Boost your books ranking on Google

Hi Flashgordon,

You are so kind to supply this information!

I wanted to add my book/website to some of the website directories.

However, I just clicked on some of the website directory links, and none of the links were working, that is they led to "pages not available."

Are the links no longer active or have the web addresses perhaps been changed?

Thanks!

-hopeful

Why is this necessary? Isn't this the job of your publisher's marketing department? I would think that me making my own promotional website might actually be counterproductive. I don't want to interfere with my publisher's marketing efforts; in fact, as it is not my expertise, I might do something to screw it up.

LC123 said:

Why is this necessary? Isn't this the job of your publisher's marketing department? I would think that me making my own promotional website might actually be counterproductive. I don't want to interfere with my publisher's marketing efforts; in fact, as it is not my expertise, I might do something to screw it up.

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Although your publisher will help you with marketing, there's room for you to work too. The main thing is to coordinate your efforts with those of your publisher -- understand what they're doing, tell them what you might do as well and listen to their input.

Exactly, Claudia.

First of all, not all writers have publishers.

Second, many have smaller publishers or--MUCH more commonly--are not the "big push" books getting all the publicity funding. "Your" publisher is also publisher for a lot of other writers and makes its decisions and spreads its efforts according to what it sees as best for the company bottom line.
So anything you can do yourself to increase your sales not only helps you in straightout gain in royalties, it might also nudge you up towards being the kind of earner that the publisher is willing to pop more bucks for.

Third, why the hell not promote yourself and you your book? It's in your interests.

<< Third, why the hell not promote yourself and you your book? It's in your interests. >>

I'm personally not good at self-promotion. I was invited to a book-signing at a bookstore and was uncomfortable the whole time. I'm not good at sitting at a table, telling passers-by why they should buy my book, making small talk with strangers.

I also don't care for self-promoting websites; I prefer to read a third-party review. This applies to any product, not just books. So I wouldn't set one up for myself.

But that's just me. Others are more outgoing, I realize.

I see a website as having one key function. If someone likes one of your books they will find a list of all your other books there, and where to buy them. Seems like that is the least one can do for the readers.

Very good point. It's like a catalog. And all other promotion funnels to it.

You don't have to conquer stage fright to promote on the web. Or spend a lot of time bopping around to forums and classifieds.

Just having a link to your site in your email signature or on forums like this one is free, takes like 3 minutes to do, and shows people where your books are at, funneling towards the point of purchase.

No fancy design required, either. You can do it on a myplace or facebook (MUCH better site for this purpose, actually) account. And as long as you're there, take an hour out of your life to go join all the relevant groups and drop in a link to your page.

Not doing this these days is not an admirable lack of pushiness....it's like trying to run a business without a telephone or sign out front.

Allot a couple of hours to messing with it. There is plenty of advice on the particulars available.

I have told clients for years to pick a time frame, like an hour a week or half hour a day or whatever to spend on promotion.

The time you have been posting on this forum could be working for you with only a few very simple actions on your part.

Good luck

flashgordon said:

. . .The three biggest ways to do this is list your site with Web Directories, use Press Releases, and submit articles to Article Directories. . . .

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Keys include good content on the site, with frequent updates (new articles, that sort of thing) and keywords used in context.

--Ken

I would agree with that. I have watched some of my sites creep up on google and technorati until some are in the top one or two for my main keywords. I did this only through content. I am sure other approachs work too but I was more interested in using ranking as an indicator of popularity than manipulating it directly.

LC123 said:

Why is this necessary? Isn't this the job of your publisher's marketing department? I would think that me making my own promotional website might actually be counterproductive. I don't want to interfere with my publisher's marketing efforts; in fact, as it is not my expertise, I might do something to screw it up.

Click to expand...

Publishers do not do much marketing, if any, for minor authors. Big names are a different matter, but a first-time author or otherwise relatively obscure author has to be active in self-promotion.

The mythology has it otherwise, and you'll see that mythology parroted a lot on AW, but the fact is that publishers expect authors to work hard at making their books successful. Read up on the meaning of the word "platform" in publishing. A frequent complaint is how little marketing publishers do for most books and most authors. They DO however, take care of some key needs, such as review copies going to the right places at the right time, trade distribution, professional book design, and seeing that books show up where needed (for bookstore signings, for instance).

