Side Benefits to Online Book Promotion

As you know from my last post, Expert Assistance is back.  Last week I sent out several review requests; posted a book trailer at several places; created a Facebook page for the novel; and joined the Kindle Boards and the Kindle Forum.  This week I'm planning on sending out a few more review requests and joining one more author forum.

Saturday and yesterday I was doing some forum posting and contacting a couple bloggers about EA. One blogger is Karly Kirkpatrick, who I've had a link to for some time.  The other is Keryl Raist, who I've just added (To Publish or Not To Publish). Keryl's recent post about Outskirts Press is an eye opener.  Karly, when she isn't doing her "Bookaday" posts, blogs about how her adventures in self-publishing are going.

All this activity got me thinking last night about what I've been doing to promote EA, like exchanging blogs and posting in forums. Some of that has been marketing, but some has been giving and getting information. I'm hearing what other authors are doing, and letting them know what I'm up to. And it's not just promotion. One forum discussion I posted in is about book covers; another is about when to assemble a short story anthology; and another asks what fantasy books forum members are reading.

This led me to an observation: these new online marketing approaches also offer us authors the chance to talk about writing itself. We can discuss the business of writing, like covers and collections. We can discuss the art of writing, from plotting to creating interesting minor characters. Online marketing isn't just an internet version of a book signing; it also takes on aspects of critique groups and writing conferences. These aren't just chances to sell books, but opportunities to become better writers at the same time.

My friends, I think this is cool!  I hope this part of online promotion never changes.