Promoting Your Book on-line with Paperbackswap

Paperbackswap.com is an amazing website that I stumbled onto several months ago through the internet (maybe you've heard of the internet?). The site is a community of readers and the premise is simple: have a shelf of books you don't want anymore? Share them with others and you get a free book in return. Simple, right?

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Profile
3. Navigation
4. Lists
5. PBS and Your Book
6. Discussion Forums
7. Reviews
8. In Closing

1. INTRODUCTION

The cover prices of the books are inconsequential. All you have to do is sign up, upload the ISBN numbers from those books on your shelf that you don't want (they're just taking up valuable space anyway!), and sit back and wait for other readers to request them. Once they do, you simple drop that book in the mail, wait for it to be received, and then go shopping! If you're like me, you probably grew up loving a specific genre of book. Whether they were mysteries, romance novels, or suspense thrillers, your tastes have probably matured and now you're hauling around eight boxes of books each time you move. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but those boxes are HEAVY!

As an author you're probably more into reading your particular genre nowadays. Heck, maybe you want to build a reference library, or perhaps there are bestsellers you've been wanting to read, but for whatever reason didn't pony up the cash for that shiny hardcover. Welcome to Paperbackswap, also known as your Salvation.

Now before we go any further, I'm sure this is all sounding too good to be true and you might be wondering what the catch is. The one simple catch is that after someone requests a book from you (you're given the option to accept or deny the book request), you accept and are provided the name and mailing address of the receiver and you must take that book to the Post Office and pay for the postage. Since most paperbacks won't cost you over $3.00 to ship, this is a small price to pay for building a great library. Books under thirteen ounces can even be shipped from your home mailbox and you can print the shipping label from home. The good news is that when you request that book you've been trying to get your hands on, someone will do the same for you.

You're probably eyeing your bookshelf as you read this, considering how much shelf space you can clear up. I felt the same way, and I have cleared up a LOT of space. Now you're snapped back into reality and thinking, "Hey, this is supposed to be an article about promoting my book and all you've shown me how to do is send books in the mail!"

You clever fox, you. Let's get into the fun part: Promoting your book.

2. PROFILE

Once you've signed up for an account you can immediately begin uploading ISBN numbers to your Bookshelf (which displays all books you are looking to set free) or you can setup a profile for yourself. I'd suggest the latter since we are, after all, here to promote ourselves.

Photo
This first thing you'll want to do is upload one of your standard author head shots so the world can put a face to the name that is sending them some awesome books. Make sure you smile, and ensure your photo captures the genre you write for. Since I'm a humor writer, I'm able to get away with all kinds of wacky pictures and no one can really say anything.

Bio
Next you're able to input your age (if you want) and website address. Let's make sure the link is to your book's website, or Amazon.com link where people can quickly add your novel to their shopping cart.

Following those small text boxes you'll see an even bigger box where you can input a full bio and write pretty much anything your heart desires. Let's play it safe and copy/paste your professional bio, which discusses your awesome book and has a word or two about you in there. First impressions are everything. Don't forget to add in any additional websites of importance along with reader quotes and the whole nine yards.

Forum Settings
If you plan to become active in the Paperbackswap (PBS) forums, which I highly recommend, and will touch on later, you can upload a small avatar (I'd suggest your book cover) and a signature that will automatically attach itself to each post you make. This is a great spot to put a brief blurb, which should include the name of your book, a tagline, and a link to where people can pick up a copy. Make it short and simple. We all have ADD.

There are a handful of other settings you can mess with in this section, but I leave you to toy around with them and tweak them to your liking.

3. NAVIGATION

You navigate PBS through a series of tabs that take you to different sections of the site.
They are as follows:

My Account - Shows any incoming or outgoing books and your swap history (among other things)

Post Books - Lets you upload books you want to swap. You can upload one ISBN at a time, multiples, or even a spreadsheet full of them if you're looking to clean house.

My Bookshelf - Shows all titles you have available for swap. If you've had a change of heart about getting rid of "Where the Red Fern Grows" you can delete it on this page. I don't blame you. That one's a tearjerker.

My Lists - This is the meat and cheese of the site. All of the books you want are found in this section. More on this in a second.

Buddy List - Because what would a social networking site be without the ability to make friends?

