Alyssa Gregory owns avertua, LLC, a virtual assistant firm providing general business support, design services, and virtual assistant coaching and mentoring. She is the author of “VA Secrets Revealed! An Insider’s Guide to Being a Successful Virtual Assistant” and provides small business tips through her blog. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children.
Blogs are used in so many ways — as a personal journal, to share information, to provide advice, to promote products and services, and even as a collaboration tool. A good blog can help identify you as an expert in your field, generate interest and create a following. That is why a blog is a perfect way to promote a book.
Not convinced? Consider these reasons for blogging about your book:
- It’s free, or nearly free, promotion.
- You can reach your readers in a unique way.
- You can increase your credibility.
- You create an opportunity for dialogue.
- You become a real person to your readers.
As a fairly new blogger and author myself, using my blog to promote and enhance my book, I thought it might be helpful to share some tips that have worked for me:
- Enhance the Book’s Value – Don’t just copy and paste sections of your book into your blog. Provide new information or added value to make people who’ve already read your book want to read your blog, too.
- Make It Easy to Follow – Whether you separate the blog by chapter or topic, make it clear how it’s organized, and give more than one way to find information (i.e. categorize by chapters AND include a monthly archive).
- Stay on Topic – Keep your book’s blog strictly about your book and the subject matter. By all means, create another blog to talk about other issues, but don’t add it to your blog about your book unless it’s relevant.
- Don’t (Overly) Monetize! – If you plaster your blog with banner and text ads, your readers may be turned off. If you choose to use ads, keep them in one designated area and always mark them as advertisements.
- Be Consistent - The best way to generate readership with any blog is by posting consistently. So set a schedule and stick to it.
- Accept Comments – Avoid one-way communication by allowing, and encouraging, your readers to comment on your posts.
- Write Well – You wrote a book that is probably professionally put together and very well written. While a blog can certainly be more conversational and relaxed, don’t loosen up with your spelling and grammar. Be sure to spell check.
- Provide Links for Purchase – Make sure you give readers a way to purchase your book, and if you have website for your book, link to that as well. The more information on the book you provide, the better your chances of making additional sales.
Remember, your blog should complement and enhance the content in your book. If you aim to form relationships with your readers and add value to their experience, and you really can’t go wrong in blogging to promote your book. And if nothing else, you will have some great new material for your second edition!
