Promote Your Book with Social Media

My guest this week is Dana Lynn Smith,

author of The Savvy Book Marketer Guides. Welcome Back Dana!

Dana is here to talk about social media marketing and her book, “The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing.” Social marketing is a very effective way to meet and develop relationships with potential readers as well as other authors and experts. Everyone tells authors they need to take advantage of social marketing opportunities, but it can be confusing and overwhelming. Fiction writers, especially, need guidance.

First, tell me about The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing.

The book covers a number of different social marketing activities, including networking on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads; using social bookmarking and news sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon; blogging and participating in forums; sharing media on sites like YouTube; and posting content on expert sites such as Squidoo. Online networking is very popular now and about half of the book is devoted to networking. There’s an action plan at the end of each chapter.

I invite your readers to download the first chapter, “Introduction to Social Marketing.”

Social marketing can be time consuming. How can you avoid using too much of your writing time on it?

It’s important to develop a social marketing plan first, so you have a clear strategy. Then set aside a specific amount of time each day for social marketing and stick to it. And don’t do your networking first thing in the morning. It’s easy to get sucked into networking sites and spend way too much time there.

When should a new author begin working on social marketing?

Yesterday! It takes a long time to develop networks and relationships and build an online reputation. Aspiring authors should begin building their contacts and reputation as soon as they start writing a book. If you haven’t already embraced social marketing, get started today.

Should you use your book cover or your photo as your online networking image?

Networking is about building relationships. In general you should use your own photo and you should use the same photo consistently. You don’t have to have a professional photo shoot, but make sure your photo is a good quality headshot.

Keep in mind that on Facebook, you are required set up your Profile in your own name (rather than a product or fictional character name) and the profile photo really should be of you. People want to be friends with a person, not a book. But it’s okay to put up your book cover image temporarily, for instance during your book launch. If you create a Facebook Fan Page for your book, you could use your book cover as the image. For Facebook Groups, I recommend an image that matches the purpose of the group.

On Twitter most people use their own photo, but it’s not uncommon to see book covers, logos or other images. I think it’s more important to choose a Twitter user name that reflects your author status or expertise. Unless you are really well known, I advise a topical name such as BookMarketer (my user name) or RomanceWriter5.

You can have multiple accounts on Twitter, so a novelist might create a Twitter account in her own name and also create an account for her book or one of the characters in the book.

I'd like your opinion about people that keep their profiles private on Facebook. When I’m sending friend invitations, I sometimes have trouble telling by the name if it’s the person I’m looking for, and it’s hard to know anything about people who send me friend invitations. I understand security, but how do you balance that with promotion?

Many people set the privacy settings on Facebook so that only their friends can view their profile. This makes it difficult for people who don’t know them personally to invite them as a friend or decide whether to accept their friend invitation. If you’re using Facebook for business, you should set your privacy settings so that everyone can see your profile, and you should refrain from putting very personal information on your profile.

It’s a challenge to maintain a mixed personal and business profile on Facebook. You don’t necessarily want business colleagues or potential customers to see your personal details and conversations with personal friends and family. Facebook’s rules prohibit multiple profiles. One solution is to use two different networks (MySpace for friends/family and Facebook for business, or Facebook for friends/family and LinkedIn for business). Another is to reserve your Facebook Profile for personal friends/family and use a Facebook Page for business. Or just don’t put personal data on your profile.

A related issue is that the vast majority of Facebook users send blank friend requests, with no introductory message letting the other person know who they are and why they want to be friends. If you receive a blank friend request from someone who won’t allow you to see their profile, you can send them a message politely inquiring why they are inviting you to join their circle of friends. There’s a Send Message button on the page where your friend requests appear. Or you can accept the friend request and then remove that person from your friends if something in their profile makes you uncomfortable.

When you send a friend invitation, always include a personal message of introduction. If you’re unsure whether you’ve got the right person, you can ask in your introductory message: Are you the Jane Smith who’s a romance author?

