Authors, are you using a blog to market your book? If not, why not? Nearly every day I chat with professionals who are either writing a book or want to write a book. When I attended Brendon Burchard’s Expert Academy, he asked the room of 800+ people who wanted to write a book and 95% raised their hand. Yet, most authors don’t realize that writing the book is only one small part of the process. As the author, YOU are responsible for marketing and selling the book. It’s rare that a publisher will do much for you on the marketing end of things.
When I ask the author or wanna-be author if they have a book blog, sadly, the answer is usually no.
No matter what stage your book is in…
- Published
- Written
- Half-written
- Just an idea for now
…the time to start your book blog is right away. Don’t delay. Even if you only have an idea for the book, creating a blog will help you:
- Discover domain names available for a book title
- Discover keywords associated with the topic
- Discover if readers are interested in the topic
- Discover what has already been written about your topic
- Learn what readers have to say about it
- Start building an audience of readers with like-minded interests (aka potential book-buyers)
- Research facts and ideas
- Start writing sections of the book
- Start building a platform and marketing your book before it is written
So get going… If it turns out you never write your book, at least you will have created an online presence, started developing your ideas and building your audience. And believe me, without an online presence, without creating massive visibility, you will face an uphill battle in getting your book noticed by your audience.
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Printing Services
Absolutely
agree. The blog can double as both a content generation tool and a marketing
platform. With the cost of printing services continuing to drop, content is the
only thing standing between an author and a finished work ready to take to
market.
Rana Shahbaz
Totally agreed Denise, I think writing a book is only 20% of the work and rest of the 80% is all about marketing your book.
Promoting your book through book blog can be very useful and long term marketing plan.
Stephen
Hey Denise, thanks for this informative note. I have a book gestating in the life I live in parallel with consulting.
This is in the magical world of watercolour. I am learning the need to be visible online (from the first three modules of your 26 week action plan course – heh heh – see? I am learning). And I have found this applies in both my worlds. And a book – well that would constitute a potent vision. I have no doubt.
Juracy
How can I include a blog in my website? Do I use blogspot or WordPress? does a Website guru need to do this for me (include it in my webpage?) let me know? HOw can I connect my FB notes to my emails or to let my friends know I have notes?
HELPPPPP
Juracy from Mexico
DeniseWakeman
Juracy, you can add a blog component to your existing website with WordPress either do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you (especially if you want it customized to match your site). You can also set up a blog on a third party site like TypePad or blogspot (not the best for business blog) and link to it from your site. Depends on your desired outcomes and how much you can or want to do yourself. Regarding Facebook, I don’t think you can send Notes via email. I suppose you could get the permanent URL from the note and send it via email, but frankly, it’s better to have your content on your own site with a subscription form so your friends can subscribe and get automatic updates. If you want to get into more details about how to do this for your business, we can set up some consulting sessions.
Chase Sherman
Denise, have you read his Millionaire Messenger book? It’s excellent.
DeniseWakeman
Yes, I’ve read Burchard’s Millionaire Messenger. I did enjoy it. Lots of inspiration.