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Author Guest Post - Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Writing the Book Is Only Half the Battle; Promoting It Is the Other Half
By Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Many authors don’t realize that they have to wear two hats – one as book author and the other as book promoter. Often these people are rather surprised when they learn about this second half of book publishing.

Regardless of whether your book is traditionally published or self-published, you will have to do much if not all of the book promotion yourself unless you are a really, really famous author.

And the sooner you start your book promotion the better. When is this sooner? Is it while you are writing your book, while the book is making the agent/publisher rounds, when a publisher has said yes and scheduled your pub date a year from now, or when the book is published?

If you said “when the book is published,” your sooner is too late.

Book marketing is based on developing a relationship either online or offline with a potential reader. And relationships take time, as we all know, to develop.

That’s why a savvy book author/promoter starts his/her promotion of a book as soon as possible. And thanks to the Internet, this can be done with very little cost involved.

If you start a blog while writing your book, you can build up reader interest even before you’re written “The end.” And while it seems that someone writing a nonfiction book has it easier than a fiction author in terms of what to blog about, that’s not necessarily true.

Author Carolyn Howard-Johnson and I have written a chapter on blogging to promote fiction that you might find helpful. You can get it at http://www.FictionMarketing.com .

One tip: Consider getting a combined website/blog so that you can properly promote your book. If you use WordPress.org for this, you’ll be able to add pages with a single click, so you can grow your website as your book project grows.

It’s also a good idea to start participating in a few social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in order to start forming online relationships. It’s important to help others if you want them to help you. So be prepared to share information and answer questions on these sites.

In my opinion, Twitter at this time is the most useful social media site for creating relationships that can help promote your book. If you’re not on Twitter yet but would like to start, you can get helpful tips from my article http://budurl.com/beginningTwitter .

And if your book is already out and you haven’t started promoting it yet, don’t despair. Start now. Thanks to Amazon and other online sites, books today have a much longer “shelf life” than previously. You’ve got plenty of time to promote your book.

Author Phyllis Zimbler Miller’s company MillerMosaicLLC.com has just launched the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program to help people promote their brand, book or business. You can learn about the program at http://www.WeTeachWebMarketing.com. She’s also a National Internet Business Examiner at http://www.InternetBizBlogger.com and active on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ZimblerMiller . Her new ebook What You Should Know About the Launch of an Online Information Product grew out of her Examiner.com articles about the launch of the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program. She is also the author of the novel http://www.MrsLieutenant.com .

About the Book:

PhotobucketIf you had a great idea today for an online information product – something for which you’ve identified a definite niche market – would you know the steps to take to get the product launched online? Steps such as the right software, shopping cart, copywriting, and online promotion needed?

If there’s a possible online information product in your future – or if you simply want to learn more about internet marketing – come along with National Internet Business Examiner Phyllis Zimbler Miller as she explains in details the steps she took in a one-month pre-launch for an online information product.

Phyllis pulls back the curtain to reveal everything she knew and everything she had to learn to fulfill her goal. And after reading this ebook ANATOMY OF AN ONLINE PRODUCT LAUNCH, you’ll be able to use this accumulated knowledge for yourself.

About the Author:

Phyllis Zimbler Miller started Miller Mosaic, LLC to provide the services she wanted for herself for online marketing. The publication of Phyllis’ MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL in April 2008 launched Phyllis into internet marketing, including using social networking such as Twitter and Facebook to market her book.

Phyllis hired her daughter Yael K. Miller – now the chief technology officer for Miller Mosaic, LLC — and together they have created the internet marketing company Miller Mosaic, LLC that helps people promote their brand, book or business.

In April Phyllis became a National Internet Business Examiner at ww.InternetBizBlogger.com, writing articles several times a week on effective internet businesses and internet marketing. Then in June Phyllis wrote a month-long series on the steps of an information product launch in anticipation of the July 1st launch of the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program.

This article series forms the basis of the just-released ebook “ANATOMY OF AN INFORMATION PRODUCT LAUNCH: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE LAUNCH OF AN ONLINE INFORMATION PRODUCT.” In this ebook Phyllis has shared the trials and triumphs of launching an online information product.

Phyllis has a B.A in journalism from Michigan State University and worked as a journalist for several years. She also studied advertising design at the Philadelphia College of Art before earning an M.B.A. at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and working in marketing and web design in Los Angeles.

You can visit her website at www.MillerMosaicLLC.com to learn more about the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program and you can read her Examiner.com articles at www.InternetBizBlogger.com.

Thank you for that entertaining post, dear Author! Readers, your thoughts / comments are most welcome.
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