Here's a helpful list of articles and/or blogs to help with your marketing efforts:
Marketing for Christian Writers
Selling Those Articles, Books
Top 7 Marketing Tips for Writers
Marketing Tips for Writers from Bella Online
7 Tips of Writing E-mail Marketing Content
Marketing Tips Roundup
Please, if you know of other marketing blogs for WRITERS, share them with us in the comments.
Most of us writers don't have a clue about marketing when writing our books. But once that contract is signed, we realize how much of the marketing actually falls upon our shoulders. So what should be done first?
Take the time to create a marketing plan. It will help you stay focused, and if your brain works anything like mine, it will keep you from getting side-tracked into useless, time-wasting, or budget-busting options.
So what's in a marketing plan?
First, define your book. What is its primary focus? (Even with fiction, you'll still have a focus - whether it be a spiritual theme, an issue or agenda, or purely for entertainment purposes.) Consider this the "mission statement" for your book. You can do this for one book, for a series, or for your writing business as a whole.
Next, look at your book or business from "the big picture." What are its benefits to readers?
Then, identify those readers. Who, specifically, is your target market? As I've shared with some of my editing clients - imagine a customer looking at your book. One reader only. Is that reader in a bookstore? Which one? Where? Is that customer male or female? What age? Married or single? Occupation? Religious beliefs? Political beliefs? Children? You want to pinpoint that reader as specifically as possible, because it will be that reader you target in your marketing.
Yes, you'll pick up many other readers that don't fit the profile at all - but you want to match your original marketing as close to that one reader as you can possibly get.
Detemine a marketing budget. Your budget may be $5, $50, $100, or $10,000. Put it down on paper, and stick to it. You can use it for reference with your next book - so you'll know whether to increase or decrease the budget, and keep track of what worked and what didn't.
Next, you'll want to make a list of marketing goals. You need to figure out how to get your book in front of readers. Think of a variety of ways - and be creative in your approach. Book signings, speaking engagements, blog tours, media interviews, online and print advertising, your own Web site and blog, writing magazine articles about the subject of your book (or subjects mentioned in your book), etc. As you create your original list, write down as many as you can think of - you may not use them all, but you may generate other ideas from that original list.
After you've created a list, break it down. Determine the cost of each goal, how you'll accomplish item on the list.
Then set a timetable. All of your marketing efforts probably won't be very effective if everything is done on one single day. Spread out your marketing. You'll want to start the "marketing buzz" before the book is even published, but you don't want the groundswell to happen until the book is available for purchase - where readers can immediately get their hands on a copy. And to keep people talking about your book, spread the marketing out over several weeks or months.
Putting your marketing plan down on paper helps you stay focused, but just remember, it isn't set in cement. Be flexible, creative, and enjoy the process. It's not nearly as bad as you think it is!
Even before you sign a contract for your book, you should be thinking of marketing opportunities. One way to promote your book is through the details within your book.
Keep a notebook (or a document on your computer) for ideas, and make a list of any hot topics in your characters' lives.
What are hot topics? Read the headlines, listen to the news, eavesdrop on some conversations in the checkout line - hot topics are what people are talking about right now.
As you develop your characters, you're likely to hit several hot topics because real life does. Are any of your characters: divorced? an alcoholic? addict of any sort? have sexual problems or gender identity issues? suffer eating disorders? grieving over a loss? have a criminal history? Are there family secrets hidden somewhere in the past? Abusive or been abused?
Are your characters, or their family, members of the military? Are they vegetarians or vegans? Are they politically savvy? Passionate about protecting the environment, pets, or unborn babies? Do they work to help the homeless or witness to the unsaved?
Explore your answers from different aspects, then turn them into articles, short stories, and press releases. Your professional bio at the end of the published articles and short story should point readers to a link to buy your book and/or your Web site. This bio serves as "free" advertising for your product, so use the space wisely.
These hot topics can make you an "instant expert" on the subject, and with a little visibility (caused by yourself, or through word of mouth) you may be called on for radio or television interviews.
Publicity is what it's all about, right?
But these days, that's not true. Marketing a book is primarily the author's responsibility and expense. But where do you start? How much does it cost? 
Tuesdays here at Pix-N-Pens will now be devoted to marketing. We'll discuss various aspects, and hopefully provide you with resources you can put to use in marketing your own writing and/or photography. Some weeks, we'll focus on marketing books, other weeks we'll focus on marketing your services as freelancer.
This week, I'll share a list of books with you, to help you get started thinking about marketing.
Use these books to develop your own marketing strategy.
You Can Market Your Book: All the Tools You Need to Sell Your Published Book by Carmen Leal
How to Market Books by Alison Baverstock
Marketing to Moms by Maria T. Bailey
The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
1001 Ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer
I'd also like to have your input. What's your biggest challenge concerning marketing? What would you like to learn about it? Are you a do-it-yourself-er, or do you hire someone to handle the marketing? Post your comments below, and we'll tackle them in the coming weeks.
