Replaced by simple marketing savvy, the era of the undiscovered novelist is over. Most self-published books go unnoticed, allowing room for the outward facing best-selling novel published by Random House, Houghton Mifflin, or other major publishing houses. Though, every once in a while, a book goes from self-publishing disaster to publishing marvel.

For most people, those stories won’t happen, but those who market themselves well have a better chance of getting their book noticed than those who don’t. This means authors want to find their target audience, but first they need to know who their target audience consists of and how to connect with them.

To connect with your target audience, you’ll want to identify what authors your audience reads. And the best way to do that is to determine what authors you write like, using iwl.me.

Just take an excerpt of your writing, paste it into the box, click analyze, and iwl.me will tell you what author your writing is most similar to. Then, find out how and where those people connect with those authors, similar authors, and one another.

It might be tempting to use or overuse Twitter, Facebook, or Google+; but consider that you might find your audience on a niche social networking site for writers or the author’s personal social networking site.

For more book marketing tips, check out these blogs:

25 QR Code Book Marketing Ideas

The Power of Book Reviews

James Patterson’s Personalized Social Network

Amazon and the Book Jungle

Niche Social Networking for Writers

Book Trailers: Fundamental vs. Supplemental Media

On Stephenie Meyer

Book Marketing and the Art of Availability

James Patterson on Facebook

Analyzing Tom Clancy

JK Rowling’s Web within the Web

Jodi Picoult: The Twitter Queen

Stay Social, My Friends!

Erick

Over the last couple of years, SEO Bridges has served a two-fold purpose. To generate income and to be a marketing engine for myself and my writing. When I started writing my novel, an author friend suggested I begin marketing. I had wanted to start a business, and I figured starting a business that allowed me to focus on the needs of readers and writers would help me market myself and my writing.

Over that time, I have treated myself as I would any other client. Or at least that has been my goal. For the first year, @SEOBridges maintained a larger following than @ErickWrites. Then, my personal Twitter feed began to outgrow my business Twitter feed. I had adopted a new strategy. I started to focus more on conversations, rather than just dissemination of information.

Once I started doing that, I found more Twitter followers who Tweeted well and just liked to chat. Now, as I continue to chat, I am changing my Twitter strategy once again. I will continue to use Twitter to find conversationalists and get into conversations, but I will also use it for market research.

If you feel your Twitter strategy has become mundane repetition, you might want to consider changing your Twitter strategy. If your Twitter strategy is all about you and not about your followers, you might want to change your Twitter strategy.

Have you considered changing your Twitter strategy? How has your Twitter strategy changed? Is your Twitter strategy working for you? Do you have a Twitter strategy and what is it?

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

Last night, I met with a writer friend, who is getting ready to publish the first part of his book about a zombie apocalypse on his website. He wants to create interest by allowing people to read it online without the hassle of buying an e-reader.

During our conversation, he asked how he should go about branding what he calls “Outbreak 0”. That’s the virus in Lazarus Walks that causes people to turn into zombies. Branding is all about buzz, and buzz is all about name recognition.

Twitter’s a great way to get a conversation going. I set up some literary lists on my account you might want to follow: Writers, SD Writers and Friends, and Writers & Literary People. You will also want to follow hashtags like #AmReading, #AmWriting, #AskEditor, #AskPublisher, #AskAgent, #PubTip, and #WriteChat.

You can find more popular literary hashtags on this blog. And if you’re writing a book about a zombie apocalypse, the most popular zombie related hashtags are #Zombie, #Zombies, #livingdead, #horror, and #undead.

Along with following conversations your audience follows, start a new conversation with hashtags to brand yourself and/or your product. For my friend, since he wants to brand “Outbreak 0,” he might use #Outbreak0. The more you create name recognition, the more you create buzz; and the more you create buzz, the more you brand yourself and/or your product.

