Penny Sansevieri on MONETIZING "FREE"

This article by Penny is about monetizing something one wrote oneself, not about "monetizing" copyright infringement ripped from the author.

I find it rather timely, given that I wrote an Opinion piece "To Freebie Or Not To Freebie" for 1stTurningPoint this week.

Feature Article: How to Monetize "Free"
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These days, everyone talks about free content. "Give it away!" they say, but does this really work? Well, yes and no. As with anything, there has to be a  strategy.
 

Recently I was on my morning run through our neighborhood and I noticed a number  of garage sale signs (that's tag sale for those of you back east). One of the signs had a sign beneath it that read: We have free stuff! As I ran though the neighborhood I passed that house and noticed they put all their free stuff in the "Free zone" and already, even at that early hour, hoards of people were migrating there.

I passed the other garage sales which were doing OK, but not great. Clearly the one with the free stuff pulled more people, but did it actually sell more paid merchandise? Yes. I checked in with the sale after my run to find most of the good stuff gone (note to self: shop first, exercise later). 

When I talked to the homeowner they said that the free stuff went fast, but as I noted each time I passed by, it wasn't junk stuff, it was actually good enough to make the garage sale shopper feel like they got a real deal. If it's junk and it's free, it doesn't really matter.
 

What's the lesson here? Free stuff can help you sell more of the paid
merchandise, but you have to be careful, because some people just want freebies and that's fine. But they are not your customers. Here are some tips to help you maximize the use of free:

1. Why free? The first question you should ask yourself is why are you doing this? If you aren't sure, then free might not be right for you. Free content should be offered to help further your message, build a list, and get new people into your marketing funnel. If your model isn't set up this way, maybe it should be. If you aren't interested in this kind of a marketing model, then free probably isn't your thing.
 

2. Define how free can help: Figure out why you want to give free stuff. As I mentioned above, getting clear about your model will help determine if a free product is even worth your time. If it is, then you need to figure out how it will help you. As an example, we have a lot of free stuff on the Author Marketing Experts, Inc. site (www.ameauthors.com) but the free for us is designed to build trust. Distrust is rampant online, and in particular, in the book promotion and publishing industry. There are a lot of scams out there and so trust is important. Our free stuff builds our mailing list, yes, but it also builds trust.
 

3. Make sure it's really free: A lot of people have content that is purported to be free when it's not really free. What I mean is that you get a sliver of it, not even a piece really worth mentioning, but the stuff you want is something you have to pay for. If you want to do free, make it free. Find something of value and give it to your customers.

4. Make it something your end user wants: As I've mentioned a few times, make sure the free is something people want. If it isn't you

a) won't bring in the right crowd of people (you'll end up just getting the freebie hunters, and

b) you won't build your mailing list as fast.

So, for example, give your readers something really substantial like an e-book or tips, or a workbook. Virtually any electronic product is easy to create and deliver. When I changed our freebie on the Author Marketing Experts, Inc. website, we quadrupled our sign-ups. So, what was the freebie? 52 Ways to Sell More Books. Now, as an author, isn't that appealing to you? Exactly my point.

So, what if you've written a fiction book? Well, consider this: 83% of Americans want to write a book, so what if you gave them a free how-to guide? You don't even have to create this yourself, you could partner with someone who has already created this.

If you don't like that idea, consider (for those of you in the historical fiction market) doing a did-you-know piece on the history you're
referencing in your book. The idea here is to a) give value, and b) give your readers something they will care about. Also, whenever possible, give your readers something they need to keep so it will remind them of you and your book: tip sheets, workbooks, reference charts. All of these things are pieces that your consumer may keep, which can keep you top of mind.

5. Take names: You should never give free away without asking for an email
address. I see people do this all the time; they have a ton of free stuff but never collect emails. If that's the case, the freebies you are offering may be of great value to your end user but they won't matter to your marketing. Get emails. It's called an ethical bribe. You get something (their email) and give them something (the free stuff).

6. Make it easy to get: Don't make free difficult. What I mean is make it easy to get your free stuff. If people have to jump through hoops, they won't do it and the free stuff won't matter. For example - put your free stuff on your home page, or at least have a link to it, though I recommend using free stuff as an ethical bribe (as a way to get sign-ups for your newsletter). When you ask for their email, make it easy. A simple click or two is all it should take. Then, don't ask for too much information. If you ask me for my address, birthday, and whatnot I doubt I will want your free stuff that badly. Shorten the staircase. If you make it complicated, it's not really free. Just bait. If you bait your consumer in this fashion you'll lose them.

