Using a Blog to Market Your Book

There are millions of bloggers around the world. They all have individual opinions and niche blogs they write for. This is one of the most well used forms of publicity. It is smart to use this medium as an avenue to advertise for your book.

Even after your book has been released, you can use blogging to get the word out for your book. Authors many times use blogs as a means of sharing with potential readers. Some even choose to use this form in lieu of traditional websites. Blogs can be set up to mimic websites and are useful in marketing.

One use of blogs in the marketing process is to announce dates of book related activities. You can write daily on your blog. Most bloggers have some following. This could be a small number of readers, or up to hundreds. Readers tend to pass on information to others. This will allow you to have even more potential traffic.

After your book has been released, you can still use your blog to market. You can write specific information about you book or related to your book in your daily or weekly posts. I also recommend posting information that would be helpful to your potential reader even if unrelated to your book. Example: If you are a children’s author, post some parenting tips. This will allow you to advertise your book and dialogue with potential readers. Fans are created through building a personal connection. What better way to help this process along than to use a blog?

Blogs allow readers to comment about individual posts written by the author. Through this technique people communicate with each other. This communication eventually encourages a following for the author.

Some use their blog to express their individual opinions on literary issues. When readers like your writing, they are more likely to want to know more about you personally. Blogging allows visitors to discover all sorts of things about authors. They also become aware of their new and future projects.

You can generate traffic to your blog by using social networking platforms that allow you to post updates. I use Hootsuite.com because, in addition to many features that would be a post of its own, it allows me to update all of my SNPs with one interface. I schedule the release of posts to occur throughout the day and use links to posts to answer people’s questions on twitter.

Blog tours have become another creative method of marketing books. There are a number of ways to perform a blog tour. Typically bloggers agree to host information about specific authors and their work. This is especially useful when new books are released. This group of bloggers will provide author bio information and links to their sites.

When multiple bloggers participate in a blog tour there may be potentially hundreds if not thousands of readers. Since each blogger has his or her following, this is compounded when there are many participants. With each set of followers, an author will have the opportunity to get publicity for their book.

If even a small percentage of the followers visit the author’s website, the tour will have been successful. This is ultimately true when the visitors turn into customers. Just like a regular book tour a blog tour is beneficial when sales are created.

Meet the 16 Year Old Triple Threat They Call Chani

by Ryan Sheehan

Chantel “Chani” Christie is a recording artist, model, actress and author. Chani is the United States Youth Ambassador for HIV/AIDS Awareness, as well as a YMCA Youth Spokesperson. Hot on the heels of her bestselling debut book, I Want to Live: A Teenager’s Guide to Finding Self Love, Chani will release her second book, A Girl Has to Look Good! A beauty, fashion and lifestyle Guide. This teen phenomenon is just getting started!

With the 2009 Martin Luther King, Jr. “Excellence in Hip Hop” award already under her belt, she has no plans of slowing down. She has already garnered much attention in the music industry with her debut album entitled “My Dream” selling out twice. “My Dream” is also the work of a number of great producers in the recording industry. Producer Ralph B. Stacy, who has worked with recording superstars Paula Abdul, Pink, Mario, and many more, had this to say about Chani- “Chani is a breath of fresh air and a producer’s dream. [She] is great to work with because of her versatility as a singer.” Chani’s upcoming, and much anticipated, new single is sure to make her a force to be reckoned with.

Chani, currently a junior in high school, has a passion to lead the youth worldwide by not only educating them about HIV and AIDS, awareness but also through her music and books. Beginning her modeling career at the age of three, Chani has over 100 fashion print and runway appearances to her name. She is currently cast to star in the new screenplay, “Proud to be a Colored Girl”, an adaptation of the new bestselling book by the same name, and Chani is sure to light up television screens everywhere in this role.

"I feel as though teens will listen to teens. More so than a parent or guardian speaking down to them, teenagers prefer talking, as well as listening, to their peers. I am beyond blessed to be in a position where I can have a platform to speak to the youth and stress the importance of practicing safe sex, although abstinence is key," says Chani, speaking about her ambassadorship as the United States Youth Ambassador on HIV/AIDS awareness. "A lot of times teens fall victim to bad situations that they become involved in, I want to be a positive role model and encourage them to do the right thing. Go to school and finish their education, set goals and aim for the moon. I feel as though the sky is the limit. If you believe in yourself, have faith that you CAN do whatever you put your mind to and have a positive attitude, you can accomplish everything you want,” Chani said. Chani Christie is wise beyond her years and a role model for youth and adults alike.

AN EXTRAORDINARY 8 YEAR OLD AUTHOR

by Ryan Sheehan

New books are published every day, but usually not by an eight year old! Douglas ‘Dougie’ Christie Jr. is ready to publish his second book!


The son of NBA star Doug Christie and model-designer Jackie Christie, Dougie, is fresh off the heels of his first book Dougie Learns to Ride. The extremely popular 32 page fully-illustrated children’s book chronicles Dougie’s challenges in learning to ride his bike. With help from his father, Dougie is able to overcome the difficulty and fear of learning to ride his bike for the first time and then to ride without training wheels; all the while making it a fun learning adventure. Published in December 2008, Dougie Learns to Ride was the first book in the Dougie’s Life series.

The Dougie’s Life series is designed to not only entertain kids across the globe but also to inspire, encourage, and share the powerful lessons that Dougie has learned as well.

