Dani Haviland writes with this tip, a good opener to invite all blog regulars to submit any of their own latest marketing tips.
Dani says:
Everyone looks forward to having his or her book autographed by the author. But with the cost of self-publishing and reluctance of agents to sign on and promote new writers, I went ahead and started green: my first novel was published as an ebook. No trees were maimed or killed in the production of Dances Naked.
But now the question is, how do I promote myself? I don’t have a hard copy of the book to hawk or show off. But I found a way out of the ecologically responsible dilemma: use ‘jest a little bit’ of cellulose. I ordered and designed business cards through VistaPrint. The QR code (free: just google ‘QR code generator’) is a short cut for the smart phones and other optical devices to get to a web page. I copied the code as a .jpg file and inserted it as a picture on the back of the card. My code leads right to the description page for Dances Naked, my featured book on Amazon. I can hand out the cards at events and offer to inscribe the card. The person can buy a copy for himself or ‘send’ a copy to a friend. If the interested person doesn’t have a scanner, no worries: the web address is written out just underneath it.
Any other tips out there, including ones that take advantage of new technology or social media?
Do you have a blog? You could post excerpts online. You can find blogs or articles of similar interest and post comments with a link leading back to your blog or website. The key to online networking is opening valves of traffic to your work.
Tagging your blog/site with key words is also incredibly important, so that people searching for your subject matter can find you.
Great tip, thanks! Several of our AKRWA authors have marketing success online with blog tours and author interviews. It helps to have your own website for the reader to refer to after they've discovered your great interview.
(Which brings me to the self-serving part of my comment: Can anyone recommend a good local web designer?)
Do you have a blog? You could post excerpts of your book there. You can then use your blog profile to comment on other blogs or articles of similar interest, ushering traffic back to your site. The key to online networking is creating a variety of valves through which your work can be found. Tagging your posts with appropriate key words is also extremely important. Good luck!