Hashtags allow you to join a conversation and eventually start a conversation without interrupting the conversation in progress. Think of hashtags as road markers on the road from buzz to branding.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

Last week, I read this blog. It inspired me to think about the value of social media, e-readers, and e-publishing. As writers and thinkers, we have a responsibility to the future. Or more accurately, we have a responsibility to preserve history. We must make published documents accessible for future generations.

Do you think they’ll use the same technology in 2511 we use now? Is publishing our most valuable information in such a way that is likened to thousands of authors 500 years ago writing a trillion documents on papyrus, shredding each document into 10,000 pieces, and strewing those documents across the earth the best way to preserve our history?

In that blog, the author jokingly theorized that perhaps future generations might study Kanye West’s tweets. Do you think civilizations 500 years from now will consider what he tweeted, in the midst of zillions of gigabytes of information, that valuable? I’d argue that in the 26th century Kanye West and Lady Gaga will be celebrated, if they are known, in the same way we celebrate minstrels. Do you consider lyrics of a minstrel from 500 years ago valuable? Do you know any?

I theorize ancient civilizations had better means to preserve their most valuable documents. Though, just as we publish in a way that is the most convenient and cost saving for us, perhaps they published in the same way.

What do you think? Is e-publishing likened to thousands of authors, writing trillions of documents, shredding each of those docs into ten thousand pieces, and strewing them across the earth? Or is e-publishing likened to the advent of the printing press? I’d love to know your thoughts.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

Recently, I read an article that purported that studies showed social media did not increase traffic to websites. Of course, that was a generalization and is not true of all websites. Though, for the average website, I am not going to argue with it. The purpose of social media is not to increase traffic to websites. If people go to your website because of your social media campaign great, but that should not be your primary focus for delving into social media.

Think of your website like a Starbucks and your website traffic as the foot traffic. Now, lets say because you had a sign spinner or a giant banner or some other means of advertising your store, 1,000 people come into your store on a particular day. 450 of those people buy coffee, 350 come and sit with friends or just read, and 200 just get water or use the restroom.

Of course, you have your overhead, you need to pay your employees, and there are other expenses. Only those 450 people on that particular day paid for all of your expenses for that day. That banner or the guy spinning the sign or whatever other method you used to drive traffic to your site may have driven that traffic to your location, but those 450 who paid for something that day also paid for the 550 who bought nothing or used something without a cost.

Now, think about why you do or do not go back to a particular coffee house. Perhaps its because of good prices, good product, good service, ambience, convenience, you’ve developed a relationship with the baristas, or other. The bottom line is SEO, like that sign spinner or the banner, is about driving traffic; social media is about building relationships and developing loyalty.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

Last week, Avinash Kaushik tweeted that some people don’t think before they Tweet, and that can lead to adverse consequences. I Replied, “It makes one consider that the freedom of speech has given rise and justification to the freedom of criticism.” I thought I’d write out a Social Media Marketing Rights version of U.S. citizens’ Miranda Rights:

“You have the right not to post or tweet everything you’re thinking or doing all the time. Anything you post or tweet can be used against you by anyone, anytime, anywhere for any reason at all. You have the right to maintain a social media presence separate from your everyday social and personal life, now and during future interactions with your friends, followers, and fans. You have the right to hire or consult a social media marketing agency, before you engage in social media. If you cannot afford to hire or consult a social media marketing agency, you’re on your own. If you must let everyone on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other social media sites know what you’re doing and thinking all the time, all those free social media tools you use may cost you your job, privacy, and dignity.”

Like your Miranda Rights (If you’re a U.S. citizen), which are meant to remind you that you don’t have to incriminate yourself under police interrogation or in a court of law, your Social Media Marketing Rights should remind you that when engaging with your friends, fans, and followers on social media sites, there are just some things better left unsaid because not leaving those things unsaid could spell trouble.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

No matter whether you’re a social media novice, aficionado, or expert, there is bound to be something in this book you can glean from. It’s a great resource for teachers and students, and it covers all of the basis from blogging to the importance of a social media plan.