7. Make the free stuff work for you: If you give away something, make sure that it works for you. What I mean is that when you get our free stuff, we always make sure and remind folks of who we are and what we do. For a while we had a free Twitter e-book that always went out with our product catalog imbedded in it.
 

8. Call to action: Make sure that your free stuff has a call to action. You are collecting names and email addresses and building your list, that's great. But what do you really want people to do? Define what you want them to do, and then include your call to action in the free stuff. Let's face it, it's a good piece - designed to help your reader - but it must also help you. It's ok to promote your book on the last page, or encourage folks to do a consult with you if that's what you offer. You can also offer specials and change these periodically in the giveaway.

9. What will you give? People often ask me what you should give away, and I say, it depends: Who is your market and what do they want? Now, on our site you'll see 52 Ways to Sell More Books, which is an e-book we offer when you sign up for our newsletter. Do our folks want that? You bet. Why? Because they are authors and authors want to sell more books. A special report or e-book always makes a great freebie, maybe you have a white paper that you did on the industry; if so, offer it as a freebie.

10. Follow up! The best kind of free stuff is, as I like to call it, the gift that keeps giving. Auto responders are a great system but often underutilized when it comes to marketing. If you are collecting names and then never contacting your prospects again, what's the point? Our 52 Ways to Sell More Books is delivered over several weeks, and then when we're done, we deliver more quality content. People need to be reminded, and reminded again. Now, you can also funnel folks into your newsletter as I mentioned earlier. I do both. We have the auto responder and the newsletter. Think it's too much? Maybe, but our market wants information. Define what your market wants and then give it to them. If a newsletter and an auto responder is overkill, then scale it back. No one knows your market like you do.

The real key here is that free stuff can work well for you in so many ways, but free stuff without a goal is just free. Great to get free stuff, right? But then how is all of this hard work going to pay off for you?

If you still aren't a believer of free, try it for 90 days and see if it doesn't change your life. If you do it right, free will monetize your audience like nothing else will. The biggest reason is that in an age of pushing things on consumers, your audience really wants to sample what you have to offer before they buy. Free is a great way to do that. It's also a great way to stay in front of your audience, build trust, and develop a loyal following.

Reprint permission
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are welcome to reprint any items from "The Book Marketing Expert
Newsletter." However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

The suggestions are all Penny Sansevieri's. I think all authors need to check with their own state and local laws before following any suggestions about giving something away if there are strings attached... but I might be mixing up sweepstake/contest laws with freebies.

I should also add that copying and pasting doesn't work very well given my limited abilities, so the punctuation/paragraphing is all mine, and I take full responsibility if the editing is inaccurate.

Rowena Cherry

Excerpts from Penny Sansevieri's Newsletter (reposted with permission)

I love the tips that Penny Sansevieri shares. Alas, too seldom do I actually do more than pass them on! Penny's current newsletter contains a wealth of info, but is too long for a blog post. Here's Penny's advice on making good use of Twitter.

Feature Article: The Real Secret to Twitter

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If you've ever been impressed by the number of followers someone has on Twitter, I have a newsflash for you: it doesn't matter.

The thing is, you can buy followers (no, I'm not kidding) sort of like buying mailing lists.

How effective is buying followers? Well, let me ask you: How effective was the last mailing list you bought? Whatever your answer is I can guarantee you that buying Twitter followers will be far less effective. Why? Because social media does not favor automation, it favors engagement, interaction, and yes, being social.

You might be interested in knowing someone's Twitter-reach or you might be trying to determine if your campaign is effective.

 Here are some key things to look at when measuring anyone's Twitter-success: 

1) How active is the person on Twitter?
2) How relevant to their market are their updates? For example did a mystery author just tell you she's washing her cat?
3) How much do they broadcast vs. communicate?
4) How often are they retweeted?
5) How many Twitter lists are they on?

One of the best ways to determine if your Twitter campaign is effective - or someone else's - is by gauging how often they are retweeted. Retweeting is an important factor in Twitter, possibly the most significant means to determine an effective Twitter person from an ineffective one. In fact, Twitter popularity lists aren't based on the amount of followers but rather on the amount of activity in a campaign. When I recently pulled up a list of the top 10 Twitter-ers in Southern California, I found that many in the top 10 didn't even break 10,000 followers. 

How can you determine how active an account is? 
There are a few services that you might want to look into. 

The first is Retweet Rank (retweetrank.com). 
This service shows you (by user) how much someone has been retweeted as well as their most popular retweeted posts.

Twitter Analyzer (twitteranalyzer.com) is another great tool for determining how far tweets have traveled. You can isolate a user or a particular Twitter-stream. Very useful site!
 

