Promoting Your Work on the Internet

Promotion; that nasty word some authors hate, and many of us use the Internet to accomplish. Cover ads, banners, videos, reviews, contests, websites; the list goes on and on. What works for one doesn't always work for another, and the cost can be overwhelming. The trick to promotion on the web is there is no trick. Promotion requires researching the sites available to your genre, dedication and staying within your budget.

The first thing I recommend you do is get a website in your name. Even if you are not published at the moment, reserve your name for when you do become published. People want to find you and learn about you. The best way for this is through a website. You can create a bio page, an events page, a page for your published work(s) and where people can buy your work(s). You can also run a blog, have a page for tips on writing and a page for future releases. You don't have to be a computer genius to manage a website, but if you are computer challenged like me, or don't have the time, hire a web mistress. I ran my own site for a few years and hated it, because I didn't know what I was doing or how to make the site look as fresh and bold as some others I had seen. Then Karenne, a wonderful and kind lady at Coffeetime Romance, introduced me to Rae. I am so happy she did. Rae is now my web mistress and has been for a few years. She's very talented and so sweet, I only wish I had met her earlier in my career. She takes very good care of me and site, making my life easier.

Once you have your website in place, or parked a domain name for future use, sit down and make a budget for the rest of your promotion. Cover ads, banners, book giveaways; they all cost money. Reviews and interviews don't. You want to be prepared and not shocked when you get the bill later on.

Next, visit the internet and find the sites that help promote books and authors for the genre in which you write. Here, I can only speak for romance, and can say there are a lot of sites out there. Most offer cover ads, reviews, interviews, banners and videos. Some sites get more hits a month than others. Some offer memberships where you get your own author page and special deals throughout the year. I use a variety of romance sites, to include but limited to, Coffeetime Romance, Romance Junkies, The Romance Studio, Historical Romance Club and Love Western Romances. The ladies who run these sites are talented, caring, warm individuals. They are smart and go above and beyond the norm to help authors with promotion, and they are an absolute joy to work with. As with Rae, I don't know what I'd do without them.

Last, check out these sites that are free to authors of all genres; Author's Den, Goodreads, Shelfari, Nothing Binding and Amazon. With these sites, you can create an author bio page, list your published works and share with others upcoming events, books you've read or are reading and make friends. I do caution you to only join as many as you can keep up with. You want your pages to be current and not stale with old news.

Before I sign off, I want to give a shout out to Holly over at The Romance Studio. Last week, I had the privilege to guest blog at The Romance Studio; my first time guest blogging anywhere. I had many questions, made mistakes and sent Holly countless emails. She was very patient and made the process seem like a walk in the park. Thank you, Holly, for all your help and for making this an enjoyable experience.

Until next week, keep writing and research the Internet for promotion opportunities. I'm willing to bet you'll meet some of the nicest people and form lasting friendships through cyberspace, as I have.