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Promoting yourself is as important as writing your novel. It's important to get your name out there, and allow people a sample
of your work. People can't buy what they don't know about. Not only is promoting an important step of the publishing process,
it's a vital element to any writers career.
In the age of the information superhighway known as the internet, there are many opportunities to promote your work. It's
important that you utilize a good mix of all of them to maximize your exposure to readers. Why not take advantage of the vast
resources available for little to no cost.
Blogging is a great way for an author to interact with readers. Services such as Myspace, Ning, LiveJournal, Yahoo 360
and Bebo are great services that allow you to customize the message you want your readers to see. You can post updates, excerpts,
contests and more for your readers. When using these services it's important to remember interacting with those on your list
is important and more likely to earn you a fan base than simply hard selling your work.
Review sites are phenomenal places to get exposure for your book, gain a fan base and allow others, specifically the reviewer,
to offer an unbiased opinion of your book. It’s important to get your piece to as many reviewers as possible. There
are many readers out there who consult these review sites when making choices about new books and new authors. Don't feel
left out, utilize their services.
MSN and Yahoo offer the option to create and join in many groups on many different subjects. There are hundreds of groups
out there specific to reading and writing. There are critique groups, promotions groups and just general chat groups. Often
you will find that publishers have groups as well. This is a great way to network with other authors and publishers. These
groups tend to be very active and provide a lot of information that can be useful and necessary to the aspiring author.
Finally don't forget the power of building your own website. Not only can you customize this specifically for you, you
can give extensive information about your releases, you and projects you are working on. Often you'll find people in the writing
community would like to have your website address. This is important because it provides readers a link to you. You can start
a blog on your page, you can run contests on your page, you can post excerpts of your work. Ultimately, the importance of
a website is giving your reader a way to connect with you.
Success as a writers is dependent on your skills at self promotion. There are so many avenues out there for exposure it
is simple, cost free and often a lot of fun. Remember that readers can't find you if they don't know about you. So make it
a point to put yourself out there and let people know who you are.
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