If you’ve read this book, let me know your thoughts. I’d love to glean from you, and learn what has and has not worked. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you can buy it below.

The Social Media Survival Guide by Deltina Hay

You can learn more about Deltina by visiting her website, Social Media Power, or following her @Deltina.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

This last Friday, I went to Los Angeles with a friend. He had called me the evening before and asked if I wanted to go to a screen writers conference. He had written a movie that was released in theatres in early 2010, so he was asked to speak on a panel.

Along with three others, including a husband/wife writing team, my friend told about his movie, shared insight about writing movies, answered questions, and shook hands. Throughout the 90 minute panel, my friend said one word that summed up his drive to make movies: “Movement.”

My friend’s movie, a low budget movie, didn’t make him an overnight sensation. And I’m pretty confident it didn’t make him millions or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.  He continues to work at the same job he worked at before his movie, and he continues to raise funds to make his next movie.

Although I’m sure my friend would like to see his movies gross more than Tyler Perry’s movies, he is not interested in money. Knowing him, he would continue at his same job for as long as he could, working with youth, while he wrote movies on the side. My friend is not interested in moving to Hollywood, driving a Lamborghini, and wearing a Rolex. My friend is interested in starting a “movement.”

Now, with all of the technology and ways for us to connect through social media, I wonder how the “American Dream” became about making money, instead of starting a “movement”?

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

Over the last few years, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter had to answer the question as to how they would make money. One way for a publisher to make money is to sell advertising inventory. So, Facebook introduced Facebook Ads and Twitter introduced promoted Tweets.

Last night, I found a blog about a book I found interesting; though, I had no incentive to Tweet it because I had no advertising inventory on which an affiliate link would bring me revenue. Since Governor Jerry Brown of California signed the Affiliate Tax into law and Amazon discontinued the affiliate program, I, along with 25,000 other people, have no incentive to advertise for Amazon or its sellers.

Unlike selling Facebook ads and Twitter’s promoted tweets, tweeting out an affiliate link for a book does not a guarantee revenue, but the probability incentivized people enough to go those few extra steps. Now that the incentive’s gone, former affiliates must look for something else to incentivize them.

I don’t agree with California’s Affiliate Tax law, but I hope it encourages people to think like publishers instead of advertisers. I hope more people will become producers, creating and selling products, instead of passive promoters, waiting for products to sell.

Think of it like the sign spinner, standing on the corner, advertising a new housing development. If that house sells, the sign spinner receives little revenue, but the real estate agent receives a great deal more. The real estate agent is focusing on selling, rather than just telling. I know it’s not a perfect example.

The point is just like Facebook and Twitter, if you’re a social media marketer, you should think like an online publisher, offering your audience a product, rather than telling them about another person’s product.

Stay Social, my friends!

Erick

Everyday, I connect with people all over the world, and everyday we only see images of one another. The truth is I hate suits, and I don’t always have a big, toothy grin.

Perhaps, you spend your mornings running around your house in your bathrobe and slippers, chasing your kids. Maybe you make business calls before your morning shower or tweet from your smart phone while lying in bed. But the truth is, just like me, you don’t wake up as beautiful as your picture suggests.

Last night, I volunteered for a homeless ministry in Temecula, CA called Project Touch. The dinner wasn’t served at a shelter; it was served in a church parking lot. And once a week, as a way to give back, the “clients,” as they’re called, maintain the church grounds.

After dinner, many of the “clients” find solace in transitional housing in nearby apartments or a local motel. And every morning they look for employment. A few of them, who continue to need help with housing, have jobs. And all of them, whether employed or not, are expected to give a little financially each month.

The “clients” of Project Touch are not self-serving. They are not looking for hand-outs. They are not “bums” or “whinos.” They want jobs. They want their homes back. They want their lives back. They are productive members of society, who refuse to allow society to cast them aside.

If we allow social media to become about maintaining images of ourselves, and not as a way to make this a better world, we’ve lost our humanity and allowed the machines to win.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick