Online Marketing

This Wednesday from 4-5 pm ET, we will host a Twitter chat discussing all things Camp NaNoWriMo, including how to stay motivated, discover inspiration, and navigate the transition between a completed manuscript and a published work. Author and Executive Director of NaNoWriMo Grant Faulkner will be joining us. Add your voice, questions, opinions, and experience to the conversation. To participate, simply tweet during the scheduled time using the #BBchat hashtag! Join us to learn more about Faulkner's strategies and recommendations for authors.

According to a recent Mashable article called "This Is the Future of Book Marketing" — the authors of tomorrow (today) might be expected to offer supplemental content via social networks like Twitter and games like Minecraft.  Writer Goran Racic is now doing exactly that — giving fans of his newest novel, Loud Evolution, additional ways to interact with the characters from his fictional world. The hero, Thomas Loud, even has his own Twitter feed where he talks about his newest adventures, thus teasing narrative elements from Racic's in-the-works sequel. According to the Mashable article:

Racic says it's more than just marketing — it's a multi-dimensional social experience to complement the book. "The overall idea is to have a story that's unfolding in real life," Racic tells Mashable. "There's so much technology available for storytelling. It just feels natural to combine everything."

For more information about how Racic is bringing his fictional world to Twitter and Minecraft, check out "This Is the Future of Book Marketing." Have you used media outside of your book to continue telling the story?

I've had a  good year getting poems placed in respected publications. Naturally, I wanted to share my excitement every time on social media (which means Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for me). These are life events on an order of magnitude somewhat greater than "I ate eggs for breakfast this morning" or "I'm listening to my Katy Perry/Mountain Goats mashup again."

Do you feel like the posts you're making from your author page on Facebook are going largely ignored? You're not alone. Sure, maybe some of your posts are getting ignored by some of the people who are glancing at them. But there's a more obvious reason for the dip in your Facebook fans' engagement; as my friend Brad Bush says, "most of your fans aren’t even getting the chance to ignore your posts, because they never see them in the first place." Why? Well, Facebook is intentionally limiting the number of fans who see your content. And they've admitted that it's part of their plan to increase those restrictions in an attempt to get you to PAY for further reach (through promoted posts and advertising). How do you as an independent author get around that?

There are a number of ways authors can utilize video promotion to market their work, engage fans, increase their readership, and have some fun.

Web tips and best-practices to smarten-up your online book marketing.

Soon all Facebook users will be able to share photos in the comments section on posts. Previously, you had to add a link to the comments section and Facebook would pull in a thumbnail image. With this new development, you can upload an image directly — which will be hosted by Facebook — and it will appear larger than those images posted as links.

Here's a few ways to use Facebook photo comments to engage readers and promote your book:

* Ask your readers to post pics from your last reading, lecture, signing, etc. * Ask readers to submit photo ideas for your next book cover. * Ask readers for random images that will spark your creativity for a writing session (faces, places, etc.)