Friday, November 21, 2008

Red Hot Publicity

In October, I was at a Wizards of Words writers conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

How is that significant you ask?

Well, they held an auction and of several items, and I won one of the items.

So what, you say?

Well, shame on you, because one of those items was a one hour consultation with Penny Sansevieri the author of Red Hot Internet Publicity - An Insider's Guide to Marketing Your Book on the Internet and Jeniffer Thompson of monkeyCmedia designhaus.

That one hour was priceless. The advice and suggestions they gave me for my blog, my website, and my writers' forum were perfect. They narrowed in on spots like putting a "BUY BOOK" button on my front page instead of having the user negotiate the pages to find it on the BOOKS page.

They suggested I syndicate my articles which is something I never thought of before! Who knew I could recycle them and put them out on e-zine.com and let the world of syndication take hold of them.

Most of all they gave me suggestions about getting more traffic to my site. Which I sorely need. So, come on people, hit my site!! Look for some changes, because I'm going to be implementing their ideas. There may even be a chance to win a prize!

Most of their changes dealt with my home page because that's what the reader sees first. And that's where I want to hook them and draw them into buying my books. Who knew, right? It sounds so simple, but it took a professional to point it out to me.

I had one of those "slap my forehead" moments. Now, why didn't I think of that? I guess that's why I'm a writer and not a marketer. But, in this day of publishing, we have to be both, if we want to survive.

So, if you don't do anything else, do this. Hop over to Penny's Author Marketing Experts website and see what she has to offer. Join her newsletter. If you want to learn more about marketing your book on the Internet, you won't be sorry.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with everything Penny said. I might also add, your book makes you an expert so you should always be finding ways to get a message out there and tie it into your book some way.

Vicki M. Taylor said...

Beverly, Being an "expert" because I write fiction never occurred to me. But, since I did write a book, I guess that makes me an "expert" at writing and I can write articles on writing!

Penny and Jeniffer energized me. I'm really looking forward to making the changes to my website and getting the new look debuted.

And, I can't WAIT to hold my first contest. I'm not going to tell what it is yet, but it's going to be fun!

Anonymous said...

Vicki,

Thank you so much for sharing this valuable resource with your readers. I'm planning on marketing my first book after the first of the year so this is perfect timing for me. I've taken your advice, visited her site, and signed up for her newsletter.

This is GREAT! Thanks, and much success to YOU!

Vicki M. Taylor said...

Eileen, I'm glad you found the information useful and you signed up for Penny's newsletter.

Anonymous said...

I'll be check out your new page.

Anonymous said...

Well Vicki, the information on your blog post was full of meaty chunks. I am still digesting the one about posting BUY BOOK on the home page. Would be great on a blog site also.
Thanks and keep up the great work. You are a true expert also because you research and relay to others.