How to Promote Your Self-Published eBook (or Print!)

Plug Your Book!

2007-04-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I was sent a real nifty little book on book promotion to review which was called Plug Your Book by Steve Weber. It sat on top of my desk to grab when I had a few minutes to spare, but I never could grab those few spare minutes with the book tours and promoting The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost, a paranormal that Heide Kaminski, Pam Lawniczak and I wrote which just came out in paperback this month. It was always busy, busy, busy, which left absolutely no time for reading.

Well, today, at work, I found the time. It was extraordinarily slow, so I pulled up a chair, propped my feet up on computer equipment in the back and dived in. Big mistake. I was worthless.

Waiting for my relief to walk in so that I could go home and finish the book, I pulled out my yellow highlighter and started highlighting. It was a treasure trove of information that I wanted to refer to when I sent him my review.

One passage he had in the book that really made me sit up was:

"Many booksellers, publishers, and agents pay close attention to Amazon ranks. So if you manage to pump up (gotta love his buzz words!) the sales rank of your book, it can prompt brick-and-mortar stores to order more copies. Publishers looking for a complementary title might ask you to write the book for them."

What I found interesting about that passage was that it made me wonder, for those published with small press and who lack distribution in major book stores like Barnes & Noble, would sales rankings make a difference as to whether they would stock you?

The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost has held a ranking of 740 or so in B&N online for days. If I mention the ranking to the store manager, would that make a difference? Anyone know?

I'm heading out to the B&N in Salisbury, Maryland, tomorrow just to test the waters. I'm not even sure how I'm going to approach this and I'm sure, by what I've heard, it just isn't going to happen come hell or high water, but what if...I'm a local author? Would that even make a difference in this highly competitive market?

I'll let you know what happens. BTW, as of this writing, the sales rankings at B&N just dipped to 1,030 and my luck, it'll be higher than that when I go in there, but we shall see.

Another thing I liked about Mr. Weber's book is the chapter on how to approach Amazon top reviewers, even down to the sample email you can email them with. Quite a neat little book. I'm only half-way through but I'll be giving it a full review soon.

BTW, his rankings at Amazon isn't anything to sneeze at. For a self-published book, it's standing at 5,351 (it's been out since February 2007).

I'll give you my full evaluation in another day or so of why I believe he's doing so well. Meanwhile, if you want to check out Mr. Weber's blog, go to http://www.weberbooks.com/publish.htm. That's nothing to sneeze at, either. WTG, Mr. Weber. ;o)

Tags: How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, online book promotion, author publicity, book promotion, book promotion tips, Plug Your Book!, Steve Weber, self-published

Prayers for the Families of the Student/Faculty Body of VA Tech

2007-04-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

My sympathies goes to the family and student/faculty body of VA Tech and hope that they can heal after the horrid massacre that happened yesterday at VA Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Peace, prayers and white light goes to them.

Follow this link to learn more.

Tags: VA Tech

Book Promotion 101: Using Ticker Countdown Clocks to Announce Your Release

2007-03-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

In my blog travels this morning, I happened to land on one of my favorite PUMPED UP blogs, Kathy Holmes' Women's Fiction with Attitude, and I found something that really made me sit up and take notice. Everyone's heard about those cute little ticker countdown clocks that you can put on your blog to announce anything you want to announce really, but I really liked the way Kathy used the ticker she found at CarribbeanMag.com. If you go to that link, you can see all kinds of tickers that you can put on your blog (even attach to your emails!) to announce upcoming trips and vacations. But, what Kathy did was look beyond this and came up with an idea to use this as a great promotional vehicle to announce her new book, Real Women Wear Red, that will be released on March 27th. And what really makes this so unique is that her main character will be going on this cruise which sets off the beginning of the book! How appropriate!

Tickers are not new, but I was really impressed with the way Kathy did it being as her book is all about a cruise that her characters embark on and the friendships and bonds they form with one another. Makes me start thinking of ways to use this to announce my upcoming books!

TAGS: online book promotion, online marketing, Kathy Holmes, book publicity, Women's Fiction With Attitude, ticker countdown clock, Real Women Wear Red", CarribbeanMag.com

How Do You Lure Customers to Your Blog?

2007-03-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

As you all may or may not know, I blog a lot. If I'm not making blog posts, I'm reading blog posts. That's about when it dawned on me just exactly why it is I revisit some, and others I don't return.

When I open up a new blog to read, it's for content. If it's too philosophical, or too multi-dimensional to the point I don't know which land I'm in, I tend to keep on trucking.

But, that's just me. I'm sure there are a lot of bloggers that go for that and that's fine.

When you are setting up your blog to promote your ebook, you know the basic rule is to keep that audience. If the wrong audience lands on your blog, no matter what you do, no matter how many search words or feeds or tags you have, it's not going to make a bit of difference to them because they are there for content. You might have lured them in with your search words or your feeds or your tags, but if it's not the place they want to be, they're going to be history.

But, there will be those who land on your blog and stay there and the reason for it is that you have provided the content they were searching for.

Content, people, content.

If you are an author and you are solely trying to promote yourself, it's quite okay to talk about your life as an author who actually has a life outside of writing. Maybe I want to know what you did last Saturday night after you closed up your laptop. Maybe I want to know about that fantastic trip you took to Naples to celebrate that NY contract. Maybe I find it cool to find out how you struggle with motherhood and writing, too.

Content, people, content.

But, when I happen to land on an author's blog and find that they're talking about political stuff, for example, that is in no way related to their ebooks, I wonder what in the heck they are doing. They are confusing me. I land on their blog to find out about their lives, or their books, and they're going off about things that aren't even closely related. But, then again, that's just me.

But, what you need to think about is, I am your customer. I have landed on your blog for one reason or another and if you do not have the product or the content I'm looking for, I'll find it somewhere else. There are far too many blogs in the blogosphere that I don't have to stop there.
Focus.

Make each blog post count.

Draw in that audience.

I picked up a magazine today that was about a conference for a particular restaurant chain, and inside I found out that the speakers they had scheduled were talking about the very same thing I teach in here. The power of online marketing.

I would like to quote an excerpt out of this magazine which really hit home. The title of this article was "Marketing is Everything and Everything is Marketing."

And here's the first paragraph as that is all that is needed to prove this point:

"Do you know what your business needs to be successful? It isn't location, it isn't hard work, it isn't a great team, and it isn't just an awesome product. The only thing absolutely required to be successful is customers."

Think about it. You can have the most fantastic product (book) in all the land, but if there are no customers (audience), you have a product that is going nowhere.

Audience.

If you want to be successful, you need your customers more than anything.

What I would like to do now is ask you, how do you bring in your customers to your blog? Give us those tried and true secrets as to how YOU lure customers to your blog, and on Monday, I'll highlight some of your answers on my book promotion blog at PUMP UP YOUR ONLINE BOOK PROMOTION at www.pumpupyouronlinebookpromotion.blogspot.com. Please leave your comments on the book promotion blog to be eligible.

