Google Alerts is a simple and free tool that is available to anyone for tracking topics on the Internet. For authors, it is a great advantage because you can have it provide you with results whenever a new mention appears on the Internet of your name, book title(s), or topics relevant to your book that you can capitalize upon for promoting your book. This information can be delivered to you via email in a timely matter-as it happens, daily, or weekly - so you are aware of the latest conversations and topics that may interest you. It's easy to sign up for Google Alerts. Simply go to Google Alerts and fill out the simple form, which will ask you for the "Search Query," meaning the word you want to track. Here I would enter your full name. Next it will ask for the Result Type; "Everything" is probably the best choice here, but if you have reason to be specific, you can choose to receive only results in a specific category: News, Blogs, Videos, Discussions, or Books. Then you choose how often you want the results and how many results you want to receive, which is either All Results or Only the Best Results. If you are unsure what to put for any of these categories, to the right on the screen as you select them, Google automatically shows you the current results you would get based on that selection so you can determine whether "All Results" might be more than you want or precisely what you want.
Blog book tours provide an author with an affordable and fun method of book promotion. One advantage to embarking on such a project is that you also create several search events in your favor. When bloggers publish your posts, they stay live on those blogs indefinitely. The more you get your name out there on book blogs, the greater the opportunity for your name and book to show in relevant search. Also, links to your website and point of sale from other blogs raises your link popularity and in turn increases your relevancy in search engines. The cost of a blog tour will vary - it depends on the organization you sign with and how many days you "tour." Here are just a few things you can expect when booking a virtual tour:
If you are writing an ebook for the Kindle, you would be smart to avoid formatting issues and mistakes. The top two formatting complaints on Amazon are:
1. No clickable/linked Table of Contents 2. Bad formatting in regards to paragraph line spacing
Capitalizing on relevant hot trends Google Alerts will probably be more effective for nonfiction authors than fiction authors for capitalizing on hot trends or current discussions, but it can be helpful to both. If your book is about autism and you use "autism" as one of your Google Alerts terms, you'll be getting constant results, maybe more than you want, but you'll be able to see when new information comes out about autism, who is interested in it, and where it is being talked about. You can then contact the people chatting or blogging about it to let them know about your book and see whether they will review your book in their publication or on their blogs, or have you as a guest on their show or interview you for their newspaper, etc. Fiction authors might want to be more specific regarding genre and use terms like "vampire books," "historical romance," or "time travel books" to find places where people are discussing similar books; you can then contact those people or enter their conversations. If you are researching your book, Google Alerts can also work the same way because you'll be able to contact people interested in the same topic as you and share research or simply follow what others are saying about your topic so you have up-to-date information, as well as make sure you're not repeating what has already been said and instead come up with a new spin or angle for your topic.
On the day your post goes lives on a specific blog, you should monitor the blog daily and respond to comments made on your post. Let people know you are paying attention and interact. Readers love to interact with authors, and you can make enough of an impression to inspire them to buy your book.
In some cases, when you find people are misrepresenting you or your book, you should choose to do nothing. For example, if a blogger writes a negative review of your book, it's all part of being an author. If you feel the need to contact the person, you can simply write to thank him for giving your book a chance and then perhaps clarify something he did misrepresent about your book without becoming angry. You might even ask whether he will review your next book-he might like it better or at least be less cruel to you next time now that he's had personal contact with you. Finally, you may find that people are spreading blatant lies about you or your book or your topic, or simply misrepresenting something. You might find an online forum on your topic where people are being misinformed so you can step in and give them correct information, or you might find that people truly are slamming your book for their own agendas; for example, if you have a gay character in your book and the blogger is a fundamentalist who did not even read your book but decides to slam it anyway, you may decide to step in and defend yourself offline or online. While you need to approach such situations carefully, bad publicity is still good publicity. In this particular case, you might change one or two people's minds enough to get them to read your book, and if you don't change any minds, well, those people wouldn't have read your book anyway. After all, it's a simple fact that not everyone will like your book. Focus on those most likely to like it.
Blog book tours provide an author with an affordable and fun method of book promotion. One advantage to embarking on such a project is that you also create several search events in your favor. When bloggers publish your posts, they stay live on those blogs indefinitely. The more you get your name out there on book blogs, the greater the opportunity for your name and book to show in relevant search. Also, links to your website and point of sale from other blogs raises your link popularity and in turn increases your relevancy in search engines. The cost of a blog tour will vary - it depends on the organization you sign with and how many days you "tour." Here are just a few things you can expect when booking a virtual tour:
If you are writing an ebook for the Kindle, you would be smart to avoid formatting issues and mistakes. The top two formatting complaints on Amazon are:
1. No clickable/linked Table of Contents 2. Bad formatting in regards to paragraph line spacing
Capitalizing on relevant hot trends Google Alerts will probably be more effective for nonfiction authors than fiction authors for capitalizing on hot trends or current discussions, but it can be helpful to both. If your book is about autism and you use "autism" as one of your Google Alerts terms, you'll be getting constant results, maybe more than you want, but you'll be able to see when new information comes out about autism, who is interested in it, and where it is being talked about. You can then contact the people chatting or blogging about it to let them know about your book and see whether they will review your book in their publication or on their blogs, or have you as a guest on their show or interview you for their newspaper, etc. Fiction authors might want to be more specific regarding genre and use terms like "vampire books," "historical romance," or "time travel books" to find places where people are discussing similar books; you can then contact those people or enter their conversations. If you are researching your book, Google Alerts can also work the same way because you'll be able to contact people interested in the same topic as you and share research or simply follow what others are saying about your topic so you have up-to-date information, as well as make sure you're not repeating what has already been said and instead come up with a new spin or angle for your topic.
On the day your post goes lives on a specific blog, you should monitor the blog daily and respond to comments made on your post. Let people know you are paying attention and interact. Readers love to interact with authors, and you can make enough of an impression to inspire them to buy your book.
In some cases, when you find people are misrepresenting you or your book, you should choose to do nothing. For example, if a blogger writes a negative review of your book, it's all part of being an author. If you feel the need to contact the person, you can simply write to thank him for giving your book a chance and then perhaps clarify something he did misrepresent about your book without becoming angry. You might even ask whether he will review your next book-he might like it better or at least be less cruel to you next time now that he's had personal contact with you. Finally, you may find that people are spreading blatant lies about you or your book or your topic, or simply misrepresenting something. You might find an online forum on your topic where people are being misinformed so you can step in and give them correct information, or you might find that people truly are slamming your book for their own agendas; for example, if you have a gay character in your book and the blogger is a fundamentalist who did not even read your book but decides to slam it anyway, you may decide to step in and defend yourself offline or online. While you need to approach such situations carefully, bad publicity is still good publicity. In this particular case, you might change one or two people's minds enough to get them to read your book, and if you don't change any minds, well, those people wouldn't have read your book anyway. After all, it's a simple fact that not everyone will like your book. Focus on those most likely to like it.
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