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Getting your book OUT THERE is one of the most crucial aspects to success. No matter how well written your story or how enjoyable it is to read, unless it is noticed, it won’t sell. I also read somewhere that it takes an average of three to seven impressions before most people think to buy a book.

No one has as much at stake in the success of your book as you do – it doesn’t matter if you’ve been published by one of the top ten New York houses, a young small press or even self-published. Once you have completed penning your novel it is time to embark on the business end of book writing.

Online exposure is possibly one of the cheapest and still effective methods for book promotion. Posting your book info on your own blogs, social networks and web-sites will go a long way to making your book title more memorable and eventually more saleable. Business “experts” are touting the internet and particularly the social networks as a terrific form of word-of-mouth advertising. Today, more than ever, having your own web-site, even with a personalized name, is easy and inexpensive (sometimes even FREE); I maintain a completely self-serving promotional website on Blogger (http://chellecordero.blogspot.com/).

Include info about your book and link back to your website with every “signature” you use on forums, don’t forget to include this signature on all of your emails. There are many web-sites that offer you the opportunity to post your book information, bookstore and cover for free or little cost. A few of these sites include: Publishers.com, AuthorsDen, Author Tree, and my own Xanga site. More listings can be found at The Bauu Institute.

Look for guest blogging opportunities. The more places you get your name as a writer out there, the more people will take notice when they see “Book by great writer”. Invite guest bloggers to your site – assuming each one has a following of their own, those folks will come to your website where hopefully you have prominently posted your own book’s details. Cross promote your friends’ books and ask them to do the same for you – search engines will pick up both names and point to your site.

Check your local media sites for posting opportunities. Community sites and some local radio and newspaper sites will often encourage the posting of press releases about people in your community. Submit press releases on your book signings and events; again, there are several free and low-cost press release distribution services available online (like here and here) .

Emails count in book marketing. Email all of your relatives and friends with the exciting news that you have signed a book publishing contract, the name of your book and where they can buy it. Email all of your local libraries with news about your book, an industry sales sheet (if available) and a good book discussion topic which your book can be used with – if you can include some great questions based on your book’s content/subject. Email your local media when you have a book signing event scheduled so they can let everyone know where you will be.

Look for book discussion groups and book clubs. Don’t forget to look for organizations that might have a serious interest in your book’s subject. A terrific place to find info on groups near you or about a specific purpose is Meetup.com; this source has international groups as well as in your home community. When your writer friends share their good news and let you know where they will be guest blogging or having an online interview, go to the site and congratulate them. While you are there, take a look and see how you can be a featured author as well.

Successful online marketing takes time but the pay-off could be huge. One more thing I found very useful was to enlist the aid of a visitor counting system (I use Stat-Counter) on your major web-sites and blogs. By checking out where your visitor traffic is coming from you can focus your attention, time and efforts into those areas; for instance, I noticed that a lot of my traffic comes from a popular writer’s forum and one of the social networks so I make sure to post on those sites often.