Have a nice week-end everyone and PUMP UP THAT BOOK PROMOTION!

Tags: How to Pump UP Your Blog to Sell More Books, online book promotion, online marketing

PUMP UP Your Blog to Sell Your Books Workshop

2007-03-04T23:53:00.000-08:00

Just to let you guys know I haven't disappeared from oblivion, I'm conducting a free book promotion workshop at my new PUMP UP YOUR ONLINE BOOK PROMOTION BLOG at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.blogspot.com. See you there!

HOOK US WITH YOUR FIRST PAGE

2007-02-19T10:11:00.001-08:00

I have a ton of promotional ideas for published authors, but what about those who are in varying stages of publication? How can you get that pre-buzz started?

One of the things you can do is post your first page of the manuscript you are working on (this is not for published authors) at The Writer's Life Blog.

The Writer's Life Blog is an extension of the award-winning writer's ezine, The Writer's Life. Lots of great ways to promote your books at the blog including posting your first chapters and interviews, but that leaves out a lot of people who just haven't signed that contract yet.

If you have a book that is not published yet, and want a few unbiased opinions (Aunt Bessie doesn't count!), go here to find out how you can do it!

Tags: Hook Us With Your First Page, pre-buzz, published authors, The Writer's Life, promote your books

John Kremer's FREE BOOKS FOR ALL

2007-02-16T11:29:00.001-08:00

I found this a couple nights ago. John Kremer is putting nonfiction ebooks up on his site and is inviting anyone with a free nonfiction ebook to send it to him and he'll put it up for you. I emailed him last night, and today, both my free ebooks, A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook (A Sampler) and 101 Facts You Never Knew About Soul Mates are both up. Pretty darn fast to me.

The site is called Free Books for All, a website devoted to giving away free nonfiction books, including business books, cookbooks, memoirs, how-to books, travel books, gardening books, mind/body/spirit books, social issues books, and more.

John is being so gracious to do this because he believes (as do I) that word of mouth is the best promotion. According to his website at www.freebooksforall.com, he states, "The toughest challenge for a newbie or an unknown author is to get readers to sample your book. The best way to get people to sample your book is by giving it away as a free PDF download. Most people won't read an entire novel on their computer, but they will sample it. And, if they like it, they will go to Amazon.com or their favorite local bookseller and buy it. Then they will read your book. And, if your book is any good, they'll begin to tell other people about your book."

Hey, hey, John's the man!

If you have a free nonfiction ebook, click here to find out how you can end up on John Kremer's Free Books For All!

Tags: Free Books For All, John Kremer, nonfiction books, A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook, free nonfiction books, business books

LOVE IS IN THE AIR - FREE VALENTINE'S DAY EBOOK AVAILABLE NOW!

2007-02-13T00:22:00.001-08:00

It's official!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR, a free Valentine's Day ebook is available!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Give the Gift of Love: LOVE IS IN THE AIR - Free Valentine’s Day eBook!

February 13, 2007 - Just in time for Valentine’s Day, The Writer’s Life Publications announces the release of “Love is in the Air,” a free 65-page downloadable eBook, filled with love stories and love advice for the romantic in you!

“Love is in the Air,” is written by the members of The Writersville Gang, an online Yahoo! writing group, which includes Rebecca Camarena, Sandy Lender, Gale Sparks, Dorothy Thompson, Michael Witherspoon and Jamieson Wolf.

“I’m really excited about this eBook,” says Dorothy Thompson, editor of The Writer’s Life and moderator of the online writing group. “Not only are we giving back to our faithful readers, but we are also learning the ins and outs of self-publishing. It’s been a great learning experience for all of us and has helped us find out what it takes to pump up our own online book promotion by using our free eBooks as guinea pigs. We learn what works and what doesn’t which is highly important because it eliminates the time wasters and shows us how to market our books effectively.”

The Writer’s Life Publications is run and operated by Dorothy Thompson and publishes several free eBooks throughout the year.

To download your free Valentine’s Day eBook, LOVE IS IN THE AIR, visit www.thewriterslife.net/loveisintheair.html.

Press Contact:
Dorothy Thompson
Editor, The Writer’s Life Magazine
P.O. Box 313
Temperanceville, Virginia 23442
thewriterslife@yahoo.com
http://www.thewriterslife.net/

Tags: free Valentine's Day ebook, online book promotion, free ebook, marketing your book, self-publishing, downloadable ebook, love stories, love advice, pump up your online book promotion, The Writer's Life, The Writersville Gang

Turn Your Book into a Movie Poster

2007-01-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

I thought we'd have some fun today. Pumping up your online book promotion can be hard work, but sometimes there are little gizmos and gadgets you can play with that will make your book stand out. Book promotion can't be all work and no play, can it?

Of course not.

The picture on the right is from a team of writers that have written a pretty darn good paranormal romance that is coming out in trade paperback in February by Mardi Gras Publishing called "The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost" which is authored by Heide Kaminski, Pam Lawniczak and myself.

Actually, that's not the book cover, but a poster I made for it. You can make your own movie posters for your books by visiting http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/poster.php.

Play around with it and have fun. Pumping up your online book promotion includes getting the word out about your book, so with that in mind, make your own poster and add it to your blog and website and tell all your friends to go see!

Announcement: Dorothy Thompson to Appear on Radio Talk Show "Marketing with Fran" Tomorrow!

2007-01-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

Just letting you guys know, for what it’s worth, I’M GOING TO BE ON THE RADIO TOMORROW!!!

Yep, the show is called “Book Marketing with Fran” with Fran Silverman on the Achieve Radio Network. The show airs Tuesday, January 30, 2007, at noon to 1 p.m. (MST); 11 a.m. (CST) and 2 p.m. (EST). The archives are available 10 minutes after the show ends.

The first guest, Ted Demopoulos, author of BLOGGING AND PODCASTING (2007) and BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS (2006) will begin at 2:00 and my segment will air right after his at 2:30.

To listen to the show, go to http://www.achieveradio.com/ and click on the left side under “Shows and Schedules,” then scroll down to Book Marketing with Fran. Click on “Info and Archives.” Once there, click on the appropriate “Listen Live” button on the right (Windows Media Player, Flash or Real Player).

To talk to Fran or her guest, call toll free 800-920-3717 (Phoenix area—623-772-9379). Or to email them, on left side of main page, click “In-Quick Message or Call-In” (In-Quick only works during live shows).

Wish me luck!

Vote for The Writer's Life!

2007-01-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone...

It's that time of year again and the Preditors & Editor's Readers Poll is in full swing!

The Writer's Life has been in operation since 2001 and provides writing resources, promotional opportunities for writers, and a newly added promotional workshop. But, more than that, it's a labor of love.

As the editor of The Writer's Life, my goal is to help writers achieve their goals of becoming published and help them promote once they have achieved this. It is to all the writers out there I dedicate this website, and it is my hope that The Writer's Life was a part of making their dreams come true.

If you would be so kind and vote for us under the "Nonfiction Magazine/Ezine" category at Preditors & Editors and to vote for the editor (moi) under "Magazine/Ezine Editors," I would greatly appreciate your vote. To vote, click here, and thank you!

Dorothy Thompson
Editor, The Writer's Life
www.thewriterslife.net

Pump Up Your Book Promotion with Do-it-Yourself Book Trailers

2007-01-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

One of the things I have learned about book promotion is that the more gimmicky your marketing becomes, the more valued your book becomes. The reason I say this is that whenever I find someone who has taken their book promotion to the next level, no matter how crazy it is and no matter how outside of the box , the promotion usually works in the author’s favor.

One of the more gimmicky things I have seen that gives you more for your promotional dollars is an incredible marketing tool called the book trailer.

A book trailer is simply a promotional video. Think of it as a movie premier of your book. Some authors waste no promotional dollars when it comes to putting out quality book trailers by hiring actors to play the parts of the characters, but if the promotional dollars aren’t there, there is a less expensive route you can go and still turn out a quality book trailer.

One thing we all must keep in mind when marketing our books is that visual sells. When used right, this promotional video could mean fantastic sales, not to mention a very unique way to promote your book.

When I became aware of book trailers a few years ago, I checked into a few companies who could make one for me, but I wanted to see if I could do this myself. I had a graphics program, but if you don’t have one, there are public domain photos on the web you can use for this such as:

http://www.pdphoto.org/
http://www.freefoto.com/
http://www.freestockphotos.com/
http://www.freeimages.com/

Once I accumulated what photos I needed, I began my quest to find a place online to learn how to make my own book trailer.

The first place I discovered was Photo Show (http://beta.photoshow.com/maker/). They offered a month’s trial subscription, and if I wanted to keep it, I would have to pay $49, which is a paltry sum considering what others charge to make your trailers for you.

My first attempt at making a book trailer for one of my books, ROMANCING THE SOUL, can be seen at my website at www.dorothythompson.net/Romancing_the_Soul.html.

I found another wonderful place where you can make your own book trailers at
RockYou (http://www.rockyou.com/). What I liked about this place was that they didn’t charge you a cent and you can sign up for free. If you’d like to see how I set up one for my paranormal, THE SEARCH FOR THE MILLION $$$ GHOST, you can go to http://www.milliondollarghost.homestead.com/trailer.html.

It would all depend on what you are looking for. While I liked both places, I still lacked the freedom to choose the kind of music I wanted for my book trailer so I kept searching.

It was then when I found out that I had a program (anyone with Windows should have it) called Movie Maker, and I knew I’d hit upon a program that outshined the rest.

Movie Maker is a little trickier than the two previously mentioned, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll fall in love with it. You might want to read the directions first to get a gist of what you can do with it, but it’s a really nice program. The main reason I liked it best of the three is because I could download my movies onto YouTube.

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) gets approximately 20 million visitors a month, and is perhaps the best place to advertise your book trailer. I’ve got one of mine up there if you’d like to see how I did using Movie Maker. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOklaNgirZI.

Remember, these are all first-time attempts, so it proves anyone can do it!

No matter if you go it alone, or hire someone to produce your book trailer, this is a wonderful device to visually show off your book.

The next step will be to find places to promote your book trailer. Of course, the first place would be your website and blog, and don’t forget writer’s forums. Other great places to advertise your book trailer are Google Video (http://video.google.com/) and Yahoo Video (http://video.yahoo.com/).

Book promotion has taken a step in the right direction with book trailers. Make one yourself and see how well they can promote your book for you!

© Dorothy Thompson

Marketing guru Dorothy Thompson is the editor of The Writer’s Life (http://www.thewriterslife.net/), one of Writer’s Digest Top 101 Websites for Writers, and the author of the self-promoting eBook “A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook,” available at http://www.thewriterslife.net/promoteebook.html. You can learn how to promote your own books by visiting her promoting blog, “How to Promote Your Self-Published Book,” at http://selfpublishedebookpromotion.blogspot.com/ or attend her Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion Workshop at www.thewriterslife.net/workshop.html.

Keywords: book trailers, book promotion, YouTube, Photo Show, advertise your book trailer, Google Video, Yahoo Video, marketing tool, pump up your book promotion

2006-12-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Dan Poynter - How To Write Your First Non-Fiction Book

Amazing marketing guru and self-promoter, Dan Poynter, gives us the lowdown on self-publishing. Watch!

What We Can Learn From American Idol to Promote Our Books

2006-12-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

I love American Idol. Okay, okay, what's this got to do with book promotion?

Stick around, and I'll tell you.

I don't care what I'm doing--whether I'm in the middle of a great scene, catching up on some promotion I put off at the last minute, or changing a boo-boo on my website--I drop everything to watch the few favorite shows I can squeeze in, and one of them is my absolute favorite, American Idol.

I watch it year after year. I love to boo the winners if they're not my winners, and watch Paula, Simon and Randy as they completely dash the hopefuls' dreams of becoming the next American Idol by telling them they simply...suck.

It's entertainment at its best.

Last week, I was in the middle of some really important promo work, and I happened to catch a bit of American Idol on TV, although I thought it funny because it officially doesn't start until January. But, as I watched it, I saw that what it was was a compilation of past shows into one.

Now, here's where great marketing comes in.

It's been almost a year since American Idol went off the air until the new season starts. Since the world is ever-changing, we just can't keep up with everything that's going on, so what the producers thought might entice us to come back for the new season is remind us what a great show it was before so that we do come back.

I'm sure it cost a lot of marketing dollars to put this show together, but dangit, it works.

Had I not seen the show, would I have forgotten (believe me, it happens A LOT) to watch it when it does air again in January? Or, did I make a mental note not to forget to watch it?

That mental note in ingrained in my brain.

What this applies to book promotion is this. If you are getting ready to release a new book/ebook, and have built up a following, a fan base (everyone needs to start if they haven't already), entice them with the things they loved about your books in the past to remind you that more is coming.

You could even take the first chapter of your new release, put it in pdf format, and send it out to everyone on your mailing list. Announce your new release on every free press release site you can, including information on how they can download your first chapter.

It's called creating a buzz.

Pre-release marketing is essential!

Another thing I need to note is that it's very rare I buy a book without reading an excerpt. I want to see if there are grammar mistakes (sorry, that's the editor in me), typos, or maybe I just want to see the writing style. Or, maybe I just want to see if it entertains me?

That excerpt is going to make or break you, so make sure, if you are self-publishing, that that first chapter is the best it can be, and while you're at it, make sure the whole product lives up to your fan base's expectations.

So, think like the producers of American Idol. Create pre-release buzz so your fans will know it's coming. Whet their appetites. Draw them in like bees on honey by enticing them to what's coming up.