Personal Messages - An inbox/outbox for any communications you might have with other PBS members

Settings - Did you leave a typo in your author biography? Fix it here.

4. LISTS

Lets go back to the Lists tab. This is where you'll spend the majority of your time. As you're cruising the site, your bound to run into titles that you've wanted to read along with about a zillion books that you never knew existed that you now want to read. Depending on availability, they will go one of two places.

Head to your Amazon.com wish list (I know you have one) and copy the ISBN numbers from the product page and paste them into the PBS search window. After searching, the book's page will pop up (if it has an ISBN, it's more than likely in the PBS database).

Either the book will be available, or it will be unavailable.

If the book you desire is available, you can click the "Order" button immediately, and if you have the credits (each time someone receives a book from you and clicks a button on the site, you receive a credit), the book will be on its way to your doorstep in just a few days. HOWEVER, if the book in unavailable, you can opt to add the book to your Wish List.

Wish List
If you've added a book to your wish list, you will be added to a queue and shown how many other users also want that book. You might be the tenth person in line, or the first. PBS is first come, first served.

PBS will attempt to calculate how long it will be until that title becomes available, but keep in mind that it's all dependent on someone entering the ISBN and adding it to their shelf. If you are number one in the queue, PBS will be really nice to you and 'hold' the book for 48 hours. You'll receive an email alerting you that the book is available and you can log in and accept or deny. If you wait longer than two days, person number two gets a crack at it. And so on, and so on.

PBS takes this system a step further and you can set certain titles to automatically accept the swap if that book suddenly becomes available in the system. Then all you have to do is sit back and wait for it to arrive.

Reminder List
If you find a book you want and there are copies available, you can add it to your reminder list if you'd prefer to pick it up another time. From your reminder list you can order that book with the click of a button as well as keep tabs on how many copies are currently available in the system.

I highly recommend searching YOUR book(s) in the database and adding them to your reminder list immediately so that you can see how many are available.

If there are lots of copies of your novel available, then that's fantastic! You're probably getting some great circulation. No copies available at all? Patience, Grasshopper.

BIR List
BIR stands for "Books I've Read." On every single book page there are five stars. As you go through and rate books that you've read, they will show up on this list. From here you can see if any of these books are currently on Wish Lists of other members. If you see there is a demand for a book that you have, you can opt to add it to your shelf and put it up for grabs.

By rating books, PBS's FABIL (Find a Book I'll Like) system generates titles that you might enjoy reading. You can sort them by genre or availability and delete anything that looks uninteresting. I've found quite a few great titles this way, so it's definitely worth looking into when you aren't busy promoting your own title.

5. PBS AND YOUR BOOK

Now here's what you've been waiting for. Hopefully you're still with me. For all I know, you're off packing up your bookshelf and shipping books across the state. Don't get me wrong, that's a ton of fun, but we're here to promote a book, remember? Let's get to promoting it.

Make it Available!
I'm willing to bet you have a box full of your books somewhere in the house. Whether they are in the garage, a closet, or even right on your bookshelf, you likely have some extras that you sell at signings, events, or just from the trunk of your car. Maybe you have some dent and scratch copies that you've been looking to move. This is the time and the place.

If you run a search of your book in the PBS database and see that none are currently available, it's time to take matters into your own hands. Grab a copy from that box or bookshelf and input the ISBN into the uploader. Voila. Your book is now available on Paperbackswap. If you look at your book in your reminder list it should now say "Copies Available: 1" and that means we're in business.

I've yet to see that there is any rule against uploading a book you have authored, and I can't imagine why there would be. If someone wants to read your book, they should be able to get it, even if that's directly from the author. If someone requests your book and you ship it out, no worries, just upload another and keep a supply for the ensuing demand.

Don't feel ashamed or embarrassed that you are sending out your own book. Use the opportunity to make it special. Autograph it. Inscribe a personal message. Include handwritten sheet of paper in the mailing to thank them for taking the time to request and read your book. Ask for a review when they've finished.

Suddenly you've gone from sending a book to sending something that's personalized and special. Readers will appreciate the time you spent in jotting down their names and saying thanks.

