Way to Promote Your Book–Run Contests! (+ Get a Free Book from Me)
ByOne of my favorite authors is Tricia Goyer (she writes terrific fiction), and she’s got a great blog that is very instructive on how to to blog effectively to promote books.
First, I love the look of her blog. Very pretty template. (Though she’s on blogspot, doesn’t have a WordPress blog, which I think is better.)
Second, she runs contests. Every week she has a drawing and gives away a free book to anyone who comments on her blog.
I love that idea! I think I’ll do the same. Comment on my blog, and get a free book from my “grab bag.” You can tell me whether you prefer fiction or nonfiction, and I’ll try to oblige. She draws names, and I may end up doing that too, but for now I have a good number of books I’d like to pass on so … comment on my blog, and get a free book! (Can’t be spam comments, however. Has to be a valuable comment.)
Anyway, Tricia runs all sorts of contests. She’s running one now, where
if you request your local library to carry a Tricia Goyer book, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift card at CBD.
As Tricia says, “Fun. Easy.” And savvy. If you have a book, and a blog, consider the same. And watch what Tricia does!
One more thing about her contests: Not only does it promote her books and get them into the hands of contest winners–publishing the entries gives you blog content you don’t create yourself. (Posting often to your blog is the key to search engine rank.)
Contest are a great way to add interactivity and involvement to your blog. Try it! (And comment here so you can get your free book!)
5 Comments
September 7th, 2008 at 1:34 am
I agree, people love contests. I have some great publishers that have supplied books for contests for us to host & that is great. I especially love it when the publisher sends the books direct to the winners. Anything to encourage reading !!
September 7th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Thanks for posting about my blogging/contests! I appreciate your encouragement. You rock!
September 7th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Any suggestions for those of us who are “bookless” writers? What can we give away or what kind of similar ideas work to just increase interaction and visits to our blogs?
September 7th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Absolutely. I do loads of book giveaways (including, occasionally, my own) at The Compulsive Reader and it really brings in the subscribers. We’re not a blog as such, so I ask people to subscribe to our free newsletter rather than comment, but either way, the idea of providing a free book(s) in exchange for participation is a great way to create a community of book lovers (who wants books more than book lovers?) rather than a one man show.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:58 am
@diane: If you’re working on a book, a great way to “test” the audience is to create a Special Report or even ebook and give that away. You can also be creating articles and building (or expanding) those into a Special Report. I encourage aspiring authors to be think of “building” their book via smaller things, and testing all that along the way. I’ll be talking about that on the Sept. 11 Publishing Coach Weekly teleseminar.