In his new book, Dougie Goes to School, Dougie shares his fears, as well as his excitement, about the first day of school. With many children entering school for the first time, or heading back after a long summer, Dougie’s book can be used to ease their own fears about that, often, dreaded first day of school. And to teach them they can overcome anything they set their minds to.

When asked what writing this book meant to him, Dougie said, “I really feel honored to be able to once again share my life, and lessons I have learned, with kids from around the world.”

Dougie spends much of his time reading, studying, or playing outdoors. He also enjoys watching the TV shows “Zack and Cody” “That’s So Raven” and “Hannah Montana”.

Dougie's book is available on Amazon, and everywhere books are sold.

If you need help with illustrating and publishing your children's book, contact us for a free consultation.

What are the Top 5 Fiction Awards?

There are many fiction awards given each year to authors around the world. These awards go to some of the most talented fiction writers in the field. The authors nominated for these awards work in all genres of fiction. Each award has its own reputation and prestige. Although there are many fiction awards, there are 5 that are widely sought after.

Guardian First Book Award

The Guardian First Book Award is given to new authors of fiction. These are authors who have not yet published their work. The Guardian First Book Award was first awarded in 1965. This is a British literary award. The winner of this award receives not only accolades; they also get a cash prize. The prize is $5000.

One of the greatest things about this specific award is the fact that it goes to an author who is unknown. This is a way to celebrate new authors, and to encourage future ones.

Young Adult Fiction Award

The Young Adult Fiction Award is an adolescent fiction award whose theme comes from the Michael L. Printz Award. This award targets the area of fiction which focuses specifically on adolescent writing. Today, this portion of fiction is some of the most popular and lucrative. Millions of copies of adolescent fiction are sold in bookstores each year.

Because of this, audiences and publishers are taking notice of this specific genre. Readers can look forward to seeing more and more of these books on bookshelves.

ABC Fiction Award

The ABC Fiction Award is an Australian literature award for the best original, unpublished, adult fiction manuscript. This award also comes with a cash prize of $10,000. The winner will also have their manuscript published by ABC Books.

This award is truly one of the most sought after awards. If the cash prize wasn’t enough, the opportunity to publish is incentive for writers.

Independent Spirit’s Truer than Fiction Award

The Independent Spirit’s Truer than Fiction Award is awarded by Film Independent. Although this award doesn’t hold a cash prize, winning it is prestigious. Many past winners have gone on to accomplish big things in the literary community.

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

The PEN/Faulkner Award is given to the best writer of American fiction. The winner of this award is awarded $15,000. The next 4 runner ups also receive cash. They each get $5,000 awards.

Winners will also be treated to a trip to Washington, D.C. Here, their works will be read aloud in the Great Hall of Folger Shakespeare Library. This award is truly special and comes with wonderful incentives. Because of the reputation that goes along with this award, many fiction writers hope to be able to participate.

Each of these 5 fiction awards are honorable ways to celebrate the great work being done in fiction today. They not only acknowledge the authors of these works, but they also serve as encouragement. Many writers are inspired to work harder, because of their chances to win some of the top fiction awards in the literary world.

How to Write an Award Winning Children’s Book

Children’s books are a very unique type of fiction. These books need to be patterned to the specific age group the author is writing for. If one is writing for young children, the subject matter should cater to them. Not only would these books be simple to read, they would contain illustrations.

When an author is writing for older children, the writing must mature to their age level. Taking these things into consideration is important when writing children’s books. Children know what types of books interest them and can be harsh critics. This is one reason why children’s books range in not only age levels, but in variety of subject matter.

Authors who want to write for children must come up with an original idea or theme.

This doesn’t mean that the author must think of something that hasn’t been thought of before. There’s not much on that front. It simply means, however, that his or her approach should be original. This requires the author to put his or her personality into the story itself.

Most often these books are brought to life by the presence of a good idea. The author may take similar points from adult books and change them to fit a younger crowd. Some authors simply use their imagination when coming up with unique ideas for books for children. These are some of the greatest sellers in this genre.

Other authors simply begin their writing process with a theme. For instance, the theme could be related to insects. From there the author would expand upon the theme, and add more and more to it. Finally, they will have created, a wonderful literary work, which appeals to the intended audience.

The overall story line is very important when writing a children’s book.

Children know when they read a boring book. In fact, if a work is too dull, a child may not continue reading it. One of the things that makes a work, dull is a flat story line. Authors must place extreme care into the development of their story lines. This is just as important in children’s writing, as it is in adult books.

Story line is even more crucial when it comes to nonfiction. A work of fiction may easily grab the reader’s imagination. But nonfiction must find a way to hit the point directly, while remaining interesting to the reader. Keeping this in mind for young readers will be instrumental in the success of the book.

Creating memorable characters cannot only spark the interest, but also create a following.

Children’s books, particularly fiction, have recently become some of the greatest top sellers. For this reason, authors and publishers are taking notice of this segment of readers. Character development is the main reason why young readers enjoy the books they read. This is certainly the reason why they continue to read a certain author’s work. The most popular characters are the ones that are not only intriguing, but also relatable.

Children enjoy reading about characters, which have similarities to themselves. The experiences may be totally different, but the emotions are understandable.

Whether you choose the traditional or self publishing path, you will need a good illustrator. With 30 illustrators on our team, we can help you properly illustrate your children’s book idea.