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A New Job Requirement for Authors
by Sherri Rifkin, author of LoveHampton
Who knew that one needed to be so thoroughly tech-savvy to be an author?
I’m not just talking about knowing how to create chapter headers in Word
(I don’t but I fake it well enough) or being able to change your printer
cartridge. Nowadays, you have to know how to
blog-vlog-flickr-twitter-facebook-wordpress-upload-youtube-blip.tv in order to
be an author, that is, if you have some hopes of being a successful commercial
author. It helps if you have nice friends who know how to do all this stuff
(I have a Jeff, a Mary and an Anthony) but there are only so many times you can
sweetly plead for their help and certainly a limit on the number the exclamation
points you can put after "Thank you!!!!!!" in your emails. (Six seems
reasonable; seven is just desperate.)
I’ve logged several hours, possibly equalling days at this point, uploading
my book-related videos to the various viral distribution sites, creating the
first of what is sure to be many photo albums on Flickr.com, adding a fan page
on Facebook—and boy is my laptop tired! And I still have a "Book To Do" list
two pages long.
Believe me, as a former cable TV marketer for Bravo and Oxygen, I am very
grateful to be publishing my novel at a time when all of these free marketing
tools are available –especially since I don’t have the same (read: any)
budgets to spend on paid marketing placements like I did when I was employed by
someone else. Short of walking around Manhattan with a LoveHampton
sandwich board strapped over my shoulders, sitting in front of my laptop
waiting patiently for my uploads to be complete seems like a far lesser evil.
But I’m fairly certain that once I’ve mastered the twitter-blip and the
blog-vlog, there will be yet another technology for me to beg a
tech-savvy friend to teach me how to do. (Note: In addition to multiple
exclamation points, treating your advisors to a nice meal or an expensive bottle
of champagne are good ways to show them your appreciation.)
Now that I’m pretty much all uploaded, I just hope the other kids on YouTube
play nicely with LoveHampton21. I certainly don’t want to be forced to send my
206 Facebook friends -and counting if all my viral marketing plans work - after
them.
Five Tips for Promoting Your Book Online Without Spending One Penny of Your
Tax Rebate (Or, At Least, Not All of It)
1. Think "Multimedia":
No matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction, you can bring your book to
life through video and photos—you’d be surprised how many different ways you can
use such assets online. These days, more authors are making trailers, spoof
music videos, how-to’s, mini-documentaries (especially good for memoirs and
history), or like I did, video book excerpts. Plus, if you produce these
pieces early enough, your publisher could show them at their sales conferences
and/or the sales reps can use them when they meet with the big distributors and
major chain accounts. Your publicist could even use them to help pitch you for
electronic press.
If you’ve got an HD video
camera (which I bought especially for this purpose) and an Apple computer,
iMovie and iPhoto makes all of this immeasurably easier (or so I’m told; I’ve
got a PC). Although, as is the case with writing, there is an art to this, so
you might want to consider hiring someone with an expertise in this area to help
you, like I did (the Mary mentioned above).
Video Don’t: Do not
sit in front of a stationary camera, read from your book for ten minutes and
call it a "video book excerpt." Use the bandwidth—and your creativity—toward
something that will not only help you sell books but enhance your readers’
experience.
2. Distribute your
video content widely so it will do the promotion work for you—even while you
sleep. Once you’ve created some
killer videos, post them on all the free video-sharing community sites (YouTube
and Blip.TV), social-networking sites that allow for video posts (Facebook—see
below, MySpace, Twitter), as well as on your own web site (you’re getting one
made, that’s a given) or blog, and your publisher’s site. Add relevant tags
so the videos come up in searches. YouTube and Blip.TV are especially useful
because they a) make sharing your videos across the web easy for you as well as
for your fans using "embed codes" and b) offer free applications that can be
used on third-party sites. Also, Google loves videos. The more places
your name and your book’s title appear across the web, the better for you and
your book sales.
3. Become an active
member on at least one social networking site:
This is by far one of the most time-consuming plays but could have the biggest
payoff because you’ll be preaching to the choir, aka your friends and friends of
friends. Since MySpace is kind of over unless you’re a musician, Facebook has
taken its place as the social networking addiction du jour and has become my
preferred digital diversion. (Some of my friends like Twitter but I don’t
get it; business networking types prefer LinkedIn.) In addition to being able to
create your own personal profile and start "friending" people you know, you can
create a Fan page for your book for free. Anyone can become a fan of your book
page without you having to know or approve them. There’s a whole viral component
because all your activities are published via your News Feed, so be sure to play
a lot on your Fan page (e.g. add your blog feed; post photos of all your
Facebook friends—and i.d. them). I could write an entire book on marketing
through Facebook, but I’ve got a second novel to finish… so my last word on this
is: pick one social networking site and become active on it long before your
book’s publication date. Nobody becomes a social networking star overnight
unless you’re, uh, already a star.
4. Make Amazon your
new BFF: Amazon has added some cool
tools for authors to enhance their book pages, much of which can be done ahead
of your publication date. Customize your book page through their Amazon Connect
program (your publisher will need to verify you as the author). Create a
profile specific to your book (I suggest creating one separate from your
existing personal account, otherwise all your purchases and other community
activities will be logged on your book page) and add your photo, favorite books,
movies and anything available on Amazon, and even create a feed from your
existing blog to automatically update to your profile page. If you don’t have a
blog, you can write discreet entries instead.
5. Flickr is Not a
Dirty Word: Flickr is a
community-driven photo-sharing site with a super easy interface (take their tour
to see how it works). You can create themed photo albums and allow public access
to them as well as invite people to add their own albums under your given theme.
There are countless ways to tie photographs into your book regardless of whether
it’s fiction or non-fiction. To get more mileage out of your efforts, cross-post
your Flickr albums on your own site or blog or use their applications to share
your albums on Facebook.
Check out Sherri Rifkin’s
tech-savviness at: www.sherririfkin.com
YouTube
Blip.TV
Facebook
Flickr Photostream:
Amazon book page
Sherri Rifkin, a former TV marketing executive, lives in New York City,
where she writes for a variety of entertainment and media clients, including
Bravo, USA Network and the Style Network. Her first novel, LoveHampton,
has just been published by St. Martin’s Griffin.
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