MindStir Media Provides 75 Book Marketing Tips & Strategies

I wrote a really helpful blog post entitled "75 Book Marketing Tips for Authors". The post is highly actionable and contains a TON of info. I cover social media, email marketing, SEO and more in the post and hope that authors (and aspiring authors) find it useful.

Top 5 Most Influential Authors on Social Media 2014

Photo by Jason A. Howie, Flickr

In my humble opinion, these authors rank as the top 5 most influential authors on social media. Other authors should model their social media efforts after the folks on this list. They all have incredibly popular blogs as well as impressive presences on the top social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Most importantly, all of them have also successfully leveraged social media to sell thousands (or millions) of copies of their books, making them bestsellers. Without further ado, here they are!

1. Guy Kawasaki - Twitter: 1.4 million | Facebook: 237k | Google+: 5.7 million 

Guy's impressive following on Twitter and Google+, along with other social media sites, is comprised of over 7 million people. He's probably one of the biggest social media influencers on the planet. He's written twelve books, with his latest three -- Ape, Enchantment, and What the Plus! -- all enjoying great success due to strong social media campaigns.

2. Gary Vaynerchuk - Twitter: 1 million | Facebook: 153k | Google+: 1.9 million

Gary has arguably more experience in social media than any other author on this list. He started his video podcast, Wine Library TV, back in 2006. Crush It!, The Thank You Economy, and Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook all focus on the power of social media in business, and Gary used social media to catapult those titles on to numerous bestseller lists. He's also the owner of the highly successful social media brand consulting agency, VaynerMedia.

3. Tim Ferriss - Twitter: 475k | Facebook: 210k | Blog: 25,000+ subscribers

The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef have sold millions of copies worldwide. He aggressively uses his blog and other social media sites to sell copies of his books as well as garner reviews. Not only are his book marketing techniques quite intriguing and helpful, but his work less and live more lifestyle has transformed many lives.

4. Seth Godin - Twitter: 352k | Facebook: 239k | Google+: 123k

Seth has authored fifteen books, twelve of which are bestsellers. His blog is highly trafficked and his loyal followers connect with him there on the blog as well as other major social media sites.

5. Michael Hyatt - Twitter: 213k | Facebook: 35k | Blog: 381k subscribers

Michael's blog "helps leaders leverage influence" and with over 381,000 subscribers, it's one of the most renowned blogs in the world. His most successful book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, is a step-by-step guide to building a successful online platform through the power of social media. The book spawned his Platform University where he uses specialized classes, tutorials and actionable lessons to teach members how to grow their platform. Michael also runs a highly popular weekly podcast, This Is Your Life.

This list has been compiled by J.J. Hebert, bestselling author & president of Mindstir Media book publishing and is accurate as of 2-16-2014. None of the above authors are affiliated with MindStir Media book publishing company or author J.J. Hebert.

Google Plus

I'm finally on Google+. Here's a shortened link to my profile: http://gplus.to/jjhebert. I see Google+ as sort of a Facebook/Twitter combo. Instead of the "like" on Facebook, you have the +1 on Google+. Google+ and Twitter both have a "follow" option. Facebook has friends and lists and Google+ has "friends" as a circle and other default circles--with the option to create custom circles. Confused yet? There's the friends, family, acquaintances, and following circles. The idea here is separation and privacy. Each category has its own circle. You can choose to which circle you'll share information and posts. Each circle acts as a list too. Each user has his/her own profile, kind of like the Facebook wall, only no one seems to be able to post on a person's profile unless commenting or +1-ing something.

How does this post relate to self-publishing and book marketing and the overall topic of this blog ... how to publish books? Google+ matters because it's a new form of free online book marketing, and self-publishing a book should always include lots of social media for book marketing. Technically Google+ is a new "social network," but for you, Mr. or Miss Author, it's a way to put your book in front of some new faces. Go sign up at http://plus.google.com or I can send you a Google+ invite if you're unable to get in. It might be in invite-only stage right now (still). Not sure. Comment with your email if you want in.

On a side note, MindStir Media's website was recently updated with the +1 button for sharing purposes. I believe it's important to give folks sharing options. Some instructions if you want to add the button to your website: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/.