Meanwhile, I won't be missing this upcoming year's show, and have learned a valuable lesson in pre-release buzz!

###

Dorothy Thompson is the editor of The Writer’s Life (http://www.thewriterslife.net/), one of Writer’s Digest Top 101 Websites for Writers, and the author of the self-promoting eBook “A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook,” available at http://www.thewriterslife.net/promoteebook.html.

Tags: how to promote your self-published ebook, ebook marketing, promote your ebook, promote your ebook, book promotion, ebook promotion, book marketing, online marketing, viral marketing, American Idol

How to Promote Your Self-Published eBook

2006-12-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

One of the questions I get from writers who have never written an eBook for the sole purpose of self-publishing is, “How would you promote a self-published eBook? Where would you even begin?”

Many writers balk at even attempting to play publisher, but if they only knew that it’s not as hard as they think it is, plus they keep to keep all the profits, I feel that more people would realize that self-publishing ebooks is not only a profitable venture, but they are really simple to promote as long as you take a no-nonsense guerilla approach to marketing.

As long as you have a market, and have a quality eBook that is free of errors, your eBook can become a success, thus give you that added income. But, the great thing is, you won’t be sharing the profits with anyone. There is no overhead except for website expenses, which you should already have.

I have successfully promoted several eBooks for myself and for my writing group, getting those eBooks into the #1 position in the search engines.

How?

That’s where your guerilla marketing plan comes in.

Here are a few simple ways I have used to promote my eBooks and get them to the top of the search engines:

1) Using key search words throughout my selling page and on every single piece of promotional literature I send out.
2) Using free press release sites frequently, keeping in mind to use those key search words not only in the title, but also throughout the release.
3) Using free article banks as vehicles to get my selling page’s link on hundreds upon hundreds of websites.
4) Using online storefronts who will list my eBook for free.
5) Using writer’s forums and websites who will let you announce your eBook.
6) Using blogs to announce your eBook and promote it.
7) Using others’ blogs to set up virtual book tours.

The secret to selling self-published eBooks (or any kind of eBook or print book, for that matter) is to get your link on as many websites as you can. You have to remember, you have an electronic book. You can’t go on book signings, so you have to rely on the Internet to get the word out. But, by following those seven examples above, I’ll guarantee you’ll get the sales you need.

So what if you’ve done everything above, and your eBook still isn’t selling?

Where some authors go wrong is that they fail to remember the most important thing you need in order to sell any kind of books—a market.

No amount of promotion is going to do you any good unless you have an audience who is willing to fork out the money.

Before you even put down that first word, you have to ask yourself these following questions:

Who is going to buy my eBook?
Why is my eBook any different than Joe Blow’s eBook on the same subject?
What will my audience gain from my eBook?
Can they already find this information readily on the Internet?
Will my buyers gain something from my eBook, or is it simply to entertain?

Pique your potential buyer’s interest.

Post an excerpt on your website so they can judge for themselves whether your eBook will be something they need.

Once you get into the mindset of your buyer, things start falling in place, and you’ll get those sales you want.

Zero in on your market, and do the steps I’ve outlined above, and I’ll guarantee you’ll be selling ebooks.

Happy promoting to you!

© Dorothy Thompson

Dorothy Thompson is the editor of The Writer’s Life (http://www.thewriterslife.net/), one of Writer’s Digest Top 101 Websites for Writers, and the author of the self-promoting eBook “A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook,” available at http://www.thewriterslife.net/promoteebook.html.

(You are welcome to include this article on your website, ezine or newsletter as long as the complete bio is intact.)

Tags: how to promote your self-published ebook, ebook marketing, promote your ebook, promote your ebook, book promotion, ebook promotion, book marketing, online marketing, viral marketing

Authors Chat Lounge 2 Tonight! - Correction # 2

2006-12-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

Okay. I give up. The right url is:

http://museonlineconference.tripod.com/id13.html

Jeez Louise Sam.

They don't call me an over the hill boomer chick for nothing.

Authors Chat Lounge 2 Tonight! - Correction

2006-12-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry, gang, had the url wrong. If you'd like to come to the chat tonight where I'll be discussing ways to make money online by publishing your own eBooks, click here. So sorry!

Authors Chat Lounge 2 Tonight!

2006-12-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

I'll be a guest at Lea Schizas' online conference chat room at the Authors Chat Lounge 2 tonight at 7 p.m. eastern time. Come on out and find out all about my new eBook, "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook," and how you, too, can write, publish and promote your own eBook. To get into the chatroom, click here and sign in!

FREE CHRISTMAS EBOOK!!!

2006-12-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

On behalf of my writing group and myself, I am pleased to announce the release of our holiday ebook, "Season's Greetings from The Writersville Gang"! This 70-page downloadable ebook is absolutely free with no strings attached. This is our way of showing gratitude to the writing community. To get your free e-copy, visit http://www.writersville.homestead.com/seasonsgreetings.html.

Happy holidays to all of you!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 13 - Mary Emma's Potpourri of Writing

2006-11-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

It's stop #13 at my dear friend, Mary Emma Allen's blog, "Mary Emma's Potpourri of Writing"! Wonderful interview in which she asks me just how I got started writing eBooks, and how receptive people are to to reading a paperless book. See you there!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 12 - On the Writers' Road Less Traveled

2006-11-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

Good morning, everyone! Are we out there promoting our little dickens off? Well, good! If you have the time, I'm guest touring over at my good friend, Alyssa Goodnight's blog, "On the Writers' Road Less Traveled," so if you have any questions you would like to ask about eBooks, promoting eBooks, or promoting in general, please leave a comment at Alyssa's blog, and I'll get right to it!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 11 - In the Middle

2006-11-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Baby, it's cold outside! Even so, I've got my steaming hot cup of coffee, and I'm warm and happy. Another advantage of a virtual book tour!

Today's stop is...my dear friend, Martie's, blog IN THE MIDDLE! Come on over and ask me anything. I dare you. Double dare ya. Thank you, Martie, for hosting me!

Speaking of promotion, I will be teaching a workshop, "Pump Up Your Self-Published eBookPromotion" over at Earthly Charms in July. Hard to wait that long!

What is a Virtual Book Tour?

2006-11-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

I was checking out the stats in Google of an article I wrote entitled "What is a Virtual Book Tour," and I came upon this really good blog post at Whatever, titled "Virtual Book Tours." I really liked the way this blogmeister handled it, and I so agreed with him or her...I couldn't find their profile so I'm not sure who the owner is.

This person goes on to say how while there are reputable agencies that will host a blog tour for you (Kevin Smokler, for example), you can still do this yourself, and for free. Kevin charges quite a hunk of change, but as I'm nearing the end of mine, I have to say there's a lot of work involved.

But, I'm the kind of person who loves to be in charge, and I wanted to see if I could do this successfully. And, I think I have.

