to themselves and their books to make sure they understand at least the big three: Twitter, Facebook and blogs. They’re not the same things, they work differently, and have different cultures. It will take an investment of time and learning to get to grips with them but ignoring them or not using them to their full potential is hurting your potential sales.

Time is money of course but how fabulous that the cost of entry to these media is zero or next to nothing. Facebook and Twitter are free; and there is some cost in blogging; but compared to what this sort of publicity would have cost you 10 or even five years ago…

I go back to what I said at the beginning: you wrote your book because you wanted people to read it. People aren’t going to read your book if they’ve never heard of it. You have to believe in your work and you have to back it.

With every little bit of work you put into that, you’re going to see a big payoff.

Steven Lewis has been a journalist and professional writer for almost 20 years. His work has appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world. His site, Taleist, helps writers become published authors through its free blog and guides like the Kindle Publishing Roadmap, Kindle Formatting, and In-Book Promotion (using the Kindle’s built-in features to boost sales).

You’ll learn more about Steven and his work by visiting www.Taleist.com

1. Free online tool to research available domain names and spin ideas: http://www.domainsbot.com/ 

2. Purchase domain (URL) at GoDaddy.com

Godaddy is an inexpensive and reputable business for your domain purchases. Perfect in fact. Domain registrars are not the place to host your website or purchase additional features. I know it seems tempting to put all of your eggs in one basket but this really isn’t the easiest or right solution. I also never recommend hosting your website on your webmasters account.

3. My Top Pick for Web Hosting: Purchase web hosting from BlueHost

If you need in-depth help with any of these steps or providers feel free to contact me.  I’d love to hear from you.

-Laura

BlueHost has all of the powerful tools that allow easy implementation of a WordPress content management system plus everything you’ll need to establish a strong online presence or quickly move established website(s). The most reputable and affordable web hosting solution on the net. 



rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Official Geezer Guides are the real deal.

I have worked with this author as her marketing and PR exec. for many years. If you’ve ever considered writing and selling your own e-Books, this guide will answer all of your questions and put you on the road to success, nothing held back!

View all my reviews.

www.goodreads.com

Analyzing your web vistors  will boost your eMarketing efforts by providing the data you need make appropiate adjustments. 

It is super easy to set up a Google webmasters account, easy to install the small piece of code to your website (or have your webmaster do this) and the reports Goolge porvides you are written in plain English.

No IT degree required! 

I’ve come across some very interesting, engaging and intelligent people in my short Twitter travels and look forward to growing these relationships. I want the same for you.

1. Sign up for your own account and follow me, it’s a great way to learn what Twitter is all about…then use Twitter in your online endeavors! I am still learning, creating relationships and I don’t pretend to be a Twitter guru. I can tell you that I was slow

2. Add your website or blog link in your Twitter profile so others can learn about you.

3. Be sure to fully set up your profile so people can easily find you, your locations,and interests.

4. Set up your alert message preferences. You can be alerted to updates via email or device. Very easy to follow directions on the Twitter website. I use my blackberry for Twitter updates. Revision- had to remove updates from my blackberry while in the Middle East so I am a bit slower to respond but try to check in frequently.

5. Put your Twitter information on your blog or website for Twitter savvy visitors.

6. Engage-tell the world what you are doing & offer help, insight and timely information.

7. Listen and learn: Follow me, follow others, and see being part of Twitter can offer you. It should only take a week or two for you to figure out how you can best use Twitter to makegreat connections, find a following and better yet – grow professionally.

8. Most important: Make friends and add value. Please don’t spam people. That is exactly what Twitter isn’t for!

I would love to see you on Twitter, be sure to follow me and tell me how you found me.

Warnings: Limiting communication to 140 characters is tough, I am a talker! You’ll get the hang of it.

There are so many fascinating people, business models and thought leaders you can easily fall behind in your day to day activities just reading Twitter posts, blogs and websites. I must say, it’s been a guilty pleasure and well worth the time.

Here is the link to my Twitter profile : http://twitter.com/publicityscout

Time required: About 10 minutes and you are using Twitter! Hope to see you there.

One of things we do: read newspapers, stay on top of world news, read   magazines, subscribe to RSS feeds, and use Google alerts to stay on top of breaking news and
media trends. Being the reader I am, I wish reading was all I had to in my daily
activites… it’s not. It is a very important piece to my professional acumen though.

Authors and experts who want publicity need to do the same thing although most can’t afford to spend hours everyday reading, you can add to your media acumen simply by subscribing to Google alerts with the top 5 or 10 keywords in your area of expertise.

Google will then email you alerts when your keywords are used based on your initial criteria.

This will allow you to watch current trends, hear others thoughts, and concerns within your field. This kind of pulse taking helps you stay relevant in your field AND…develop valuable media pitch articles and sales and marketing strategies.

Bonus: You will become familiar with journalists that write about your expertise. Priceless!

It was a Google alert that landed one of my clients air on an ABC affiliate TV morning show. The producer loved that I supplied her with an expert that could talk to their audience about a hot and widely covered media topic. The client was thrilled!

Even if you aren’t actively pitching the media, I strongly suggest you set up your own alerts here www.google.com/alerts to stay on top of your market.

If you find a trend that you would be a great media source for and want help with the pitch…contact me! Ladat (at) Comcast.net

Nothing is quite as rewarding as supplying media a fantastic expert on a hot media topic, and a client a high value lifetime placement!

1. Plan for ongoing planning.
2. Test, test, test your marketing efforts.
3. Count on modifiying your emarketing plans, they will need continued modifications.
4. Don’t be afraid to test your own ideas -even if the “gurus” aren’t touting your ideas.
5. Plan 3 months in advance.
6. Keep what works and build on it! 

 Tip: Ongoing marketing strategy, research, flexibility and, fine-tuning is one of the mantras of highly successful information product publishers.