How To Publish Books: www.howtopublishbooks.info

I acquired www.howtopublishbooks.info the other day and assigned it to this blog for $10. So, you can access the blog via that URL from now on. Since the phrase how to publish books receives about 74,000 global monthly searches on Google, I figured buying the domain (e.g. .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us) could only help with SEO (i.e. Search Engine Optimization). Plus, the domain matches this blog's content quite well. If you don't know what Search Engine Optimization is and you're an author with a Web site, it's time for you to do some research... I suggest you buy and read this book. Understanding and implementing SEO tactics can convert into many book sales! Studying it is worth your time, trust me. Or if you'd rather hire a search engine optimization company, I highly recommend that you select Page SEO Company. They're the #1 Portsmouth NH SEO agency and experts in gaining massive organic traffic from major search engines.

Top 5 Online Marketing Tools For Authors

Many authors ask me: When and how should I start promoting my book? The first part of the answer ("when") is yesterday. As with any product--and yes, a book is a product!--it's unwise to start promoting/marketing after the product releases. Here's the second part of the answer ("how"): Prior to publication, I'd say about 3-6 months before the release date (maybe even a year if you're really serious), you should already be actively utilizing these TOP 5 Online Marketing Tools For Authors (notice how I said "should." There are exceptions to every rule, of course, and some authors can certainly find success even if they begin promoting/marketing after the release, although it'll be more difficult):

1. Author website/blog - I remember launching my website/blog back in 2007, two years before the release of my bestselling novel Unconventional. This gave me plenty of time to get acquainted with my site and learn the ins and outs. Ultimately, you want to use all of your other online tools to drive traffic to your site/blog.
2. Facebook - Read this post--Facebook For Authors by Cindy Ratzlaff--to understand the personal profile, the fan page, and the benefits of using the leading social network as an author. Over 600 million people use Facebook nowadays, so it's not a tool you can ignore! Facebook ads are also highly effective for recruiting fans/selling your titles. FB ads allow you to target just about anyone based on interests, age, gender, location, etc.
3. Goodreads.com - I'm a huge advocate for this, the #1 social networking site for book lovers. This site, from an author's perspective, is all about targeted marketing and networking. You can network with tons of fans from your genre; include your book in Goodreads' giveaway program (which they promote to their members for you!); customize your author profile after signing up for the free Goodreads Author Program; launch a targeted ad campaign with self-serve advertising; and more!
4. LibraryThing - Much like Goodreads, you can run a giveaway on LibraryThing.com (LT), but I feel the LT giveaway program is superior. Here's why: You can give away e-book downloads, which cost you absolutely nothing but help you gain readers and reviews.
5. Twitter - Technically a microblogging site, Twitter limits each post (i.e. tweet) to 140 characters, thus encouraging short bursts of info. This is an ideal place to quickly network and form relationships with other like-minded individuals, help them and they'll help you (through "retweets," etc.), share the behind the scenes moments of your life (not so "behind the scenes" anymore), spread some of your links, etc. Amazingly, you can do all of this on the go. Just install a Twitter app on your cell phone. Twitter does offer a Twitter 101 "course" at their site. Check it out if you're trying to figure out how to get started.

Remember, you're only going to find success in publishing if you self-promote like all the other successful, entrepreneurial self-published authors out there. You can't expect the book to sell itself. That won't happen.

Promote Your Book & Track Sales with Amazon's Author Central

It was a nice day here in NH but now I'm getting blasted with a nasty thunder and lightning storm, so I'm going to make this short and sweet (I don't want to risk my computer getting fried): If you're an author and your book is listed at Amazon.com, you can use Amazon's Author Central to update your biography, add publicity photos, video, a blog, and events to your Author Page. Author Central is very user-friendly. If you use any form of social media, you'll have no problem with Author Central, which also allows you to track your book sales! Click here to sign up for a free account with Author Central.

Authors, it's important to understand that the sales tracking system within Author Central isn't always completely up to date and lacks sales figures from libraries, Ingram, Walmart, used books, pre-orders, and more. Kindle and other eBook sales data is not included either. The Bestsellers Rank History chart is really neat, though...showing you a complete history of your book ranking at Amazon.

Promote Your Book with LibraryThing.com

Been discussing self-promotion on the blog and realized that I hadn't mentioned anything about LibraryThing, a social network for book lovers (much like Goodreads) which has around 1.2 million subscribers vs. around 5 million subscribers at Goodreads.com (love the customizable author profiles there). I've played around with LibraryThing (i.e. "LT") in the past but only recently signed up for an actual J.J. Hebert member profile, followed by my author page. Simply visit http://www.librarything.com and sign up for an account. Then, if you're an author, search the site for your book(s) and click on your name. That click should bring you to your unclaimed author page. Look at the right sidebar--click "Is this you?" to claim your author page. Once you've done all of that, take advantage of LT's amazing giveaway feature...one of the reasons I finally decided to register as J.J. Hebert...

LT, unlike Goodreads, allows authors to post eBook member giveaways. In other words, as an author you can offer your eBook to readers in exchange for reviews! You can provide as many free copies (i.e. "downloads") to the LT community as you want. You'll just be responsible for contacting the winners with a way to download the eBook for free. You could email each winner with the eBook attached (e.g. PDF) or point the winners to a download link or supply them with a coupon for 100% off...

Why give away your book for free? Like any new product, it's important to get your book into as many hands as possible early on. You're probably not a brand-name author at this point, so giving away free copies gets your name out there and helps with word of mouth. I've done three separate giveaways at Goodreads for my book Unconventional, but I was forced to give away paperbacks, which cost money to print and ship to the winners. I believe I only provided six copies total during those three giveaways at Goodreads because of the costs. That means only six winners read my book for free and then posted reviews. At LT, I've seen authors offer two hundred free eBook downloads in exchange for reviews, and the authors didn't have to pay a dime to print or ship those books! (You can also submit physical copies of your book(s) in the giveaways at LT)

Need help with book publishing? Contact MindStir Media book publishers today!

Successful Authors Self-Promote

There's this terrible myth still floating around that published authors can just write and cash royalty checks. Wrong! Major publishers now expect authors to self-promote, and self-published authors must self-promote in order to be successful. Today's reclusive writer (J.D. Salinger-like) is usually an unsuccessful writer (saleswise).

Here are two contrasting examples:

I remember reading about debut novelist James Boice in Writer's Digest back in 2008. The article/interview, entitled The Silent Type, posed a question: "Can a writer who just wants to be left alone to write make it in today's extroverted publishing world?"  Boice, at 24, was the youngest person to publish fiction in Esquire and his debut novel, MVP, was published by Scribner in May 2007. Very impressive! However, Boice did not embrace the spotlight or self-promotion. In the previously mentioned interview, he said that he didn't want to go on book tours, and when asked if he'd perform some publicity on his own, he replied, "I don't have to do anything. The whole process has been a trial. I just want to write." Since then (after seeing low sales numbers), it appears that Boice has changed his tune a bit. In a post on his Web site, Boice admitted, "Sales started off okay then diminished," referring to MVP. Now he's finally taking advantage of video streaming/sharing, Twitter (became an active user in Feb.), and Facebook (created fan page 2/22/11) ... I guess he kind of answered the interviewers question; new writers can't "make it" in this extroverted publishing world by being anti-social. Boice's new book, The Good And The Ghastly, releases June 14. Let's hope he decides to promote himself this time. I should note that I have nothing against James Boice. He's a talented writer who seems willing to adapt. That's a good thing.

Then you have NY Times bestselling authors like Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan & Simon & Schuster), who fully embraces social media/online publicity and engaging with readers. Karen is active on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, her Web site, and she is constantly doing book signings and holding special events, etc. Yet...she still finds time to write, releasing more than one book per year.

What do you think? Comment here.

Your DAILY Routine As An Author

Yes, I said it: daily routine. As an author you should be doing something every day to promote your book(s). I'm not saying you have to spend eight hours per day promoting your work. Most authors simply don't have time for that. But how about an hour per day? Yes, one hour. Send some emails, tweet away, interact on Facebook, participate on Goodreads and forums--you know, all that good stuff.

What's that you say, you don't even have one hour to spare? It's time to prioritize! There has got to be something you can remove from your schedule to make room for an hour of book promotion. Take a moment and write down your schedule and take a long, hard look at it. See anything there that doesn't need to be?

You and I both know that you'll eventually miss a day (I know I certainly have), but that's okay. Just move on. There's always tomorrow. Tomorrow becomes today--and that just happens to be right now. So what are you going to do (or what have you done) to promote your book(s) today? Seriously, tell me...

P.S. Of course, all of this is in addition to writing daily!