I subscribe to the Worldwide Freelance Writers newsletter, and last week, it featured an article I thought so valuable, I e-mailed the author and asked if I could share it with our Pix-N-Pens readers. Penny Sansevieri graciously granted my request - I hope you enjoy her article as much as I did. Thanks, Penny.
Be sure to check out her Web site, too. It's chock-full of information!
50 Things Under $50 You can Do To Promote Your Book
by Penny Sansevieri
If your book marketing budget is tight (and even if it's not) you might want to consider some ideas that are powerful, and won't cost you as much as you think. Here are a few to consider!
1) Buy your domain name as soon as you have a title for your book. You can get domain names for as little as $8.95.
2) Head on over to Blogger.com or Wordpress.com and start your very own blog (you can add it to your Web site later).
3) Set up an event at your neighborhood bookstore.
4) Write a few articles on your topic and submit them onto the Internet for syndication.
5) Check out your competition online and see if you can do some networking.
6) Do some radio research and pitch yourself to at least five newstations this week.
7) Ready to get some business cards? Head on over toVistaprint.com. The cards are free if you let them put their logo on the back.
8) Put together your marketing plan.
9) Plan a contest. Contests are a great way to promote your book.
10) Google some topic-related online groups to see if you cannetwork with them.
11) Send thank you notes to people who have been helpful to you.
12) Send your book out to at least ten book reviewers this week.
13) Do a quick Internet search for writers' conferences or book festivals in your area you can attend.
14) Create an email signature for every email you send; email signatures are a great way to promote your book and message.
15) Put the contents of your Web site: book description, bio, q&a, interviews on CD to have on hand when the media comes calling!
16) Submit your Web site to the top five directories: Google, MSN, Alexa, Yahoo, and DMOZ.
17) Write a great press release and submit it to free online press release sites.
18) Write your bio, you'll need it when you start pitching yourselfto the media.
19) Schedule your first book signing.
20) Start your own email newsletter; it's a great way to keep readers, friends, and family updated and informed on your success.
21) Go over to Yahoo Groups and join some online groups on your topic - it's great Internet networking!
22) Develop a set of questions that book clubs can use for your book, and post them on your Web site for handy downloads.
23) Add your book info or URL to your answering machine message.
24) Join Audio Acrobat ($20 a month) and begin recording audio products you can sell on your Web site.
25) See if you can get your friends to host a "book party" in their home. You come in and discuss your book and voila, a captive audience!
26) Find some catalogs you think your book would be perfect for and then submit your packet to them for consideration.
27) Go around to your local retailers and see if they'll carry your book; even if it's on consignment it might be worth it!
28) Add your book to Google Book Search.
29) Research some authors with similar subjects and then offer to exchange links with them.
30) Is your book good for the My Space market? My Space hasrecently started doing book reviews.
31) Write a "So You'd Like To ..." article for Amazon.com.
32) Ask friends and family to email five people they know and tell them about your book.
33) Leave your business card, bookmark, or book flyer wherever you go.
34) Are there any book fairs you could participate in? Look them upon the Net!
35) Pitch yourself to your local television stations.
36) Pitch yourself to your local print media.
37) Work on the Q&A for your press kit. You'll need it when you start booking media interviews!
38) Pitch Oprah. Go ahead, you know you want to.
39) Is the topic of your book in the news? Check your local paper,and write a letter to the editor to share your expertise (and promote your book!)
40) Stop by your local library and see if you can set up an event, they love local authors.
41) Do you want to get your book into your local library system? Try dropping off a copy to your main library; if they stock it chances are the other branches will too.
42) Go to Chase's Calendar of Events (www.Chases.com.) and find out how to create your own holiday!
43) Going on vacation? Use your away-from-home time to schedule a book event or two.
44) If your book is appropriate, go to local schools to see if you can do a reading.
45) Got a book that could be sold in bulk? Start with your local companies first and see if they're interested in buying some promotional copies to give away at company events.
46) Don't forget to add reviews to your Web site. Remember that what someone else has to say is one thousand times more effective than anything you could say!
47) Trying to meet the press? Search the Net for Press Clubs in your area, they meet once a month and are a great place to meet the media.
48) Want a celebrity endorsement? Find celebs in your market withan interest in your topic and then for it. Remember all they cansay is no.
49) Ready to get some magazine exposure? Why not pitch some regional and national magazines with your topic or submit a freelance article for reprint consideration.
50) Work on your next book. Sometimes the best way to sell your first book is by promoting your second.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Penny C. Sansevieri is a book marketing and media relations specialist who coaches authors on projects, manuscripts, and marketing plans, and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, visit Penny's Web site. To subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email through this link.
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