How can you increase your tweet-ability?

Here are a few tips to help you grow your Twitter campaign:
 
1) Know what your followers want: the first piece sounds simple but could take you the most amount of time. Candidly, it took me three months to finally get a handle on what my followers wanted and what seemed to rank high on the retweeting scale. If you don't know what your followers want, try following popular people in your market and see what they are posting about. Use this as a guideline to help you dig deeper into what your market wants. 

2) Share useful advice: now that you've determined what your followers want to see on Twitter, make sure the information you are sharing is helpful. I know this sounds like an oxymoron. If you've determined what your followers want of course what you tweet on will be helpful, right? Wrong. Ask yourself what they need, not what you think they want. There is a big difference.
 
3) Don't overtweet: OK, full confession, I've been guilty of this from time to time but now I've found a good balance of between 4 and 5 posts a day. This may be a metric that works for you, but you'll need to determine that on your own. How do you know? If people start unfollowing you the reason may because you are overtweeting.
 
4) Balance broadcasting with communicating: this is a biggie for many of us. It's important to use any social media tool like a telephone. You would never call someone and just blast them with information, right? You'll give them something, wait for a response and then respond to their question and so a discussion ensues. Use social media as you would a telephone: communicate, don't broadcast.
 
5) Comment on current events that relate to your industry: becoming the go-to person for everything related to your industry is what most of us aspire to. Keeping apprised of what's going on in your industry is important and then, sharing the highlights or most significant items with your followers will go a long way toward growing your popularity.
 
6) Recommend helpful resources: much like current events, you want to offer helpful resources to your followers. This might not be appropriate to every market, but for the majority of us this works very well. Again, the more you can become a resource the more you will grow your popularity on Twitter or, for that matter, any social media site.

Many people hop on to Twitter thinking it's a numbers game when it really isn't. You can have a Twitter-tribe of millions and not gain the same kind of social media success that you would with only 1,000 followers. The wisdom of the crowd knows that it's not always the size of the audience that matters but how engaged they are in you and your message. Find the balance that works for. You'll be glad you did.

Book Authors, book publishers and other book peeps on Twitter:

http://www.highspotinc.com/blog/2009/02/a-directory-of-authors-on-twitter

and here: http://www.highspotinc.com/blog/2008/12/a-directory-of-book-trade-people-on-twitter.

 Twitter Tip - Twitter Gallery

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Twitter Gallery: http://www.twittergallery.com

Tons of free patterns, easy one-click installation.

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Like this newsletter? Pass it on!

We never rent or sell subscriber lists to any third party. Your privacy is very important to us. Always. To subscribe to this newsletter, click here: subscribe@amarketingexpert.com.
Copyright 2010 Author Marketing Experts, Inc.

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Penny's Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: penny@amarketingexpert.com web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By the way, one thing Penny didn't mention is Twit Wall. Please check out mine! Then set up your own.  Be aware that you will probably have to link your Twit Wall to your Twitter account, and then, everything you add to your Twit Wall will turn up as a Tweet (which could quickly put you over your 5-post limit as recommended by Penny). http://twitwall.com/view/?who=rowenacherry

Penny says: 10 Mistakes Authors Make

I've reposted Penny Sansevieri's Featured Article from her newsletter. Attribution is at the bottom of the page. All uses of the first person (or any other pronouns) are Penny's, not Rowena Cherry's.


10 Mistakes Authors Make That Can Cost Them a Fortune (and How to Avoid Them)
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When it comes to books, promotion, and book production I know that it can sometimes feel like a minefield of choices. And while I can't address each of these in minutia, there are a number of areas that are keenly tied to a book's success (or lack thereof). Here are ten for you to consider:

1) Not understanding the importance of a book cover
I always find it interesting that an author will sometimes spend years writing their book and then leave the cover design to someone who either isn't a designer, or doesn't have a working knowledge of book design or the publishing industry. Or, worse, they create a design without having done the proper market research. Consider these facts for a minute: shoppers in a bookstore spend an average of 8 seconds looking at the front cover of a book and 15 seconds looking at the back before deciding whether to buy it. Further, a survey of booksellers showed that 75% of them found the book cover to be the most important element of the book. Also, sales teams at book distribution often only take the book cover with them when they shop titles to stores. And finally, please don't attempt to design your own book cover. Much like cutting your own hair, this is never a good idea.