Some authors like to keep other promotional materials handy whether they are bookmarks to advertise their title or business cards. Consider sticking these in the package as well. Worst-case scenario, they love your book and decide to give the cards to a friend (and they BUY a copy).

What's that you say? You're giving away books for free? You're not getting paid?

This is all very true. However, in return for giving away that book and losing a little bit of profit, you will soon get a replacement book for your collection AND you've possibly made a new fan if your first impression (and book) are good.

If you're just starting out as an author, remember that word of mouth is the biggest source of sales and sometimes a new fan is worth more than the three dollars you might get from selling it online.

Promoting Your Book With Other Books
Since I write in the humorous essay genre, I tend to own and read a lot of other books in the same vein. Some of them I like to keep around, others were fun for a bit, but I probably want to swap them for something else that might make me laugh. Each time I send out a book (even if it's not in the same genre) I include a piece of paper, which is printed from a simple Microsoft Word file on my home computer that contains all pertinent info about my book.

On this piece of paper I have a personalized note to the receiver congratulating them on being the new owner of the book, and a quick note suggesting that if they enjoy what they're receiving (or if I'm mailing a book in a different genre, I suggest that if they like to laugh) they should also consider checking out MY book.

Also printed on the sheet is a big old color picture of my book's cover along with the ISBN info, the synopsis (what you'd see on Amazon), and some short (but hilarious) snippets from its contents.

Now, depending on the genre of your book, you can probably put together your own one-sheet that will appeal to readers of that genre. If you write thrillers or mysteries, give them a pivotal moment from your book but leave a cliffhanger so they can't help but track it down!

Next, I mention to look for the book on Paperbackswap, but also include my email address and a link to my website. I wouldn't want to stop anyone from purchasing a brand new copy, now would I?

Lastly, I round out the page with my scribble of an autograph, tuck that sheet randomly into the pages (or into my favorite chapter) and drop that thing in the mail.

If you have bookmarks or business cards to promote your book, consider dropping those in as well for the reader to share with a friend.

I've had numerous occasions where I've seen an email response thanking me for the suggestion, or have seen a book order come through for the exact same address! As long as your printed page is well written and grabs the reader's attention, you've just added a sale and gotten rid of an unwanted book simultaneously!

Follow Up
If you have sent out a copy of your own book and see that it has been received, wait a few weeks and follow up with the PBS member you sent it to. If you haven't seen any reviews pop up on online from them, consider dropping a quick note to let them know you hope they're enjoying your book and you can't wait to read their review of it on Amazon. You'd be surprised at how often readers are willing to share their opinions, especially if they know the author will read them. Be warned that not all reviews will be the Five Stars you hope for, but take all feedback into consideration and let it help you improve your next book.

Additional Promotion Ideas
If you're looking to ways to spice up your website, Facebook, Twitter, etc... then let your friends and fans know that they can get your book for FREE from Paperbackswap.com.

If they're already members on the site, they should be able to locate and order it very quickly, but for those who are not on the PBS bandwagon, you may have brought them onto a new site that could change their lives... or at least their reading habits.

Keep an eye on the availability of your book. Sometimes, after a member has read it, they will add it to their bookshelf in hopes of passing it along to someone else. If your book doesn't pop back up in the system, that simply means the reader probably wants to keep the book (take a second to be flattered) and you should consider uploading the ISBN number again to "keep it in stock."

6. Discussion Forums

Paperbackswap has a rather in-depth forum system. By hunting around, you can find other users looking for all kinds of books. Some folks have specific titles they are hunting for (that you just might have) while others will ask for book suggestions based off of other authors they like.

Periodically search the forums for key words and similar authors and don't miss out on an opportunity to plug your book and mention its availability on PBS. If there are a small amount of copies available, people tend to order them sooner than later.

Each book genre also has its own forum, so get into the community and contribute to discussions! If you set up a solid Signature for yourself, your book will be promoted each and every time you post a topic or reply. Your book will promote itself without you even needing to be at the computer, and that's a wonderful thing.

7. REVIEWS

As with any book-centric website, PBS allows you to contribute book reviews for titles you have read. Don't bend over backwards here, simply copy/paste the reviews you've probably already written on Amazon, Goodreads, or Shelfari. If you leave solid and well written reviews for books in your genre, a reader just needs to click once to end up on your profile page where they will learn all about your book, and you'll be mailing them a copy soon enough.

