I was visiting different blogs this morning as I'm apt to do 24/7 when one particular blog caught my eye. "Guest post on my blog!" was this blogger's latest tweet. You know how certain words just stop you in your track and are like the best eye candy you've ever seen? Yeah, that's about what those words do to me.
And then I got to thinking about the hundreds of bloggers out there who are offering these free promotional opportunities for authors. And then I got to thinking some more about all those writers out there who have books and are looking for ways to promote them without costing them a thing except for their time. The bloggers love them because they are providing free content and it also might give them an opportunity to host a giveaway, but I'm thinking the true secret to why they offer this is twofold. One, they love doing it and two, they are hoping that fresh content from these authors will give them new viewership as these authors are more than likely going to announce it to their writing groups, on their blogs and on their social networks. A little bit of time for the blog host to get the material up and they stand to get people they might not have been able to get before to stop by their blog.
Back to free book promotional opportunities, if all these bloggers are offering these free services, why would authors need Pump Up Your Book in the first place? Why do they feel they need to pay someone to do something they can do themselves? And again, what makes Pump Up Your Book so darn special that people would really want to put hard-earned money into having someone else do it for them?
The answer to this is simple - lack of time on their part - but I would like to discuss just what is so darn special about Pump Up Your Book in regards to convincing the author we don't just plop you on blogs and call it a day.
Pump Up Your Book has a system. When I tell inquiring clients I'd like to go on and get them into the system before they've even paid, this is what I'm talking about. I don't consider us a service; I consider us a system - a system that involves ways to get more people to find you. It's not all about announcing stops in the social networks. It's not all about sending out promotional material, although this has to utilized, too. It's all about finding a highly tech system to make sure not only people stop to read their interviews, guest posts, radio shows and reviews, during the tour, but after the tour as well.
To understand the search engines which are our main focal points, when new content is published, it generally hits the top of the search engines or pretty darn close if the blog is optimized (as a book blogger, are you optimizing your blog?). As new content is published, that one interview, etc., starts to creep downward into oblivion.
I had a paranormal author on tour months and months ago and she's still at the top of the search engines, as well as a women's fiction author and other authors we've represented, but I digress.
Years ago, I learned the system and I worked it so that the search words for my book were at the very top of Google, Yahoo and AOL. It doesn't take long for this to happen; in fact, I've done it in 24 hours three separate times with other things and I can do it again. Because I knew exactly what I wanted my key search words to be ("relationship expert"), the editor of OK! Magazine, the supermarket tabloid, called me for a quote on the Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaugn relationship. My quote ended up in the October 12, 2006 edition of the Ok! Magazine which was seen by millions of readers.
So, if this can happen to me, it can certainly happen to you! Journalists are constantly looking for people to quote and this could lead to a plug for your book as well.
And how did that happen?
The editor of OK! Magazine did a web search. There are hundreds upon hundreds of relationship experts out there who had been doing it a long longer than I had, but little ol' nobody me is who he contacted. And yes I was a bundle of nerves when he called for that quote.
But you see what can happen? You just don't know who is out there searching around for things concerning your book and if you're not showing up on the first 3 pages of Google for example, you could stand to lose a great promotional opportunity. I'd hate to see that happen.
And so that's what we do. It's a system we have perfected over the years, but it comes down to one basic formula which makes Pump Up Your Book much more than a service and it's the best way I know of where more people can find out about you and your book.
What's the formula?
Even the authors we represent don't know what exactly it is, but if you'd like to check us out to find out if you can figure it out, shoot me an email to me, Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com or find out all about our virtual book tour package plans here. Submissions for February tours will close on December 25.
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