2) Trusting someone who has limited or no track record
When you hire a team, make sure you ask the service provider for their track record. Often I see an author who successfully marketed their single title now feel they have all the marketing knowledge they need to help you market yours. Unless you are in similar markets, I would avoid this at all costs. You want people who have worked in the industry and know the needs of the market beyond just one title. You also want someone who has some history. Ask for referrals, and success stories. I give references all the time to potential new clients, but when I am the one interviewing a new service provider I will ask for them but never call them. I mean who's going to give you a bad referral? I want to see that they have some names they can give me, then I'll go online and Google them to gain some insight into their history and online reputation.

3) Listening to people who aren't experts
When you ask someone's opinion about your book, direction, or topic, make sure they are either working in your industry or know your consumer. If, for example, you have written a young adult (YA) book, don't give it to your co-workers to read and get feedback (yes, I know some YA books have adult market crossover appeal, but this is different). If you've written a book for teens, then give it to teens to read. Same is true for self-help, diet, romance. Align yourself with your market. You want the book to be right for the reader, in the end that's all that matters.

4) Trusting Oprah to solve all your problems
Getting on Oprah is an article in and of itself, but let me say this: the quickest way to turn off a publicist is to use the "O" word. Why? Because anyone worth their salt knows how tough a road the Oprah pitch can be. Not just that, but sometimes authors will become so myopic and obsessed about this show that they lose sight of other, maybe better opportunities. And trust me on another point: someone (friend, co-worker, family, spouse), somewhere will tell you, "You should go on Oprah," and while you might be 100% perfect Oprah material the only people who can determine if you should be on her show are her producers. Shoot for the stars, dream big, but be realistic about your campaign, otherwise you'll spend a lot of time and a lot of money chasing a potentially elusive target.

5) Planning for the short-term only
There's a real fallacy that exists in publishing and it's this: "instant bestseller." Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the industry knows there is no such thing as "instant," and certainly the words "overnight success" are generally not reserved for books. Book promotion should be viewed as a long runway. Meaning that you should plan for the long term. Don't spend all your marketing dollars in the first few months of a campaign. We find this especially true for self-published titles that need a little more TLC than their traditionally published counterparts. We offer campaigns that last 90-days, but that's not because we think 90 days is all it will take to make your book a success, it's because we find it's a reasonable time to get started, get a foothold and start your progress down the runway of success.

6) Not understanding timing
Timing is a funny issue. First, there's the timing that books follow to get reviewed, lead times as it were. Then there's production timing, and if you're lucky enough to get a distributor there's the time it will take for a distributor to get your book into the proper channels. A book launch should be planned carefully and then leave wiggle room for slipped dates and late deliveries (which will happen). I recommend that you sit down with someone who can help you strategize timing so you can plan appropriately for your book launch. A missed date is akin to a missed opportunity.

7) Hiring people who aren't in the book industry
Let's face it, even to those of us who have been in this industry for a while it still doesn't always make sense. So hiring someone who has no book or publishing experience isn't just a mistake, it could be a costly one. With some vendors like web designers you can get away with that. But someone who has only designed business cards can't, for example, design a book cover. Make sure you hire the right specialist for the right project. Also, you've likely spent years putting together this project, make sure you make choices based on what's right and not what's cheapest. If you shop right you can often find vendors who are perfect for your project and who fit your budget. There's an old saying that goes: You can find a good lawyer, and you can find a cheap lawyer, but it's hard or near impossible to find a good, cheap lawyer. The same applies in the book world.

8) Designing your own website
You should never cut your own hair or design your own site. Period. End of story. But ok, let me elaborate. Let's say you designed your own site and saved a few thousand dollars instead of paying a web designer. Now you're off promoting your book and suddenly you're getting a gazillion hits to your site. The problem is the site is not converting these visitors into sales. How much money did you lose by punting the web designer and doing it yourself? Hard to know. Scary, isn't it?

9) Becoming a media diva
Let's face it, you need the media more than they need you. I know. Ouch. But it's the unfortunate truth. So here's the thing: be grateful. Thank the interviewer, send a follow-up thank you note after the interview. Don't expect the interviewer to read your book and don't get upset if they get some facts wrong. Just gently, but professionally correct them in such a way that they don't look bad or stupid. Never ask for an interview to be done over. Most media people don't have the time. I mention this because it actually happened to a producer friend of mine who did an interview with a guy and he decided he didn't like it and wanted a second shot. Not gonna happen. The thing is, until you get a dressing room with specially designed purple M&M's, don't even think about becoming a diva. The best thing you can do is create relationships. Show up on time, show up prepared, and always, always, always be grateful.