I'm nearing the end of the tour, and have I sold any eBooks? Okay, first of all, I have appeared on ten blogs, most of them don't receive many hits as they are new, or not popular yet. Had I appeared on blogs that Kevin Smokler, for example, could have put me on, I might have had more sales. Considering that, I will say that so far, I have sold enough eBooks to buy my daughter a really nice digital camera for Christmas. Do the math.

So, to me, it has been a success. But, even if I hadn't sold any, the links to the various blogs that hosted my tour will continue to give me free advertisement as long as the blog post exists.

I was over at Paperback Writer the other day and she had an interesting viewpoint on virtual book tours. She...oh man, I'm not sure if Paperback Writer is a man or a woman, but for the sake of making my point, I'll call it a she.

Well, she says, "The questions a writer should always ask when considering this kind of promo:
1) Can I afford it,
2) where are the hard sales numbers,
3) are the resulting sales established and consistent, and
4) what name authors are doing it? If the answer to any of these questions is no, none, or even it's difficult to say, then buyer, beware.

This is an interesting point, too. Are you going to make the sales to recoup your cost if you go with someone's service to set this up for you?

So, what you're basically up against is trying to get the same kind of sales that you might have gotten if you had paid for someone to set this up for you. The key would be, of course, to find those blogs that are high trafficked. Goes without saying. Mine was an experiment, and as I know now what to do next go around, I will again do this myself.

They say that you need to be prepared to put some money into the promotion of your book. I say that if you can do what they do, do it and save the money for things like...digital cameras. ;o)

If you want to read my article, "What is a Virtual Book Tour," click here.

Happy promoting to you!

Dorothy Thompson is the editor of The Writer's Life, and the author of the eBook, A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook.

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 9 - Shades of Romance Magazine

2006-11-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

Little late in posting this, but stop #9 is at Shades of Romance Magazine, so hurry on over there, and if you have any questions, leave a comment in their comment box. See you there!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 8 - Miss Cellania

2006-11-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Folks, you are in for a treat. Not only is she gracious enough to grant me a review for "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook," but her blog is the bomb. I don't even know how I found Miss C, but I remember the first time I was there, I burned my chocolate chip cookies. I just couldn't stop browsing! Fun stuff over there. Check out the review, leave a comment if you'd like, and enjoy the incredible world of Miss Cellania.

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 7 - I AM THE HUNTER

2006-11-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

And...it's day seven of the "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook" virtual book tour with a stop off at Jamieson Wolf's blog, I AM THE HUNTER. Quite a remarkable writer, and it's such a thrill to have the opportunity to visit his blog! Come join me and if you have any questions about promoting, leave a comment in Jamieson's comment box. See you there!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 6 - The Surreal Unwriter

2006-11-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

It's day six of my virtual book tour and today's stop is at Ron Berry's "The Surreal Unwriter"! Stop by and say hello. If you have any questions up to this point about promoting eBooks, leave them in the comment box and I'll get right to them. See you there!

Let's Talk Promotion - Free eBook Promotion That Works!

2006-11-08T04:30:00.000-08:00

While we're taking a break from our virtual book tour, let's talk promotion.

As every eBook (or print) author knows by now, promotion is an inevitable part of keeping our products in the public's eye. No matter how small or large your effort, it's going to pay off eventually somewhere down the line.

I had one of my blog hosts tell me she was sorry that her blog didn't get many responses from outsiders when I appeared there, as she thought it would upset me.

No, it didn't.

The great thing about doing virtual book tours is that it's perpetual. Long after the tour is over, and as long as the blog host archives my appearance, my tour will continue indefinitely.

And that's a great thing.

The secret to selling eBooks is to get your link in as many websites as you can, and by appearing on twenty blogs, it doesn't hurt my chances of someone, somewhere down the line, finding it and purchasing my eBook.

But, the virtual blog tour is one of many promotional venues that will get me the Internet presence I need to create awareness of my eBook.

Other venues include syndicating my articles (read my latest: "What is a Virtual Book Tour?") and by sending out press releases on a regular basis.

I have had colleagues come up to me, saying that their eBook is just not selling, and what should they do? They say they have followed my advice and sent out an article and a press release, and still they have no sales.

The mistake they are making is that that one article and press release isn't going to do them much good.

If they had been following the advice in my ebook, "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook," they would know the secret.

The secret is that you need to send out that same article and that same press release to every website listed in the eBook. I have provided them with a one-click process that takes them right to the submitting page, and have made it easy for them; and yet, they don't take the time to complete the process.

By getting your eBook's link into as many places as you can, you increase your eBooks presence in the search engines; thus, increase the chances of someone finding out about your eBook using your key search words and phrases.

I'll tell you how this works.

A couple weeks ago, my writing group, The Writersville Gang, and I published a free eBook titled "Haunted Happenings." We didn't charge, and it was entirely free for the asking.

Using the search words, "free Halloween eBook," I used this in every promotional literature I sent out. In six days, our ebook landed in the number one spot in Google, one of the most popular search engines. If you want to see this for yourself, click here. See the power of free press releases?

You need to zero in on what key search words or phrases that people would use to find your eBook, and use them in every single promotional literature you send out.

That's it for today, and happy promoting to you!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 5 - Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes!

2006-11-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

What do mismatched jammies, bed hair and a cup of steaming hot coffee all have in common? The perfect setting for my virtual book tour!

Today I'm stopping off at Jen Nipp's blog, Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes! So, grab your cup of java and come on over!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 4 - Nutter's Gang!

2006-11-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

Omg...I have my very first review!

Everyone...hop over to Michelle E. Ellis' blog at http://www.meellis.blogspot.com/ where she's hosting me today and read my very first review! I'm about to have a boomer chick conniption!

What I found really neat is that my eBook, A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook, has given Michelle ideas for promoting her already-published eBooks which has given her the confidence to query RT Magazine! Woo-hoo! Go Michelle! Let us know what you find out!

Everyone...pleeeeze, go over to Michelle's blog and leave a comment!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 3 - SmallPress Blog

2006-11-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

Wow...Day Three of my "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook" Virtual Book Tour sends me over to Tom Nixon's SmallPress Blog! Head on over there, and if you have any questions about self-publishing eBooks, promoting self-published eBooks, or any promotional questions, leave them in Tom's blog. Thank you, Tom, for hosting me!

Yesterday I was over at Kaleidosouls where Joyce asked me some really interesting questions. Among other things, she wanted to know what the single, most effective way to promote eBooks was.

This was a hard one, and the only way I could come up with a rational answer was to figure out just which tactic I used ended up being the most profitable. I believe that using every promotional tactic I outline in the eBook will give you the sales you want, but narrowing it down to just one, I would have to say the syndication of my articles.

When I send off an article (and this has to be done on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, with daily and weekly being the best), I get enormous exposure. FOR FREE.

It's the domino effect...and never stops. You send it to one content ezine and give them that right to pass your article to other content ezines, and before you know it, your article, along with your bio which has your website link in it, goes out to hundreds of other content ezines.