8. IN CLOSING

As an avid reader and book lover, I find Paperbackswap to be an amazing site in and of itself, however, you should never miss an opportunity to market your book to your target audience, and if you go about things the right way, you have thousands of users from that target market right at your finger tips.

It's all about building your credibility, creating and maintaining relationships, and having a great product to offer. Embody those qualities and word of mouth will take care of the rest. In the meantime, swap your old novel collection for some fresh reads and enjoy some great books.

Remember that in no way are my opinions and techniques the end all, be all on how to promote your book on this website. In fact, I welcome any feedback as well as tips and tricks I may have missed. After all, we're all in this together.

Weston Locher is the author of the humor book, Musings on Minutiae, a collection of 50 hilarious essays about his childhood memories, life with frenetic felines, living in an urban apartment complex, and everything in between.

For more information, visit his blog at www.musingsonminutiae.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Weston_Locher

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4819660

Promoting Your Book on-line with Goodreads

Goodreads.com is one of the premiere social networking sites for book lovers. At this site you can make friends, share book recommendations, create virtual bookshelves to show off what you're currently reading, the books you've read in the past, and titles you intend to read in the future. The article below details a few functions of the site as well as several ways that I have successfully promoted and marketed my own book.

I won't get into the technical side of things as far as how to join the site or set these things up, as the website itself is good at walking you through the process.

Contents:
1. Author Page
2. Status Updates
3. Groups and Forums
4. Giveaways
5. Reviews
6. Paid Advertisements
7. In Closing
8. Additional Resources

AUTHOR PAGE

If your new book has an ISBN number or is posted for sale on Amazon.com then it's more than likely that your title will be searchable in the site's database. Once you have signed up for a Goodreads account and located your book, you will be able to click a magic button to tell the site that you are the writer of the book and will be led through the process on how to set up an author page.

Bio
You'll be able to create an author biography for yourself that will list the books you have written, a link to your website, your genre, your favorite writers, as well a picture. Make sure everything is professional looking and sounding so you immediately have credibility as an author. This is likely the first information your potential readers are going to see or read about you. Make a great first impression!

Blog
Goodreads has its own blog service which will display any posts you make to your profile, but hopefully you're one step ahead of the game and already have a blog (and a professional looking) website of your own. In the blog settings you can insert the web address of your blog's feed and anytime you update your regular blog, it will automatically cross-post to Goodreads where friends and potential fans will see it. It will put the first few paragraphs on the site and then link externally to your regular blog... and once those readers are on your real website, hopefully you have enough material to keep them there, ultimately leading them to that fateful Amazon.com link where they can purchase your title!

Events
If you have any big events coming up, whether it's the actual release date of your book, a blog tour, or a book signing, list it here! You can then promote the event to your friends and they can decide whether or not they will attend. If nothing else, it shows potential readers (and publishers) that you're a hard worker and willing to do your own promotion.

Videos
Video book trailers are all the rage this year, so if you have your own hosted on YouTube, or other online video service, you can link it here and your readers will be able to enjoy it right from the Goodreads site (and hopefully purchase your novel soon after!). Other good videos to post include author interviews, public speaking engagements, or a personal reading from a chapter of your book. It's easier to sell a book when someone feels like they know the author, so get personal! Just don't get so personal that you end up revealing your social security or credit card numbers to your viewers! That would be silly.

Writing
Another section on your author page lets you post writings. This can be whatever you like! Often times you'll see good reviews of the book reposted here, sample chapters, and more and more authors are putting brand new material online in order to get feedback as they write the sequel to their current novel. Interactivity is the key to a strong and loyal readership!

Quotes
Goodreads.com encourages all of its members to share quotes from books they love. You can put quotes from your favorite books, inspirational sayings, or (if you're crafty) you'll upload quotes from your book that will be attention grabbing. These quotes will also show up on your book's Goodreads page. Between the "Writing" section and the "Quotes" sections, there's enough room to add some good snippets to get people reading your work, and hopefully it also makes them feel like they HAVE to finish it, and subsequently buy the book!