10) Hiring the best and then not trusting their advice.
Here's the thing that's always confused me. You hire me, then don't listen to my advice. And it's not just me, I hear this all the time from other industry professionals. Look, it's not an ego thing, it really isn't. It's just this: if you're paying good money to your vendors, asking them for advice and then not taking it, you might have a disconnect. Perhaps a breakdown in communication, maybe you don't trust the person you hired. If you don't trust them, then you should part ways and find someone you have some chemistry with. Otherwise what's the point? Build your team with people you enjoy working with and respect. Then when they try and guide you or save you some money, take the time to listen.




Reprint permission
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
You are welcome to reprint any items from "The Book Marketing Expert Newsletter." However, please credit us as a source with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: penny@amarketingexpert.com
web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exactly the help I need. Penny Sansevieri's newsletter

From time to time, when I've nothing useful to communicate, I treat Penny Sansevieri as an impromptu guest blogger, with her permission.

Mind you, I cannot fathom why everyone doesn't already subscribe to Penny's free marketing newsletter. Click the live links to sign up. Look at the index, so see what you are missing if you don't! (I'm not sharing Penny's entire newsletter).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER!
A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion.
April 30, 2009 Issue #194
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in this issue
-- Note From The Editor
-- Monetizing the Web
-- Is Anyone Listening? Eight Tips to Help you Market in the Age of New Media
-- Yankee Magazine
-- AME-University: Book Marketing, Publishing, and Internet Marketing classes
-- You've been Invited to the Social Media Party
-- Book Bits and Bites
-- The Duplicate Content Police are here!
-- Quick Tips for Media Success
-- Say Please, Say Thank you
-- Why You Should 'Share This'
-- Hear The Publishing Insiders
-- AME in the news
-- Why You Should Promote Your Book NOW
-- Join Penny at the Self Publishers Online Conference
-- Learn to Buzz Your Book!
-- Twitter Tip - TwiTip Graphics
-- Twitter Tip - Nearby Tweets
-- Reader Tip!
-- WHO ARE WE
-- ------------------------------------------------------------
Penny C. Sansevieri, Editor penny@amarketingexpert.com

By the way,
Follow Penny on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Bookgal.

While you are about it,
Follow Rowena on Twitter http://twitter.com/rowenacherry

Penny writes:

Monetizing the Web
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With all of the "stuff" out there online it's tough to know what will actually bring in the customers and the dollars, but here's a tip that's sure to work. First off, get your company/book/self a social networking page - either on Facebook or Squidoo, but I'd stick with Facebook and in a minute you'll see why. Next, make sure that your web site has a sign up on the home page for either a newsletter or mailing list.
Make sure you have an ethical bribe (a give away to get consumers to leave you their email addy so you can grow your list). Then, open a Twitter account. Your Twitter account should be used to share information, helpful tips, insider scoop and also link to sites, blogs, or audio online that would be helpful to your consumer. Become a filter, *the* place your consumer goes for everything on your topic or area of expertise. Once you open your Twitter account go to Socialtoo.com and get an account there, Socialtoo.com will allow you to set up a welcome message whenever someone "follows" you on Twitter.

Your welcome message should offer your freebie (ethical bribe) and redirect people to your site. This way, you'll get sign ups for your newsletter or mailing list. Now, to your Facebook page: You can and should add your Twitter account to your Facebook status updates (you can't do this through Squidoo or MySpace). That way you can share your tips with your Facebook fans, which will help you grow your fan base there too. Make sure you link your company's blog to Facebook and Twitter (you can do this through Twitterfeed) so that everything is recycled into these two services. By using both of these Web 2.0 properties and focusing your efforts heavily there, you can pull in customers to your site and business. Don't fragment yourself by getting a bunch of social networking sites. You need to spend time with these and if you can expand on just one site, it will serve you much better than having 30 sites you rarely touch.

If time is a constraint (and when isn't it?) you can use a site called Tweetlater to plan your tweets for the week, meaning that you log-on Monday and drop info into this system, it will then Twitter for you all week so you don't have to worry about it.

By keeping a circular "funnel" going you bring customers in at two of the biggest points of the web right now. These are huge properties online and when used effectively, can really help monetize the Internet for you. Remember though, be helpful first, sell later. The best metric for online selling is 95% helpful, and 5% sales. Believe it or not, this pays off big in the end.

When I did this we quadrupled our newsletter sign-ups and doubled the inquiries into our business.

Great advice. I'm no expert, and I haven't tried Tweet Later, but as a bumbling Twitter user, I find myself becoming annoyed by RT or ReTweets. If they weren't prominently marked as ReTweets, I wouldn't know the difference. But they are. I don't know about anyone else, but I want a genuine conversation, so if I see several RTs from the same person, it's either like someone who goes round a cocktail party telling the same joke, over and over... or it's like spam.