The key to getting top ranking in the search engines for any particular project you have is to have that website link on as many other websites as you can. Syndicating your articles will do that for you.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to M.E. Ellis' blog, so I hope to see you there. Meanwhile, come on over to Tom Nixon's SmallPress blog and ask me anything you'd like!

Virtual Book Tour - Stop # 2 - Kaleidosouls!

2006-11-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

It's Day Two of "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook" Virtual Book Tour, and my next stop is Joyce Anthony's beautiful blog, Kaleidosouls. Come on over, and if you have any questions, leave them in Joyce's comment box.

I would like to recap yesterday's events on my first tour stop at Kathy Holmes' blog, Women's Fiction With Attitude. One question she asked me was how long have I been marketing eBooks and how much time would I estimate it takes for an eBook to be what I would consider a success.

I know success means different things to different folks, but to me, I considered my eBook project a success when I got my first sale. I know that sounds silly, but to me it meant there's at least someone out in cyberland that thought my eBook was worthy of plunking down cold greenback. It's a sense of satisfaction in that, you know?

To tell you the truth, I was running around the house screaming with delight.

And, so far, no one has sent me a negative review, or maybe the boomer chick has scared them to the point where they just can't do it. And that's all right with me. Really.

So, how has this book tour gone so far promotion-wise?

Terrific. I can't imagine what kind of surprises there are for me as we go along, but so far it's been fabulous. I do see where you have to be really organized as you are setting this thing up yourself. The only drawback is that your mind is constantly whirring, which isn't good for a little boomer chick like me, but it's been fun. Ask me at the end and I'll tell you how much fun, if it doesn't kill me first, lol.

Tomorrow, I'll be at Tom Nixon's SmallPress Blog, so hope to see you there! Whew...I need coffee!

Virtual Book Tour

2006-11-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone!

Your blogmeister here would like to let you know that I will be touring blogs this month in my first ever virtual book tour for my eBook "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook."

I will be stopping off at blogs all over the country and talking about promoting your own eBooks (really it's not as hard as you think) in case you wanted to generate some Christmas spending money, or just in case you might want to do this yourself in the near future.

My first stop is today at Kathy Holmes' blog, "Women's Fiction With Attitude"! So, follow that link, and if you have any questions about self-publishing or promoting eBooks, or promoting in general, leave a comment in her blog and I'll answer it there for you.

Happy promoting to you and see you there!

FREE HALLOWEEN EBOOK

2006-10-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

As many of you already know, there are different ways of promoting eBooks. One of them happens to be giving away eBooks for free to promote your paying eBooks.

That's exactly what my writing group, The Writersville Gang, and I did to not only give people a taste of the kinds of things we write, but also to promote our other books/eBooks. The eBook is titled "Haunted Happenings" and is available now at www.writersville.homestead.com/hauntedhappenings.html. Go over there and pick up your copy, and don't forget to sign the guestbook to let us know you paid us a visit!

How will this affect the sales of other books/eBooks? I'll let you know as we get further along, but this experiment was performed with our first eBook "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Getting Published." We had 300 downloads in the first week and managed to get the eBook in the number one spot on all the search engines.

Not a bad feat being as it only took about a week to get it there. How did we do it? LOL...that's a little secret, but you can find out in my promoting eBook "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook." ;o)

Virtual Book Tour

2006-10-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

I just love the Internet. When we think of eBook promotion, the Internet is the bestest friend we could ever have.

One of the most fun, and totally innovative, ways of promoting your eBooks I have found is a virtual book tour.

What is a virtual book tour?

A virtual book tour is simply having bloggers host you on their blogs on a given day as their guest. You give interviews, talk about your book, post chapters, send articles, whatever you and your host decide which works best for the two of you.

A virtual book tour is much like a real book tour, only cheaper. And, you can wear your jammies and bed hair, and no one will know otherwise.

But, you must be organized. Not only are you the guest, but you are also the one who is going to set up these visits, and make sure everyone knows what is going on. You must keep track of every blog you are going to visit, and choreograph what you are going to say and do. It's not that hard to do, but it takes a lot of planning, as would any book tour.

Next month, I will be having my first virtual book tour, and I invite all of you to come. I will be visiting blogs all over the country for the entire month of November to promote my eBook "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook."

I just feel that this is a wonderful way to promote your books, whether they are in print or electronic format. Who knows...maybe it'll give you the incentive to do a virtual book tour of your own!

How does a virtual book tour work?

Follow along with me on my tour, and you'll see. I'll be recapping the events as they unfold.

To help explain the virtual book tour better, here are a few questions and answers that better explains.

How does a virtual book tour work?

Once you have released your book (or eBook), the first thing you need to do is find individuals who would be open to having you appear on their blog to either talk about your eBook, post articles, or give interviews. While I knew that there were services on the web who could do a marvelous job of setting up virtual book tours for you, I found that most of them mainly dealt with print books, so that was not an option for me since this was an eBook. Besides, I wanted to see if I could successfully pull this off on my own, and save the expense. I'm such a meiser!

I started with my writing groups, then headed over to my blogroll I have on my blog. I told them all what I was doing, and asked them if they would be interested in hosting me. Within one week, I had found enough people interested to start my itinerary.

The thing you need to keep in mind is to try to enlist those blogs whose themes are the same theme as your book (or eBook). For example, my eBook is about promoting your own eBooks, so I would look for those blogmeisters who have either promotion blogs or have eBooks of their own to sell.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is to find those blogs that get a bit of traffic. If unsure, put their link in www.alexa.com and that should tell you. If I found a blog that didn't have any traffic, or rarely got updated, I'd move on.

Your goal is to get to as many people who would be interested in your product as you can. The more traffic the blogs get, the better for you.

Once you get your virtual book tour established, start announcing it on all your blogs and websites. You need to get people interested, and create a buzz before the big day.

How long should my tour be?

I’ve seen tours last for an entire month, but that’s entirely up to you. It depends on how much time you want to devote to it. I chose a month-long tour, as I wanted to give this a chance to see if there will be positive results from it.

Why should anyone want to do this? Should I offer incentives?

Sure, incentives really work. I offered a copy of my eBook in exchange for a review, but you have to be very careful with this. If the blog or website has low traffic, it may not be economical to do. When this happens, offer them a sampler of the eBook so at least they know what it’s about.

How are sales after something like this?

The thing is, a virtual book tour is just like any other book tour. Yes, the goal is to make sales, but that will happen eventually. What you will want to do with this is get your selling page on as many blogs and websites as possible so the search engines will link up to you. Long after your tour is over, you’ll find people visiting your site, and buying your books (or eBooks). That's the great thing about a virtual blog tour...it still goes on and on even after the tour has ended.

Why can’t I just comment in people’s blogs about my books instead of going through all that?