Fans
The last section of the author page that I want to mention is the "Fan" area where people can click a single button and become a fan. Your name and photo will then show up on their profile underneath their "Favorite Authors" section, and they will be updated whenever you post a new book, new writings, or a new blog post. Whatever keeps them coming back! Remember that the average person has to be exposed to something almost seven times before they decide to purchase it!

STATUS UPDATES

Since authors love to read, it's easy to share what book your nose is currently in with your Goodreads friends and fans. With status updates, you can tell them what page you are currently on in any given title you may be reading as well as any thoughts or emotions you're having on the book thus far. You can also leave a general status update where you can share 140 characters of anything you want! This is seen by anyone who is currently your friend, or has clicked the "Fan" button on your page. Is summer coming? Suggest to your readers that they sit outside and enjoy a copy of your book (with a link to the Amazon.com product page, of course).

Remember that sharing which books you enjoy is another good form of interaction. By clicking on any book's title, you'll be able to see which of your friends and fans have read it. Strike up a conversation! Find out what they liked and disliked about the book, and if your novel is in a similar genre, don't forget to recommend it to them!

GROUPS AND FORUMS

The heart of any social networking website is the actual networking part. Goodreads has thousands of user-created groups where readers discuss every genre and title imaginable. If you're about to release the next great Thriller novel, do some searching for groups who are (actively) talking about the books that you enjoy and that inspired you. A great feature of Goodreads is that these discussions are insanely simple to find. Search one of your favorite books and you'll be treated with a list of current groups that are discussing the book! Some groups are open for anyone to join while others require invitations or requests to join. Get in on the conversation and contribute to the conversation. Don't just tell everyone to read your book, that's too pushy. Be a solid participant in the conversation and people will appreciate your contributions, and all they have to do is click on your name and BAM, they'll be in your Author Page world where you have everything you need to sell someone on your book.

GIVEAWAYS

My favorite way of promoting a book on Goodreads is through their "First Reads" program where authors can setup a giveaway of their book. You get to write the synopsis, how many copies you are willing to give away, and how long people can enter to win.

The only thing that avid readers love more than reading is winning free books. I normally run my giveaways for a month making sure that the synopsis I include attracts readers of the humor genre. I lead off with a funny quote from the book and then get into the details from there.

Throughout the month (or however long you decide) to have your giveaway open to entrants, a box will appear on your book page that says "Win a Copy of this Book!" and all people have to do is click a couple of buttons to enter. Your book is also found in a master listing of giveaways which contains books of every genre, some of which are self-published, some are ARC (Advanced Reader Copies) and others are unedited galley versions.

In my experience, these giveaways promote themselves because at the end of the day, it's a free book and people want it. Check in often to see how many people have entered to win your book. The first giveaway I did was open for entries for a month and I have over 1,000 people enter to win. The second giveaway I did was also for a month and over 800 people entered to win. I only gave away one copy of the book with each contest, however, I made it my mission to turn all 1,800 of those people into my readers since they had at least seen the book and shown interest.

Since Goodreads will show you the name and photo of everyone wanting to win your book, you can easily click on them and see their profile. Their bookshelves will often tell you right away if they like your genre, or if they're just trying to win a free book. Occasionally you'll see people who have entered with dummy accounts, just in increase the chances that they will win. These profiles have no photos and no books on their shelves, so just ignore these.

Now, the following suggestion has been the best source of book sales for me, but I warn you, it will be tedious for you.

For all of the people who sign up to win the book, I went on to each one of their profiles individually and sent them a personal message or friend request to thank them for entering to win a copy, and suggesting that they add my book to their "to-read" list in the unfortunate event that they didn't win the giveaway. For each person I message or friend request, I include their actual name so it doesn't just look like a spam message that I sent to hundreds of people. These friendly messages usually open a dialog with users who have actually taken the time to explore your book a bit, and they will occasionally offer up that they read some of your quotes and sample chapters and are eager to win it.

As I mentioned, this messaging process takes a long time, and Goodreads doesn't make it any easier. They limit the amount of friend requests and personal messages that you can send in a day, but with a little bit of time set aside, along with some persistence, you can eventually reach out to everyone. On your book page, Goodreads will show you the number of users who have your awesome novel on their "to-read" lists, and hopefully this number is steadily growing with each personalized message you send out.

