Beth Camp Historical Fiction

Monday, January 07, 2013

Book marketing online? Do writers give a shiitake?

Back in 2011, Alan Rinzler's The Book Deal blog was listed by Writer's Digest as one of the best websites for writers interested in publishing their work. So I bopped over to take a look. I'll be back.

The Book Deal BLOG is hot! To my surprise, everything I've been reading from co-participants in the Ultimate Blog Challenge about marketing can be seen at work right here: Short paragraphs, visually appealing images and overall web design with headers, readable text, and snazzy headliners. And a very catchy, engaging style that invites the would-be-lonely-writer into the niceties of marketing and publishing.  It looks like editor/consultant/workshop leader Rinzler posts 1-2 times a month. He's worth a read.

Not only am I intrigued by APE: How to Publish a Book, Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur  (co-authored by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch and Rinzler's latest post), but I almost want to plunk down $$$ ($9.99 on Kindle). Almost. But first, let's exhaust online resources.

Writer's Digest listed 12 other sites in their 2011 Best Websites for Writers. Several are already defunct (does that say something about the fluidity of the web?). Here are three that look promising:

  1. Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog at www.jwikert.typepad.com features posts every several days on larger book publishing issues (DRM management, Amazon reviews, HTML5). This one's worth a look for the website design alone (three column layout, easy contact, truncated entries).
  2. An online community specifically for self-publishers called Publetariat at www.publetariat.com also has that easy to read three column layout with equally easy navigation to NINE categories that offer a hit list of articles under each topic (my favorites so far, WRITE, DESIGN, PUBLISH, and SELL). I'm most excited about this one.
  3. Carol Denbow's A Book Inside  at www.abookinside.blogspot.com has sporadic posts, but Denbow's Kindle book, 100 Ways to Market Your Book for Free (or Really Cheap) got me to hit the "buy" button.  

Giraffes snacking at
Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
So today's post is part of my New Year's commitment to clean up my "to read" pile AND to find online resources about book marketing. I hope this helps you as well!

BTW, there's no "affiliate kickback" on any posts I do on this blog.

If you came here from the Ultimate Blog Challenge, this post's for YOU! Do you have any online resources to share?



7 comments:

  1. Very true I'm not sure if they give a shitake or not but I do say writer's mostly do a great job of this type writing.

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    1. Hi, Alyssa. I'm a writer, but I'm really a newbie when it comes to marketing. Participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge is leading me to many new ideas that will be useful, but like many writers, I'd rather write! Thanks for visiting.

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  2. I am always amazed how much better other people's blogs and pages look in comparsion to mine.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I actually enjoyed reading your blog for its thoughtful discussion of pen names, raising issues I hadn't thought about. Would you consider changing the background to a more reader friendly color (other than black?) I read on one of the blogs for the Ultimate Blog Challenge that black is very difficult to read, and it was for my squinty eyes. But I did read every word because the writing was interesting.

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  3. Thank you for stopping by. Writing this post had two advantages . . . it cleaned out a little more of my "to read" pile AND I found some great online sources. Can't wait to check out the remaining resources on Writer's Digest's list, maybe even for 2012.

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