by Anne R. Allen

A lot of authors get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I mention marketing books online.

But it’s pretty much the only way to promote books during this “stay at home” pandemic.

So we gotta do it. I understand your reluctance. Social media is full of trolls, scammers, and vast herds of bellicose morons.

And there’s also a lot of unethical and downright criminal behavior that gets labeled as “online marketing”.

Some online marketing “gurus” teach (expensive) lessons in manipulation, lying, cheating, and general flimflammery. I had one contact me just this week. He’d put a Google Alert on “guest blogging” and this blog came up, with my piece complaining about unethical behavior in requesting guest blogposts.

He’s such a lazy idiot that he hadn’t bothered to read the passage of the blog he cut and pasted into the email. But because I used the magic keyword phrase, he expected me to link to his website that teaches people to send unethical guest blogpost requests to bloggers like me.

Um, sure, right, dude. I’ll send my readers to Moron McSleazy University, so they can learn to use Google alerts to harass me.

Here’s the thing: trying to sell your books or services by gaming the system, abusing bloggers, and lying is a very bad idea.  Even if you’ve paid a lot of money to learn how. What you want to do is establish a brand that people trust, like Stephen King, Doris Kearns Goodwin or Lemony Snicket—not Scams “R” Us. How do you do that? As Ruth told us last week, you reach success with patience and persistence, not tricks and gimmicks.

Here are some of the unethical things I see all the time. I hope normal people aren’t starting to think this is okay behavior:

read more https://annerallen.com/2020/06/online-marketing-ethics/

Why should I buy your book?

Have you ever been asked this question? I have, numerous times.

As humans, we need a reason to part with our money. We want what we spend our money on to benefit us in some way.

Are you giving your potential readers a compelling reason to purchase and read your book?

A compelling reason explains the benefit that your target audience will get by reading your book. Without a compelling reason, a buyer is left not knowing how your book can solve their problem. Each person who is unclear as to what your book will do for them is a missed opportunity for you.

If you want to sell more books, you need to be crystal clear about what a reader will get from reading your book.

To craft a compelling reason for someone to buy your book answer these questions:

read more https://marketingchristianbooks.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/are-you-offering-a-compelling-reason-to-buy/

Interestingly enough, I “met” today’s guest blogger, Pauline Wiles, when she commented on one of the blog posts here. In her comment, Pauline included a link to an article on her own site that I found helpful, so I asked her to share some of her wisdom in a guest post for us. Pauline creates simple, stylish websites for writers and authors. Learn more and get your free website starter kit on her site at https://www.paulinewiles.com/ .

Author website must-haves

By Pauline Wiles

As a writer, you might presume that creating your website should be easy.

In fact, finding the perfect words for your online home can often be challenging. Moreover, design decisions and technology choices can be downright overwhelming.

It doesn’t have to be hard, though, especially if you start slowly. It’s all about knowing what you can and can’t live without in an author website.

7 key elements

Here are seven author website essentials. 

read more https://buildbookbuzz.com/author-website-must-haves