Creating themed content can help build your book title(s) into more of a brand.
In this You Tube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D74IilngIkc
Island Fiction author of LEGEND OF THE SWAM CHILDREN, Maureen Marks-Mendonca creates 'mouse art' images and puts them to a tender, musical composition of her own.
Earning a loving has never been more accessible thanks to the internet, e-commerce and social media tools. More and more of us can cover our expenses or at least supplement our income working in the field which sparks our creative passions.
Producing and publishing intellectual properties is a form of REAL ESTATE. Through passive earnings, (royalties), and spin off opportunities - speaking engagements, merchandising etc. more and more individuals are loving the ways they earn a living.
It is vital to keep tending your plot.
Creating a website is only like setting up a store front, but who wants to return to a store where there are no new items, not enough content or fresh stock to warrant a comeback? You can't afford to stay static on the internet. In terms of commercial opportunity, using the free social media tools online, are now the best way to compete fairly and get yourself noticed.
Getting repeaters and increasing traffic can be your experience on the internet - marketing in such a broad, international scope is FREE - for the first time in electronic media history. Well, it does require an investment of time and creativity. Producing and publishing free content that links to your products is the best way to support your works so they do not just sit waiting for readers to find them.
Providing a lot of free content is like expanding the capacity of your net so that you may cast it broadly. Potential fans will have an opportunity to explore your world more deeply and are more likely to want to share it with you by purchasing your products. In this way 'free' content that is of meaningful value to your audience, earns interest so that your book is not just a passive product.
You, give it life. So loving what you do is the primary pre-requisite.
On creating additional, supporting content :
1. Set up a You Tube Channel under your own name or book title; produce a simple book trailer and short interview clips even if it is a 'mock' interview in your own living room. If you can swing something in the local media where ever you are based or create on in a classroom or library, this will obviously increase interest value. Make the content from the audience point of view and less biographical. Share something relevant you have learned or know about the topic or interest area.
2. Set up a blog and Face Book page. Post relevant content and links and consider yourself a "Publisher" in this context - creating and publishing similarly themed, supporting content. Giving freely is the nature of online publishing and the spirit of the web. Broadcasting your interests has never been easier. Going for quantity over time builds your credibility and increases the opportunity for surfers who share an interest in your themes to find you.
3. Link your free "add-on"s to your umbrella web site but only if you already have one (costly web sites seldom offer a good return on investment and are useful only if you intend to build e-commerce tools and have a corporate (less personal) vision for your work.
4. Make sure you provide a one-click option, whenever it is possible, to Amazon or where ever your book may be purchased online. The fewer number of clicks to find the purchase button, the better chance you stand to get interested surfers to click BUY NOW. It's like putting the cash register up front and center at the store for customers to enjoy an easy-purchase experience. Don't have them searching page after page and reading all about you first before you link to purchase. Those who want more will invest the time anyway, but those who want to purchase won't hang around and you'll lose the sale.
5. Whenever it is available offer a share tool for FB and Twitter so that fans can help you spread the word for FREE.
Social media tools are being used by everyone. For just a few minutes per day, or per week you can keep your intellectual property alive by publishing additional, similarly themed content which your audience and potential readers will access freely.
This will keep your name and work in circulation and even build your direct mailing list. Actively marketing your work and growing sales yourself, will create a "track record" which is more likely to clear a path to your NEXT opportunity in publishing.
Above All,
Happy Writing
JJ
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