So you've spent a month getting the word out about your giveaway, more and more people are entering every day, and you're trying to stay on top of messaging them all, hopefully making a few friends in the process. What then?

Then your giveaway ends. Goodreads does the hard part of choosing a winner. One winner is chosen for each copy of the book you volunteered to give away. I don't know the mechanics behind how they pick winners, but in my experience both people who won copies of my humor book were readers who previously enjoyed books in that genre. Once I was delivered the names and addresses of the winners, I sent the books out immediately, and emailed them with a big CONGRATULATIONS on winning the contest. I once again thanked them for entering and politely asked them to consider writing a review on Goodreads and Amazon.com after they'd had time to digest it.

With both winners, I was lucky enough that they did enjoy the book and wrote sparkling reviews on both sites. They since have stayed in touch and will be the first people I go to when I release another book in the future.

Then comes the next tedious and time consuming part: I went back through all 1,800 people who entered to win my book and messaged them AGAIN to thank them yet again for entering, but also delivered them the sad news that they had not won. I did, however, include a link to the book on Amazon.com where they could purchase it if they were still interested in reading it. This led to several immediate sales!

I was able to see when these users were reading the book and thus I was able to reach out to them and politely request they post Goodreads and Amazon reviews upon completion.

REVIEWS

Though groups and forums are the center of most social networks, book reviews are the heartbeat of Goodreads. Readers will offer up their opinions, both good and bad, on the books they have read. Whereas Amazon tends not to encourage negative reviews, Goodreads users don't pull any punches. I learned the hard way that not everyone is interested in my genre, and not all people share my sense of humor, so even though I've received some rave reviews, I've also had people discuss who much they hated my book. You have to build up a tough skin and realize that not everyone likes the same things, but be sure take all feedback that readers offer into consideration for future titles.

I've been working on reviewing all of the books that I've read and enjoyed; especially novels and collections that are in my genre. I try to leave constructive and concise reviews with helpful information. If users like your reviews, they can end up on your author page with just one click where your book is ready to be presented to them. Always be aware how anything you write on the website can add or subtract to your credibility. If you go leaving horrible reviews for books, people will assume you are negative and unlikeable and therefore, why would they buy your book? But if you are constructive, insightful, and your reviews are well-written (you are a writer, after all) then your credibility goes up and you will also help them find new and exciting authors to read.

PAID ADVERTISEMENTS

The last section that I want to mention should be a supplemental area for your promotions. Goodreads runs an ad service much like Google where they will promote your book in their sidebar (with an image of your book cover, and a brief line of text - so make those characters count!) on a pay-per-click basis. Unlike Google, Goodreads asks you to decide how many clicks you want and you pay for them up front. They then rotate your ad until you collect the clicks you paid for.

In the world of books, word of mouth is the best tool at your disposal, but by having your book cover and an eye-catching description floating around, it will help put the book into people's minds so that later on when they see that their friend is planning to, or has read your book, they'll be even more likely to pick it up.

Goodreads allows you to choose where the reader ends up when they click your link. Most times it's the book's page on Goodreads, the Amazon product page, or the author's website. Having run only one campaign though this service, I can't be sure of which destination will offer you the most sales, but I linked mine to my author website and didn't see a large return. Don't ever assume that advertisements will get you the sales you want, and be wary of how much money you sink into them as those dollars can often be used more effectively for other marketing campaigns.

IN CLOSING

I hope that this has given you a better understanding of the awesome potential that Goodreads offers to authors of all genres and remember that my way is not necessarily the best way; it's simply what has worked for me thus far and led to sales of my book. I welcome any feedback on this article and hope that if you find another great way to use Goodreads that you will shoot me an email and let me know. My hope is that other authors will find this information useful throughout their journey toward the Bestseller's List.

Remember that we're all in this together, and as Benjamin Franklin once said, "We must all hang together, or we will surely hang separately."

I'm not sure if that's relevant, but dang was he a funny guy.

Weston Locher is the author of the humor book, Musings on Minutiae, a collection of 50 hilarious essays about his childhood memories, life with frenetic felines, living in an urban apartment complex, and everything in between.

For more information, visit http://www.musingsonminutiae.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Weston_Locher

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4758834