Want to see an example of an author's own website, used effectively for promotion? See http://www.brendanovak.com. Another? See www.johnlescroart.com. Another? (Smaller name here.) See www.ritalakin.com. Want more? Get a copy of the recent Writer's Digest Books publication How I Got Published. Pretty much every one (if not every single one) of the authors profiled in that informative book has a website, and most are commercially published.

If you ever get a chance to meet Brenda Novak, ask her about her work on her own behalf. She, though published by a big house, definitely does not sit back and assume that the publisher's marketing department will do it all.

The author need not be a website designer. Plenty of folks sell website design services.

--Ken

hopeful said:

Hi Flashgordon,

You are so kind to supply this information!

I wanted to add my book/website to some of the website directories.

However, I just clicked on some of the website directory links, and none of the links were working, that is they led to "pages not available."

Are the links no longer active or have the web addresses perhaps been changed?

Thanks!

-hopeful

Click to expand...

Sorry to quote myself, here, Flashgordon, but I am still having no luck with the links posted on your list of web directories. All links, when cut and pasted in the address line per your instructions, result in "page not available" or something to that effect.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

- hopeful

LC123 said:

Why is this necessary? Isn't this the job of your publisher's marketing department? I would think that me making my own promotional website might actually be counterproductive. I don't want to interfere with my publisher's marketing efforts; in fact, as it is not my expertise, I might do something to screw it up.

Click to expand...

Don't you want to sell books? Why wouldn't you help market it?

LC123 said:

I also don't care for self-promoting websites; I prefer to read a third-party review. This applies to any product, not just books. So I wouldn't set one up for myself.

Click to expand...

For me, as a consumer, reviews aren't as strong of a decision maker as other things. One of the best things you can do to publicize yourself is provide strong, original content that ties in with your book.

Article syndication is fine, but be careful of submitting to too many sites. Search engines penalize for duplicate content. You're better off securing 1 or 2 different articles on sites that have their own high search engine ranks.

twnkltoz said:

Don't you want to sell books? Why wouldn't you help market it?

Click to expand...

My comment on this is that author's should resist doing what is properly the responsibility of the publisher. I would argue authors agree to put effort into promoting a third-party published book, but not money. Promotion is a part of publishing and should be financially supported by the publisher.

I concur with you Vein. But there are instances when promoting that you would probably have to use some of your own money...for example book tours. Unless you're Stephen King or Neil Gaiman, I'm sure that the publisher is only going to cover x amount. Anything over x amount would probably need to be covered by the author. Which is why you hear so many authors stating that book tours can be rather expensive.

Yes, book tours and creating your website and a few other things. Although I would still suggest capping expenditure to a proportion of actual or realistical predicted royalty income (e.g. 10%).

Also, there's no evidence that book tours do any good for fiction sales, even for established authors. For an unknown? Waste of time and money, is my personal belief.

JD

The way I see it, any promotion helps. And what Flashgordon is suggesting is a FREE way to promote. Yes you will already need to have a blog or website to promote yourself, but frankly, you should already have one or both of those things - even if your publisher already has something set up.

I also disagree with the whole book tour thing. You can do a book tour without travelling across the country. I have personally set up some signings with local Indy Bookstores and have gotten myself a table at some craft fairs (yes, believe it or not, people will buy books at a craft fair). These tables don't cost that much, so if you sell like 10 books, you've made your money back. And my books are all fiction, usually YA.

All I can say is, submit your website or blog to the sites Flashgordon is suggesting. It will take you an hour or two and though i don't guarantee it will do the things he says it will, it will at the very least boost traffic to your site. Which is a good thing, because the more exposure you have, the more likely you are to sell your book.

I would say FG is suggesting the three most common SEO time-wasters. I would suggest promoting the book as content, and promoting the website as content--not just focussing on traffic like traffic is the point. Selling the book is the point. Online press releases do not sell a book, targeted and tailored newsworthy press releases sent to actual local newspapers might--that is the different between SEO and real book promotion. IMHO, of course.