I unfollow boring ReTweeters. (Not Penny, of course!!!!)
What about you?

OK. Penny deals with another great issue here. Back to Penny's take.

Is Anyone Listening? Eight Tips to Help you Market in the Age of New Media
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In the past month or so I've had numerous conversations with authors that I either met at conferences or am coaching asking me why nothing they're doing is working. Have you ever felt like that? If you have, you aren't alone. There seems to be an epidemic of "black hole marketing" going around. What's black hole marketing? Simple. It's when you feel like all your marketing efforts are going down a black hole and vanishing into the ether.
So it seems like just when you got a handle on the old rules of media, the rules keep changing. It's true. The digital age has brought with it a tsunami of information. Let's face it, with so much data, news, and emails coming at us most of us feel like we're trying to drink from a water hose. I've seen a lot of change in the ten (plus) years we've been marketing books but nothing like what's transpired in the last 18 months. The old marketing rule of 7 is now 70 and your 15 minutes of fame has shrunk to 15 seconds. Do you remember the shootings in upstate New York where 14 people were killed? How much time did the media spend on it, do you even remember any of the details? See what I mean? Fifteen seconds. We flit through stories like we zip through email. Delete, delete, delete, archive, and on and on.

Why is this? Well first off, there are so many ways to make news these days. You can be on Twitter and start a rampage on some topic and suddenly Katie Couric is reporting on you on the evening news. You can write something on a blog that gets everyone's attention. So many new ways to drive media mean that the media window is shrinking. All you have to do is run a search on Twitter using #teaparty or #amazonfail and see what I mean. Rapid and furious conversation around both of these topics, all of them generating a buzz in less than an hour of posting.

With all of these increased ways to get our news, it also means that the marketing "Rule of 7" is now around 70. An old marketing adage suggested that it takes 7 exposures to your book, message, or product to hook a new consumer. Now, with all of the things that we consume on a daily basis, the rule is considerably larger. Is it 70 exactly? I don't know. But it's certainly well beyond the seven exposures.

1) Relationships: these days it's all about relationships. Sure, marketing has always been built on relationships but it's more important than ever especially when it comes to bloggers. The blogging community continues to be looked down upon; believe it or not, they are considered by many to be second-rate journalists when in fact, their blogs are sometimes more popular than your local paper.

2) Never Swap Horses Mid-race: when things don't go well it's tempting to switch ideas, tracks, or angles. If you're not sure that you're doing everything right then hire someone (even on an hourly basis) who can come in and offer some objective feedback. If you've done that and you're still not seeing results don't change horses just to get ahead. This will only set you back and put you in a space of starting from scratch, because when you switch horses mid-race, that's exactly what you're doing.

3) Do a lot of the right thing: when we talk about the rule of 70, you know that means you need to do more of what you're already doing. So focus in on 3-4 key areas and saturate those. Get on Twitter, start blogging, do whatever you have to in a concentrated, focused fashion.

4) Pay to play, it's here: more and more TV stations are turning to a paid format, meaning that if you have enough cash, you can get on the air. I'm not kidding. This is a frightening turn of events, but it's reality. When I was in the Phoenix area I found out that many of the shows there are already doing this. Phoenix is considered a Top 10 market so if you're not in a big market it may not have hit you, but likely it will and probably before the end of this year. Why is this important? Because if you're ever asked to spend some dough on a show, you'll know why. Also, that's what makes the Internet so great: it's free. If you're ready to have your own TV show, why not turn to YouTube? You'll get a much farther reach!

5) Real voices: be real or be gone. Save the sales talk and jargon for your ad copy and be real when you're blogging, pitching yourself or on an interview. The world is gravitating to real, genuine voices. You won't impress anyone but mom with your $5 words.

6) Everyone is a journalist: as we saw with the Amazon mess, everyone is a journalist. If you have a blog that you're dedicated to and that's getting traffic and ranking, you could report on something that others pick up and, in some cases, you could end up being on the evening news. The reins of the media have now been dispersed to anyone who has access to Twitter and a blog. Why is this important? Because when you get yourself out there never assume that just because whomever you're pitching or has featured you isn't tied to the Wall Street Journal that they don't bear significant weight in their market. Get to know your community, respect them, pitch to them, and treat them no differently than if you were pitching major media.

7) Sources don't matter: when a story first breaks on a site like Twitter, sources are often misquoted and inaccurate. This is just the nature of instant news, it takes a while to catch up. What's the point? The point is if you can be a source and jump on a story that's being discussed online, you can get coverage.

