Other than this forum (which is great), what are some your favorite blogs or websites to promote your books?  I'm new to ebooks and I'm still learning ebook marketing.  I've spent hours on Google and have some ideas, like Kindle Forums, but that doesn't seem like enough.

I'm getting a little panicked because my first book will be available next month and I want to have great launch and a great follow up.  Also, I want to promote it without irritating people.

My website is almost done. 

Thanks for you ideas.

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I think you'll do best with sites that you enjoy yourself.  Otherwise this becomes a chore and it will be hard to keep up regularly. I'm just exploring Kindle Forums and GoodReads and find both impossible to maneuver about in. Both have rules that banish promotion to designated spots where you get lost among an avalanche of other marketing.  Most of the time, I cannot find my own posts any longer 24 hours later.  And in any case, I doubt anyone reads them.

I think one of the best things you can do to get the word out about your book is to become an "expert" on something related to your book's topic. Likely, you've done research to write your book, or you're writing from knowledge you've already earned - now's the time to use what you know to write articles and essays that tie into the subject of your book.

 

You can submit these essays and articles for consideration to news sites like Huffington Post or the Examiner, and to book sites like Bibliobuffett, or offer to guest post on some of the major mystery and/or crime fiction blogs. In most cases, they'll be published with a short bio at the end where you can mention your book.

 

The great thing about the bigger websites is that other sites aggregate their content automatically from these sources, so your essays and articles get great lateral spread.

 

For instance, last January, when my second novel published, I ended up writing a series of articles on the publishing industry from an author's perspective for AOL's Daily Finance. http://www.dailyfinance.com/writers/karen-dionne/ Each article was reproduced on about 150 other websites, and Twittered and Facebook "liked" as much as 400 times. That's pretty substantial coverage from just a single piece.

 

The other good thing about writing essays that tie in with the topic of your book is that the people who are reading them are the ones most likely to be interested in your novel. Rather than a generic (read "boring") "this is how I got published" article, something on the order of "how riding in a patrol car to research my novel almost got me killed" is much more likely to get results!

 

My newest endeavor to reach readers is reviewing for the New York Journal of books. Here's my reviewer page: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/reviewer/karen-dionne

 

I've only reviewed one title so far, so I have no idea what sort of impact this will have on sales, but I'll be reaching a new audience, and connecting with readers, so I think it's going to work out well.

 

As you can probably tell, I'm definitely of the "work smarter, not harder" camp. There are so many tiny book blogs and review sites, you can get completely bogged down writing for an audience of unknown size. (Been there, done that for my first book.) Better to put your efforts into something that's most likely to pay off!

Excellent advice, Karen! 

I think the book-reading social networks are a great place to soft-promote. Be sure to read the rules about BSP before stepping on any toes in any of them, though. I hang out on Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/471598.Beth_Groundwater), but LibraryThing and Shelfari are two others that I've heard good things about, too.

I might be wrong but I haven't found much luck finding a lot of mystery blogs or mystery review sites. I know of some but there doesn't seem as much as it is for romance. There are googlobs of romance sites but as far as mystery review blogs, I don't see many. I'd say concentrate on the general social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Goodreads is good but they are strict. Any type of promotion could be seen as spam but you can create your own author groups, etc. I think that FB and Twitter are good to start with. There are tons of book reviewers and industry professionals on those sites that you can network with. Twitter is full of guest blogging opportunities for authors. There are some thriller/mystery/suspense groups on FB.

 

As long as you don't spam people with your book promotion you won't irritate.


Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

I wouldn't just parachute in to promote a book and then leave. It's better to become a participating member of the community first.

Exactly, Albert. If the author won't take time to become a true part of the online community they are joining then they don't need to even bother. I tell people this all the time. I am a member of many online groups and most of them have nothing to do with writing or books. LOL! But I've met a lot of cool people. Most of the folks in the general groups don't even know I'm an author. The only way they would is if they'd heard of me (every once in a while I run into a fan, LOL!) or if they checked my profile. I love it when they find out I'm an author because they are so interested and most times they wanna check out my work. You should never spam or beat folks over the head with your books. A lot of groups also have specific days when you can share book news or promo but a lot of authors disregard the rules unfortunately. What I love about FB and Twitter (even though I still do not like Twitter much) is that you can find so many networking opportunities for writers that will lead you to promotion. So that's a plus right there.

 

But yeah, if you don't wanna put in the time to become a valid member on a site or forum then you'd just be wasting everyone's time.


Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

Most of the groups I visit regularly I have been a member of for more than three or four years. I enjoy the groups of course but I know some authors who don't because they only wanna spam.

 

At some point an author must decide whether it's better to hang out on readers' sites or to write more books.  I tend to make a brief announcement and then get on with my work.  My fans come to me via the books anyway.  I don't believe that any post on any of those sites will actually get me more readers.  Still, if the discussion focus is on something I write, then it seems appropriate.  The problem is that there are too many desperate self-published people doing nothing but promotion.  That can get on anybody's nerves.

That's one of the reasons I can't keep up with Kindle Boards.  There must be hundreds of new threads every single day.  This site is the only one I come to regularly, and the only one where discussions deal with things I'm interested in.  Most people don't have time to spend chatting just to be chatting.

At the risk of repeating myself since I've posted this elsewhere on Crime Space, I recently started a blog related to the topics in my crime thrillers. On DARK DEEDS, I synopsize actual cases of serial killers, stalkers and domestic homicides. Up this week: The Murder Checklist ...Liz Marinello had a lot on her mind as she left her weekly psychotherapy appointment in Metairie, Louisiana. She was in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.  Beyond the sunlit parking lot, traffic was heavy on the afternoon of August 31, 2006. When Liz reached her car, a scruffy-looking bearded man walked up to her and shot her twice in the face....

Read more at ... The Murder Checklist

I also have a website (up and running since 2007), Brian, so you're heading in the right direction. If you're doing ebooks, try Kindleboards. I find the Nookboards to be less useful. Perhaps you could blog about some aspect of your book, something you uncovered in your research or something. That's basically why I started my Dark Deeds blog, figured if I did all that research I might as well use it not only in my novels but somewhere else. Good luck with your book. Want to give us any hints about the type or genre of your book?

 

 

Kindleboards is full of ill-tempered people who hate authors.  Goodreads isn't much better.  I'll use either with great care and as rarely as possible.
Thanks, Toni.  They may possibly give me more stars that way, too.  :)  I feel like a stepchild there.

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