Customize Your Goodreads Author Profile With HTML

So you're an author and you've setup a Goodreads account and you're taking part in their author program. Awesome (if you're active on there)! Now it's time to customize your "author profile." Obviously, you'll want to fill in your birthday, gender, Web site, genre, and influences. I'm sure you figured that out ... But there's this thing called HTML and you can use it to customize your "about this author" section in your author profile. I've noticed that many authors just enter their bio in that section. I think that can be effective but adding hyperlinks via HTML is even more effective. Below is a screenshot from my author profile (the greenish colored text = hyperlinks). Click on it to enlarge.

Never used HTML before? That's okay. This site will will show you how to create hyperlinks and much more.

Hire A Professional Photographer to Handle Your Promotional Photos

A little tip for self-pubbed authors: Use a professional photographer to handle your promotional photos. It's so important to have high quality photographs for your press kit, Web site(s), and book (most importantly). Remember, as an author you are a brand. Don't allow your brand to appear amateurish.

Promote Your eBook For Free

Admittedly, I spend most of my book marketing time on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter, but there are a couple communities in which I've recently become more active in order to promote the eBook versions of my inspirational novel Unconventional: Kindle Boards and Nook Boards. Both forums allow authors to promote their work for free. Just make sure to follow the forum rules, so you don't get banned. Good luck!

Promote Your Book with A Book Blog Tour

Lots of authors nowadays are skipping the old-fashioned, costly "tour" (i.e. visiting bookstores nationwide) and going with a book blog tour instead ... Many book bloggers (with lots of subscribers) will review your book in exchange for a free copy of your work. So this method makes a ton of sense for authors on a budget. This way, you can go on a national (or worldwide) book tour without actually traveling across the nation. Think of the money you'll save!

Here's a book blog list for your convenience: http://fyreflybooks.wordpress.com/about/book-blogs-search/. When contacting blog owners, always be kind and courteous--even if they are unable to review your book. Also follow submission guidelines if they are published online.

Good luck!

Giving Away Free Copies of Unconventional at Goodreads.com

Another quick post to let you know that I'm working with Goodreads.com to offer free copies of my novel Unconventional. I've done a couple of these giveaways in the past, and they were both hugely successful. Since winter is finally coming to an end, I thought I'd give away a couple copies to read under the sun. To enter, click ENTER TO WIN on the GOODREADS BOOK GIVEAWAY widget/ad in the right sidebar or click here (I think it might still be "pending approval" from Goodreads, so check back if needed). Good luck!

Recruiting Fans

Busy day here at the office, as usual (I'm not complaining), but wanted to quickly post this tip: Recruit fans from pre-existing fan bases of comparable authors/books. In other words, locate a book/author within your genre--particularly one on the same or similar topic--and target those fans. For example, you've written a horror novel, so target Stephen King fans. Receiving an endorsement from him would help, but that would be extremely tough to obtain ... so here's another idea: Use Facebook ads to target all users with Stephen King and/or horror books as interest(s). Other ideas: Join Stephen King online communities and recruit there while remaining respectful to all members.

What do you think? Comment here.

Promote Your Book with Goodreads.com

If you haven't heard of Goodreads.com, it's official -- you live under a rock. Goodreads is the largest social network for book lovers. With over 4 million subscribers, plus 50 million pageviews and 5 million unique visitors per month, Goodreads is THE place to promote your book ... I constantly recommend their Author Program, a completely free feature offered to self-published and traditionally published authors. Learn about the program here. The program is even valid for those who decide to publish via e-book format only. Of course, I don't recommend publishing in only one format, as I explained in a previous post, but it's nice to know that Goodreads is interested in helping all types of authors, including you.

Need help with book publishing? Contact MindStir book publishers today!

Happy (Belated) New Year

Happy New Year ...

And all my previous posts have suddenly disappeared. I guess this means I need to start over and fill this blog with some solid content. Later ...

See those cool icons and button-thingies in the right sidebar? Okay, cool. I hope you'll give them some attention. They get lonely over there. Especially the ones that say "Receive the blog via e-mail" and "Follow". Why should you take action? Because this is the year--the big 2011--that I'm going to blog like crazy. I'll blog about self-publishing, writing, my work, book marketing, social media, and pretty much anything I find interesting. I might even add some videos and pictures to the blog. If you're lucky. Ha.

So won't you join me? I'd love to build a friendship with you on here. If you've already shown love to the follow/receive via e-mail buttons/links, I hope you'll stick around and also share the blog with your friends. You're awesome! Thanks for visiting my little platform of self-importance.

J. J. Hebert
Author and president of MindStir Media
http://www.jjhebert.net/ | http://www.mindstirmedia.com/