May 20, 2013
5 Top Steps to Market Your Books this Summer
Photo credit: Hans
If you’ve read my earlier posts, you know I’ve written dozens of books, most on computer education for K-8 and one on getting into the USNA. Here’s what I’m doing this summer to spread the word about these books:
- Tweak my publisher’s presentation of my work. I’m at Structured Learning (BTW, you can share your books there, too. You keep ownership and all the money. They charge a set-up and monthly fee to promote your books to their subscribers). I haven’t changed the presentation of my books for a while and it’s important to make changes to web material to grab the attention of spiders and bots. And, I want to make sure the message remains focused, clear, uncluttered.
- Clean up my blogs. They have a few broken links, some stuff that is no longer relevant, and who knows what else. I’ll figure it out when I get into it.
- Find some themed ezines/websites to submit articles for. I’ve developed a nice reputation on my tech side and want to spread the word, maybe gain some more followers.
- Investigate the efficacy of a YouTube channel for my books. I don’t know much about that. I’m starting to do Hangouts for my tech teaching, which are published directly to YouTube. I need to look into this channel more. I remember in past writer conferences, they highly recommended videos/trailers to sell materials. Maybe it’s time.
- Get RSS feeds on writing and the topic I’m writing about. Right now, that’s Navy cruisers, DNA computers, AIs. This keeps me current, involved, excited about what I’m doing. Writing is by nature a solitary activity, so anything we-all can do to create a community is good.
Do you think I’ve forgotten the usual–join a writing group, create a marketing package, offering my services as a speaker and reviewer, doing book signings at my local bookstore. If you’ve found my blog, you’ve found those ideas elsewhere. They’re all good, but this list is more nuts and bolts.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
