ucdm authors are creating internet presence using social media and free internet publicity tools by marketing books and services using internet communities, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Digg. In addition, there are free opportunities to market books on Google and Yahoo through their search engine submission services, communities and blogs.
By having your book appear on all or some of these websites, you can begin to build brand equity, the perceived value assigned to your name, the name of your book and your services in the marketplace, which in this case, is the internet. As you build a target audience that has an interest in you, your name, book and services derive real commercial value to accompany your brand equity, causing your stock to rise, so to speak, and allowing you to cash in on your name and reputation.
Using a larger group of online fans on Facebook, for instance, you can further define smaller communities to build around you as an author, expert and public speaker, establishing yourself as an authority and giving this target audience a better chance to get to know you. Acquaintance with what you have to say could encourage an online fan or friend to consider hiring you to speak to their civic, social or professional group. which may lead to consulting contracts in your professional area.
Many authors write books as extensions of articles and in-depth investigatory projects that may have been part of their academic curriculum, research, literary collections or newspaper and magazine columns. With this professional background, authors can truthfully claim a specialty in particular professions and bill themselves as such. Other authors have written books about their hobbies, such as gardening, cooking, design, sewing, dance, boating, travel, photography. Get the picture? Don’t forget to take pictures and video to use in your online marketing or eBook production.
With all those text files, photographs and video, collected for your book or eBook, you can now generate scripts for a video production or a series of video projects for YouTube, adding to the amount of free book publicity available to you. Videos can give potential audiences a chance to see and hear a sample of your presentation. Try to make this presentation into a mini production and not just a talking head. Add graphics, photographs or other video clips over your voice to give the presentation interest and additional value. Videos can be made into book trailers, short author biographies and video business cards. You may need a bit of professional assistance to get your video project started. The more professional your video productions look, the more likely they are to be picked up by other video services, giving you even more exposure, free book publicity and brand equity.
Whatever your reason for writing a book, it doesn’t take a large number of internet fans, friends and followers to effect the momentum you need for success as an author, expert, public speaker and professional consultant. One online contact is all it takes to get the free book publicity sequence started. You tell the audience you are available for personal appearances, public speaking events, book signing engagements, consulting and coaching; and then direct them to your internet pages to read about you, your book and your professional specialty. Imagine, one contact responds to your message. There you go! But remember, no one can read your mind or between the lines. Spell out clearly what action you want your audience to take. Then give them step-by-step instructions on how they should take each action.