Because you’ll come off as spam. No one wants to go to their comment section and see someone else promoting their books. The virtual book tour may require more effort, but people will see how much effort you are putting into this. Leaving your book information in the comment sections of blogs is a big no-no, and open you up to being condemned from ever posting there again. Not only that, but a virtual book tour is so much more personable, and gives you a chance to answer questions that others might have questions about.

The "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook" Virtual Book Tour Stops include (more will be added as they are signed up):

#1 - Place: Women's Fiction With Attitude
Host: Kathy Holmes
Date: November 1, 2006
Read the actual tour post here!
"Wow - you've got so much information in that e-book and it's fantastic. My brain is running on overload trying to take it all in. I'll say it again - Wow!"

#2 - Place: KaleidoSouls
Host: Joyce Anthony
Date: November 2, 2006
"This book is chock-full of practical, doable advice and will be a much-used addition to anyone's promotion library. Dorothy talks in simple, easy-to-understand language about how anyone can promote their ebook by following some proven methods--of which she is all to happy to share."

#3 - Place: SmallPress Blog
Host: Tom Nixon
Date: November 3, 2006

#4 - Place: Nutter's Gang
Host: Michelle E. Ellis
Date: November 6, 2006
"After reading Dorothy's ebook, I myself am going to be following her excellent advice step by step. It takes time and dedication--but will be worth it!"

#5 - Place: Blue Jeans & Tennis Shoes
Host: Jen Nipps
Date: November 7, 2006

#6 - Place: The Surreal Writer
Host: Ron Berry
Date: November 10, 2006
"This is the bible of reference."

#7 - Place: I AM THE HUNTER
Host: Jamieson Wolf
Date: November 11, 2006

#8 - Place: Miss Cellania
Host: Miss Cellania
Date: November 14, 2006

#9 - Place: Sormag (Shades of Romance Magazine Blog)
Host: LaShaunda C. Hoffman
Date: November 15, 2006

#10 - Place: A Story Teller's World
Host: Marilyn Celeste Morris
Date: November 16, 2006
"An essential tool for those of us who are unsure how to go about writing and selling an ebook. Dorothy's step-by-step instructions makes the process easy, and profitable, too!"

#11 - Place: For Your Entertainment
Host: Linda L. Rucker
Date: November 17, 2006

#12 - Place: In the Middle
Host: Martie
Date: November 20, 2006

#13 - Place: On the Writers' Road Less Traveled - Weblog of Alyssa Goodnight
Host: Alyssa Goodnight
Date: November 21, 2006

#14 - Place: Write Kudzu
Host: Keetha DePriest Reed
Date: November 22, 2006

#15 - Place: Greetings from the Pole Barn
Host: Laura Crawford
Date: November 25, 2006

#16 - Place: Cyber Connections Cafe
Host: Don Lafferty
Date: November 26, 2006

#17 - Place: Sky's Official Fan Club
Host: Schuyler Thorpe
Date: November 27, 2006

#18 - Place: Mary Emma's Potpourri of Writing
Host: Mary Emma Allen
Date: November 28, 2006

#19 - Place: Virtual Cocktails
Host: Mindy Klasky
Date: November 29, 2006

#20 - Place: Author Marketing Experts
Host: Penny Sansevieri
Date: November 30, 2006

So, join me in the month of November as I wind my way all over the blogosphere to dozens of blogs and websites, and show you how you can write and promote your own eBooks!

A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook is here!

2006-09-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PROMOTING & SELLING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED EBOOK has arrived!

If you would like to make money from the comfort of your home with no overhead and 100% profit, it's time to start thinking about writing your own eBook and selling it yourself. Why yourself and not an e-publisher?

Glad you asked.

YOU can do everything they can do, and all the profits are yours alone.

And don't think you can't do it either. I've done it, and I will continue doing it because while I'm waiting for the royalty checks to come in from my other books and while I'm waiting for a NY contract for yet other books, I'm making money.

How do you make money from a book others have to read over the Internet?

You are so inquisitive!

But, that's what I'm here for. My eBook, A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PROMOTING & SELLING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED EBOOK, explains it all. It's a 120-page PDF-formatted guide to show you how to promote your ebooks better than an e-publisher can. How?

By implementing the steps I've outlined in the eBook, you are guaranteed sales. While it may take time to complete, you'll be able to sit back and enjoy that added revenue you didn't have before. I mean, think about it. It's a win-win situation. You can't go wrong.

My eBook, priced at $19.99, is comparable to others selling for hundreds. You read that right. HUNDREDS. And people are buying them.

People love information they can't get over the Internet or other places, and people are buying them because this priceless information is condensed into one easy-to-read and easy-to-follow location. By opening up my ebook and following the directions in each section, you'll find ideas of where to promote your eBook you never thought of before.

Oh, how I wish this information would have been available when my first eBook was published by an e-publisher. The money I have lost can never be regained, but the knowledge I have accumulated since has enabled me to promote my own eBooks with guaranteed sales.

Dan Poynter, marketing guru and author of over 100 self-published eBooks says, “It does not matter if you sell out to a large (NY) publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion. It does not matter if you publish a pBook (paper) or an eBook, the book must be promoted. Promotion methods are not the same for pBooks and eBooks. You can promote your eBook for little or no cost. A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PROMOTING & SELLING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED EBOOK shows you how to promote your electronic book.”

If you'd like to find out more about A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PROMOTING & SELLING YOUR SELF-PUBLISHED EBOOK, visit www.thewriterslife.net/promoteebook.html. For more tips on how to sell your eBook, visit my new promoting blog "eBook Promotion for Self-Published Authors" at www.selfpublishedebookpromotion.blogspot.com.

Happy sales to you!

Is Listing Your eBook With Online Stores Worth the Trouble?

2006-09-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

I just joined an online group of like-minded individuals who want to promote and sell their eBooks, and one question I was asked was if submitting to online stores was worth it in the long run. But, more explicitely, was it better to list with the major bookstores or as many as you could?

Of course, any kind of promotion is great, but let's take a look at the advantages listing your eBooks with online stores.

For one thing, you're getting your outgoing link in as many places as you can which turns into higher rankings in the search engines.

Second, you're giving people who might not venture into online bookstore #1, but might venture into online bookstore #2, a chance to find out, and perhaps purchase, your eBook.

Third, most of them are virtually free.

I list almost fifty online bookstores in my eBook "A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook" which doesn't cost you a dime. Some will ask for a reciprocal link, and I even had one ask me if I had an affiliate program because they wanted to run my ad (free) in their newsletter.

So, my answer to this is to list your eBook in as many venues as you can, including online bookstores.

To give you a start, here are a few excerpted from my eBook:

eBook Gallery
http://www.ebookgallery.com/
Submitting Page:
http://www.ebookgallery.com/WebDirectory/?mode=newadd&category=0
(Place your eBook under “Submit A New Site” and add eBook cover image)

Ebook Heaven
http://www.ebookheaven.co.uk/
Submitting Page:
www.ebookheaven.co.uk/cgi-bin/suite/directory/directory.cgi

Jogena eBook Directory
http://www.jogena.com/
Submitting Page:
www.jogena.com/ebookdir/ebookdata.htm

For more ideas on promoting your eBook, visit www.thewriterslife.net/promoteebook.html.