8) Get your story out there quickly: remember that 15 seconds of fame? It's very true and very much why you need to get out there quickly. In fact with all the news coming at us, I've seen stories dissipate in an afternoon. If you have an angle, don't wait till it's "perfect" - get it out as soon as possible.

9) Don't spread yourself too thin: if you're thinking back to point #3 and going "Wow, I guess I need to get a few more social networking sites," hold that thought. When I talk about doing more I don't mean getting more, I mean doing more with what you already have. Don't fragment yourself. Focus is so key now, especially with so much stuff coming at us at one time. Stay crisp, focused, and on message, and don't just grab onto everything because it feels like you're "doing something."

10) Focus, focus, focus: I mentioned this in point #9 but it bears repeating. Keep your message focused and on point. It's ok to have a lot of angles, but keep them sharp and clear. People (and especially the media) have much less time than they ever did, if you can't capture their attention quickly you'll lose them, possibly forever.

The new media is changing on an almost daily basis. Today's lone blogger could be tomorrow's Huffington Post and tomorrow's local print newspaper could be turned into an online subscription format (as many papers have). It's not harder to get media; in fact, with so many stories and so many ways to get your news, the choices can seem endless. That's why aside from abiding by some of the new rules I've outlined here, you want to have a plan as well. Planning your strategy and then realizing that a few core areas of focus are key to success can help turn a so-so campaign into a wow-'em program.

Reprint permission
Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Contact Information
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email: penny@amarketingexpert.com
web: http://www.amarketingexpert.com
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Marketing tips I shared on LinkedIn

This morning on LinkedIn someone asked how to market his client's book. Here's what I suggested.

Check out Author Marketing Expert http://amarketingexpert.com . Penny Sansevieri and her staff are very good, and they share (for free) a monthly newsletter packed with advice about online marketing including tips for using squidoo, twitter, facebook effectively.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rowenacherry or rather, check out all the librarians and journalists and reviewers on my follow/following list. Click on the text links and you can find out and follow everyone I follow.

TRAILERS
Sheila English of COS productions (Circle Of Seven) runs the first and best book trailer making company. She's a friend of mine on LinkedIn. I'd be happy to introduce you, or meet her in a book trailer group/discussion.

COS productions will post book trailers in at least 50 locations. Check out youtube for half a dozen syndication possibilities for your trailer.

If you have a trailer, enter it in the New Covey Trailer Awards
http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/2009/03/entry-15-knights-fork.html

(Feel free to vote while you are there... I believe there are 20 videos to be watched each month) Knight's Fork is mine, done by Sheila English's COS productions for around $300

Also Join FiledByAuthor, which is new, and you don't have to pay for a basic page
http://filedby.com/author/rowena_cherry/1792575

Also join Blazing Trailers http://blazingtrailers.blogspot.com/2009/03/knights-fork-by-rowena-cherry.html

BLOG TOURS AND GIVEAWAYS
JA Konrath is currently marketing his Jack Killborn novel AFRAID with a month long blog tour. Check out his blog to see where he is going. He also cleverly got 50 authors' competitive juices flowing, so several of them are writing and posting reviews in about 16 places each.

Emily Bryan recently did a 50-blog tour to promote Vexing The Viscount.

Find similar authors to your client/friend who are aggressively promoting, then ride their coat tails. Comment pleasantly on their blogs with discreet references (perhaps in a sig file, and in the allowed html link for every commentator) and you will be seen.

Establish a presence (that means make friends before marketing) on Facebook and Goodreads. You can do giveaways in exchange for the promise of reviews on LibraryThing.com and also on Goodreads.com

SYNDICATION
Use "Add This" for great syndication of your program
With apologies for a slightly self serving example, look here
http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780505527400?id=4379755884528

The Add This feature is accessed through the "Share" button, click More and you will find links to 48 social networking sites! Take the time. Claim at least your author's name on each site (so no one else can).

RADIO
Check out the radio interviews done by Don MacCauley on http://www.TheAuthorsShow.com The interview is free. They'd like you to buy a promo package (tell them I sent you) but you don't have to do so. If you want a press release, a copy of your recorded interview, 12 months of publicity etc, the mid level package is $155 which is very reasonable, these days.

LillianandMe is another very good exposure which a lot of authors have found effective. This is a paid interview with radio station owner Lillian Cauldwell, however, it is competitively priced.

