I’ve thought long and hard about how I’ll promote my book when I get it published.  (Contrary to popular thought, traditional publishers don’t typically do a lot to promote your book unless you are already successful.  Therefore, whether you are publishing traditionally or self-publishing, a lot of the promotion falls on you.)

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. I’ll have a website for the book.  I already have a writer’s website, but I want the book to have its own website.  However, just posting a website isn’t enough — you have to be proactive about getting the word out.  A website can quickly get buried among all the other websites out there, so in order to generate a higher search engine ranking…
2. I’ll have a blog on my website.  This will be updated regularly, which will help in several ways: It’ll boost my search engine rankings, help to keep readers coming back, and (hopefully) generate contextual links to my blog and/or website from other people’s blogs.
3. I’ll write press releases about my book.  This is a dual marketing effort: I’m trying to get mentioned in the media, but I’m also using it like many online marketers’ link building compaigns.  The more links point back to my site, the more popular it will seem to the search engines, and therefore the more useful and relevant they will assume it is.
4. I’ll write marketing articles on topics related to my book.  These can also be excerpts published for free on other sites.  The idea is the same as the press releases: To increase visibility, but also to increase my link popularity.  This is another approach that is often used by a search engine marketing company.
5. I’ll know when to let someone else take over.  Of course, all this takes time.  And if everything goes as plan, I’ll be successful with my first book and be working on my next book, so I’ll want to make sure I have enough time to devote to that.  If it comes down to it, I’ll need to be willing to find an Internet marketing service to take over all of these tasks, freeing me up to do other promotion such as book signings and still have enough time to write.

Technorati Tags: book marketing, book promotion, blogging, article marketing, higher search engine ranking, Internet marketing service