Facebook was originally designed for social networking, but it can also be a powerful professional networking tool if you keep your business objectives in mind and take advantage of Facebook’s business-oriented features.

What other advice can you offer to fiction authors?

You may need to think creatively to apply some of the tactics that work well for nonfiction authors, but I definitely encourage you to use online networking, blogging and other social marketing tactics.

For example, there are a number of social sites for readers, such as Goodreads, that are a great fit for novelists. I wrote an article on that topic.

And remember that online networking isn’t just about meeting potential customers. The contacts you make with other authors, reviewers, bloggers, and publishing professionals can be very valuable.

You've convinced me. I definitely need your book. So Dana, what’s next for you?

My newest book, Texas Book Marketing Handbook has just been published and I’m offering a $10 introductory discount through the end of August. This book has contact information for Texas bookstores, libraries and media, as well as marketing tips. I’m also working on several new resources to help authors promote their books.

Thanks, Dana, for visiting WordShaping!

Dana Lynn Smith has a degree in marketing and 15 years of publishing experience. Her blog is packed with marketing tips for authors. You’ll get a copy of her Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free ezine.

For more information about the Savvy Book Marketer Guides visit www.SavvyBookMarketer.com.

Don’t forget to download your free chapter

from The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to

Successful Social Marketing

The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Selling Your Book to Libraries

Here today is Dana Lynn Smith, The Book Marketing Maven, to talk about her ebook, The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Selling Your Book to Libraries.

I liked Dana's The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Selling Your Book to Libraries very much. I admire anyone who can explain how the inside of a library operates without having been locked up in one.

Seriously, there is so much the public does not see and often authors imagine how libraries work sometimes based on one or two examples. In another life as a librarian, I purchased books for a public library with multiple branches, a large research university library, and a medium-sized state university library and attended many, many trade shows as a buyer and as a seller.

Dana demystifies the process and offers a comprehensive guide to both new and long published authors. Welcome, Dana and thanks for writing such a needed book.

Dana, Tell me how did you the for research this book?

I spent 13 years with a business book publisher, where libraries were a primary market, so I learned on the job over a number of years. I did hire a research assistant to compile the lists of the top 100 public libraries and top 100 academic libraries that are featured in the book.

What’s the single most important thing an author can do?
Take the time to understand how libraries make purchasing decisions and place orders for books. For nonfiction, libraries are looking to fill a gap in their collection. They want good books on topics they think their patrons are interested in, that they don’t already cover in their collection. Fiction is more of a challenge for independently published authors. Try to find a local angle of some sort and promote any awards you've won and good reviews from well-known sources.

How important are distributors and wholesalers/jobbers?

Most library book orders are placed through distributors and wholesalers, because it’s much more efficient than dealing directly with hundreds of different publishers. If you don’t have a distributor, it’s very helpful for your book to be available through Baker & Taylor, Ingram, or one of the other wholesalers.

How important are print reviews to libraries?

Getting reviewed in one of the major book review journals is the best way to get the attention of libraries. They rely heavily on the journals in their purchasing decisions because there’s simply no way they can keep up with the flood of books being published each year. Your first priority should be to study the submission requirements for the major journals and submit your book to those that are a good fit. Submissions need to be made before or just after publication, depending on the journal. There’s a list of review journals on my website

Unfortunately, with such limited space in the review journals, many excellent books never get reviewed there. You can also reach libraries through direct mail, co-op advertising, tradeshows,, and phone calls or visits to libraries.

So Ms. Savvy, what’s next for you?

I have just released my second book, The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing. To learn more about promoting through social media, follow my virtual book tour where I’ll discuss social media marketing on a dozen leading blogs, ezines and podcasts.
That sounds like information that all writers need. Please come back and tell us about that one.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guide series at http://www.savvybookmarketer.com/. For a free copy of her ebook, Top Book Marketing Tips of 2008, use the sign up form on her blog at http://www.bookmarketingmaven.com/.
She also offers free podcasts about selling to libraries & using social marketing at