Disclosure. I am a host on her station, PIVTR http://www.internetvoicesradio.com

Contact Lillian or Pat Meehan. LCauldwell@gmail.com

Don't forget an Amazon page. Take advantage of all the bells and whistles they offer (many other booksites offer the same). Make friends, blog, add photos and notes, start discussions, tag your client's book. If you are grateful to me for all this fine advice and practical examples, take a moment to tag my book Knight's Fork http://tinyurl.com/KnightsFork
as FUTURISTIC ROMANCE

I'm not sure whether this is an object lesson in how to be self-serving while being helpful. I hope so. I'm a tad appalled at myself, but it took me at least an hour to write this skein of advice with live links, and probably on LinkedIn only 6 people will see it, which isn't a good ROI.

What do you think?

Branding... and SPACE SNARK™

I wonder if "Branding" is finally hot?

My husband has been an automotive branding expert for years. Meanwhile, this morning on The_Haunt_at_PNR, a yahoo group for paranormal romance authors and those who like to chat, Deborah Macgillivray explained about her common usage trademark on her Dragons of Challon™ series.

Now, much to my delight, I find that my favorite marketing expert, Penny Sansevieri, is talking about boosting ones brand in her March newsletter.

Penny allows sharing of her newsletter, as long as this attribution is given.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

To receive your own copy of:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE BOOK MARKETING EXPERT NEWSLETTER!
A newsletter all about SUCCESSFUL publishing and POWERFUL promotion.
March 5, 2009 Issue #190
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
contact:
Penny C. Sansevieri, Editor penny@amarketingexpert.com


Boost Your Brand
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Here's a fun little marketing tip for your presentations. If you're using a laptop, why not get a skin for your cover that lists your book/company and URL? That way it's always in front of your audience. You can order custom skins for your laptop, phone, Blackberry, virtually anything from this site: http://www.skinit.com/. Happy Branding!


Me, again.
When I am packing for a convention, I know that I will be taking boxes of promo stuff, so I make sure to tape posters of my covers to all sides of the boxes (upright, obviously).

I also prepare the files that I might be carrying around (in which to scribble notes) by slipping a poster of my cover art inside the plastic protection sleeve that usually covers a ring binder.

I've also got a static view of my banner for Knight's Fork as a visual header, plus my professional mailing address, and for a footer I've got the images of the four awards Knight's Fork has won on 2 x 4 mailing labels, which I put on most of my outgoing correspondence. Yes... it will go on my tax return envelopes, too.


Back to Penny. And I certainly winced when I read this section of her newsletter!


Top 5 Mistakes Authors Make After the Interview
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You've written the book, perfected your pitch, entertained the audience with an interesting and informative interview and now you are striving for another segment or to become that station's topic "Expert". As a producer my top 5 "Don't Screw It Up" suggestions for AFTER the interview are:

- Not saying thank you properly. Always thank the host, producer and studio technicians. Camera people and control room technicians control the way you "look" on camera so always thank them if possible. Trust me they will remember and if you do a return interview you are assured you will look and sound great.

- Not taking advantage of "The Topic Roll". If your topic is one of continuing interest ride that wave! Be in touch with the producer for possible follow-up interviews.

- Not giving the host a signed copy of your book. As silly as you think this may be it's important to give the interviewer your book. Whether they take your book home, add it to the station library or toss it you definitely want your book in the hands of people who can give you another interview. Never forget this very important "touch" of politeness and marketing savvy!

- Not getting a copy of your segment for critique purposes. You can't improve if you don't know what you've done wrong. This is the time to hire a media coach for critiquing purposes. It's always easier to learn from an actual interview than role playing. Take advantage of all your interviews and get those copies!

- Not putting a copy of the segment on your website: Nothing can promote your book like YOU! Put the good interviews on your website and forget the bad ones - NEVER put a digital copy of an interview on your website if it wasn't really good.

So remember: always say thank you not only to the host and producer but to the studio technicians who made your interview comfortable and camera friendly. Always stay in touch with the producer for future interview opportunities. Make a copy of the segment and hire a media coach for a critiquing session because you can ALWAYS improve. Finally and most importantly put the interview on your website. It is the BEST way to promote your book, get other interviews and continue to sell your book long after the interview.

For more information or to schedule a coaching session just email me at lholka@aztv.com or call (602) 509-6468.

~Tip offered by Media Veteran Laura Holka, who is the producer of the Pat McMahon Show & a Media Consultant. She can be reached at www.aztv.com or email lholka@aztv.com.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

By the way, on March 19th, my radio interview with Don McCauley on the radio version of The Authors Show at TheAuthorsShow.com or WnbRadioNetwork.com. http://www.theauthorsshow.com/



Rowena Cherry
SPACE SNARK™