Ten Things Self-Published eBook Authors Need to Know

2006-09-04T04:23:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! You've joined the ranks of self-published eBook authors and you're all ready to sit back and watch those sales flow into your checking account.

That's wonderful; but let's face it, there's a little more to it than accepting a passive role in this, don't you think? Do you think that eBook is going to sell all by itself? I didn't think so.

Here are ten things all self-published eBook authors need to know about this crazy business we call self-publishing:

You are not going to become a millionaire happen overnight.
You're not even going to come close unless you resign yourself to learning how to become the best PR person for your eBook.
Promoting your eBook is a 24/7 job.
However, if you do promote your eBook endlessly, you will seek profits you never dreamed of.
Passivity is what kills an eBook.
Developing a guerilla approach to marketing your eBook is going to make the difference between ho hum sales and sales that are going to go through the roof.
When this happens, you stand to make thousands from your eBook.
In fact, you'll make more income from the sales of your eBook than your print book, if you promote it correctly.
eBook promotion = a successful marketing campaign in which you cover every portal available to sell your eBook.
eBook-publishing puts a new meaning into the words "find a job that you're happy with and you'll never work another day in your life."

E-book publishing is the most wonderful way to make money on the side and you stand to make quite a bit from it if you use guerilla tactics when selling your eBook. You can't expect to write an eBook, and go off and do other things while you wait for sales to come in. It doesn't work that way. It's a 24-7 job, but in the long run, all this promotion you will do for the eBook will pay off handsomely and you'll find yourself laughing all the way to the bank.

So, get that eBook written and see for yourself just how profitable it can be!

Writing an eBook for Instant Profit

2006-09-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Starving artists. Yep, that's you and me, and now you can turn that "starving artist" moniker into "successful author" just by writing an eBook and selling it yourself.

So, what's the first step?

If you want to earn money online that is basically 100% profit, your first hurdle is figuring out what you want to write about. There are many, many topics that you could go with. Here are a few ideas to get you motivated:

A self-help eBook to help others.
How about that collection of stories you've had hidden away in files that have gone nowhere?
Write poetry? Put them together and turn them into an eBook.
Do you write articles centering around a theme? Turn them into an eBook.
Do you like to write erotic, sensual stories? These eBooks sell like hotcakes!
Is there a particular craft you enjoy doing? Write up a how-to eBook to show others how to do it.
Have you already written a book and want to expand on your theme? Put it in an eBook and you can be selling it while you wait for your royalties for your print book!
How about a tips booklet?
Do you have a collection of recipes hanging around? Put them in an eBook!
Are you an expert in anything? Write about it!

There are millions of things you can write about. In my case, I write about relationships centering on the soul mate experience. I compiled a 50-page eBook titled "How to Find and Keep Your Soul Mate," priced it reasonably at $7.99, and set up an ecommerce system on my website, and voila, I'm in business. No overhead except for website expenses which the funds from my eBook pays for. Instant profits!

When you're writing your eBook, keep word length in mind. An eBook isn't like a print book. I find that people who have been on the net all day want an eBook that's concise...to the point. They are looking for what kind of information they will receive from the eBook, not a book full of fluff. You can easily sell an eBook with under 100 pages.

What I like about eBooks is that you can include clickable links; in fact, people love them and that's one reason why they like to buy an eBook that have them. They want information that these links can provide them.

So, when thinking about your theme, or topic, keep that in mind.

Creating eBooks is one of the easiest things you can do, but it still has to be done professional. One bad review could kill a ton of sales for you, so make sure that when you have completed your eBook, you get several opinions. If you have the funds, get it professionally edited.

So, start writing your eBook and I'll give you ideas in future posts on how to promote. Get writing!

Why Choose Self-Publishing in Electronic Format?

2006-09-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

As it's been said, there's a book in all of us. So be it for eBooks.

When you self-publish your own eBooks, it opens up a door that otherwise would have been closed. That's the charm of self-publishing.

But, the main charm for me is that I am in total control. I control the covers. I control the content. I control how I want this baby sold, and who knows how to sell my eBook better than me?

So, in essence, I am my own book's best PR person.

There are many reasons authors choose to write their own eBooks and publish it themselves, but the main reason is total profits.

It's more of a business venture than an obsession of holding that print book in your own hands.

That's the main difference.

We all love our print books, but our eBooks are used to make money because as we all know, when we publish print books, someone else gets a piece of the pie. And many of us do have print books, but the eBooks that we self-publish on the side helps to carry us over while we wait those months, and even years, for our print book to be publishied.

Ebooks are instant books , which in turn becomes instant profits.

I was talking to a colleague the other day about eBooks and how excited I was to get into this area of publishing and she looked at me and said, "But how do you sell a book that you can't physically hold?"

I explained to her the various methods I outlined in the book itself, and you know, she looked at me and said, "Dorothy, you're on to something."

Of course, I already knew that, but it really felt good that someone out there gets it.

Promoting eBooks isn't hard, but it's time-involved, just as any type of book. You have to be committed. And you have to be determined to do whatever you can to sell your eBook because the more you put in it, the more you'll get out of it.

That's what this blog is going to be about - promoting and selling your eBook and making 100% profit.

Stay tuned and I'll give away a few secrets as time goes on.

But, the first step is writing the eBook and that's what my next blog post is going to be about, so stay tuned!

New eBook Promotion Blog for Self-Published Authors

2006-08-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

Hello there! If you have found us by skill or luck, I want to let you know what this blog will be all about. It will be about explaining how you, the self-published eBook author, can find ways to promote your self-published eBooks so that you can have greater profit. Sound good?

Of course, it does because if you have written and self-published an eBook, you know that selling your product over the Internet can be very profitable.

In this blog, I'll share what I have discovered in the way of self-promotion and help you turn your self-published eBook into a megaseller. And, what is so fantastic about it is that all the profits are yours alone!

I will be discussing the eBook market and trends, and keep you up-to-date on where the best market is to sell your eBook. I will be showing you ways to turn your website into a viral marketing machine and ways in which you can not only promote your eBook, but yourself, too.

Oh, I didn't introduce myself. Bad me.

I'm Dorothy Thompson, editor of The Writer's Life, and author of How to Find and Keep Your Soul Mate and 101 Facts You Never Knew About Soul Mates; but more importantly, I'm about to release an eBook titled A Complete Guide to Promoting & Selling Your Self-Published eBook that I do believe you will find useful in your eBook promotion.

I welcome any questions which you can leave in the comment section.

Have a wonderful day and start cranking out those eBooks because I'm going to show you how to promote those eBooks so that you can start reaping the benefits!