Blogs - What, Why and How

In the 21st century, it’s no longer optional to have a blog. All authors need to have a blog to promote their books. To get started, you can easily set up a blog on www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com, each of these services offer free blogs and you follow the directions on their sites to start blogging in minutes. Over time you can learn ways to fine tune your blog and to customize the layout or you can hire someone to set up a blog and to teach you the best ways to use that blog to promote.

What is a blog?

Originally a blog was simply a way to communicate with friends. However, blogs are a great way for authors to build a brand and establish a promotional platform for their books. You can use a blog to help potential readers get to know the author behind the book and to learn more about the books you write. Think of it as a cyber sales person who is representing you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What is your cyber salesman saying about you and your books?

How to use a blog?

A blog can include information about your writing, how you write, how you develop story ideas and why you’re qualified to write your books. Non fiction authors can use their blog to build their credibility with potential readers. Take the opportunity to show people that you have something and why you have the background and knowledge to help them. Fiction authors can share insider details about their books, the characters, the setting and many other parts of their books. You can also share writing and promotional tips with others.

Promote your blog.

Just starting a blog is not enough. Once you have a blog and once you start blogging on a regular basis (at least 2-3 short or long blog posts per week), you need to list your blog in blog directories. Two or the many directories include: www.blogcatalog.com and www.Technorati.com . Your blog address should be listed on your author business cards, linked to your website and listed in your email signature block. These are a bare minimum of the places where you should list your blog address. It is also very good to register your blog with www.feedblitz.com or www.feedburner.com and place a subscription block so that interested readers can subscribe to your blog. This means that they will be notified about each of your future blog posts. It’s a great way to stay in touch with interested readers.

This is only the beginning of your blogging journey, but it will get you started and will help you to start getting the word out to your potential readers. If you like the idea of having a blog, but you want to speak to someone about setting up a blog and teaching you how to use and promote it, feel free to contact me for details about my blog consulting service.

Nikki Leigh
Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Nikki Leigh Promotional Services Can Help YOU
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

When Opportunity Knocks... Will You Be Ready

"When Opportunity Knocks 2.0… Will You Be Ready?"

Week One of Four Weeks to Help You Learn to Sell More Books with Web 2.0

Michele Price (owner - A Third Mind and Co-Founder SellMoreBooks.com) and Nikki Leigh (owner - Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours) are teaming up to re-launch SellMoreBooks.com 2.0. To kick things off they are beginning a four week series of calls about utilizing Web 2.0 and social media marketing to Sell More Books. The topic for the first week is "When Opportunity Knocks 2.0… Will You Be Ready?" Utilizing social networking sites, blogs, and much more are something that we always recommend to clients – but first, are you ready for the additional "targeted" traffic? This week, we'll start at the very beginning and discuss some of the basics. Once we help you "get ready" for opportunity, we'll walk you through ways to generate leads and Sell More Books.

For more information about these calls, you can visit my BlogTalkRadio show page - www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh

This is the link directly to the show information for Monday September 15 - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh/2008/09/15/Book-Marketing-20-Sell-More-Books-in-the-New-Millenium

UPCOMING SHOW: 9/15/2008 5:00 PM
Host Name: Nikki Leigh

Co-host Name: Michelle Price
Show Name: When Opportunity Knocks 2.0… Will You Be Ready?
Show Length: 1 Hour
Show Description: Join Michelle Price and Nikki Leigh as they help you understand more about Web 2.0. What is Web 2.0? Why it is important to you? How can it make a difference in your book sales? This is the first session in a four week series to address this topic. For much more information, visit www.sellmorebooks.com

You can visit the link above and click the reminder button and BlogTalkRadio will send you a reminder before the show. During the call, people can call in and ask questions or go into the chat room and send your question. If you can't be with us during the live show, you can visit www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh and listen to the show later. You can even download a copy to listen later.

In upcoming weeks we'll talk about more specific aspects of Web 2.0 as applied to authors, speakers and information marketers – you don't want to miss any of these calls, if you want to learn how to Sell More Books.

To Your Success!

Nikki Leigh and Michelle Price

Join Nikki Leigh at Coffee TImes Blog

I wanted to invite you to visit me at Coffee Times blog today. I'm posting some information about fictional settings, and the settings for each of my fictional series. One post gives information about Cape Ann, Massachusetts and another post gives background information about the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Many of the details I provide in these posts are woven into the books. Feel free to drop by and say hi or comment -

http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts/

I'll be dropping in throughout the day to say hi and to answer questions.

Nikki Leigh

Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Nikki Leigh Promotional Services Can Help YOU
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

Nikki Leigh Interviews Publisher and Author Arline Chase

Nikki Leigh interviewed Arline Chase on Book Promo 101 Talk Radio on Monday September 2. We had the opportunity to talk about her work as a publisher, some do’s and don’ts for writers and tips for submitting your work to a publisher. We also had the chance to talk about her latest book which was released yesterday. The title is Spirit of Wind and it is the third book in her spirit series. For more information or to listen to the show, visit www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh.

On September 9th, best selling mystery author Doug Cummings is scheduled to discuss his latest book- Every Secret Crime. Doug began his 25 year broadcasting career as a TV investigative reporter before discovering his passion for the immediacy of news-radio. He worked as an anchor, reporter and talk-show host in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois before settling in Chicago. You can visit www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh to set a reminder for future shows.

Nikki Leigh

Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Nikki Leigh Promotional Services Can Help YOU
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm