Write Nonfiction in November

Happy Thanksgiving! It’s November 25th, and Write Nonfiction in November has just five more days left before the challenge ends. Blog readers have been busy reading, but I’ve heard little from writers. I hope that means you’ve been busy writing. I did notice, however, that many of the article on marketing and promotion garner less readers than others. I’m not surprised.

When I speak to nonfiction writers I’m always surprised at how few want to take on these tasks. In fact, many don’t realize they have to be their own best self and book marketer both before and after their book comes out.  Still others just refuse to take on this job.

I started a discussion once on LinkedIn in a group for writers and editors asking what online methods they found worked best to promote themselves, and the majority of writers flat out said they felt their writing provided the best marketing tool possible. They said they only needed to be good writers; they didn’t need to do anything else. I got the distinct impression that they thought less of me and any other writers spending time on marketing and promotion as a way of getting noticed by editors and publishers or getting our books published. I was more than a little bit amazed. (A few writers, agents and publishers in the group did chime in to say that marketing and promotion were, indeed, necessary.)

So, on this Thanksgiving Day I’m here — yes, just me today — to tell all you nonfiction writers to get your heads out of the mashed potatoes and stare the Turkey down. The turkey represents the actual business of getting your work published and selling your books. That takes marketing skill. That takes promotional efforts. And no one is going to do that for you or like you can.

I’m also here to tell you that reasons exist for you to actually be thankful for this job being yours and for making the effort to promote yourself as a writer and to promote your work as well. (Yes, you can offer up gratitude on Thanksgiving that this job is yours–and, basically, yours alone.) Let me explain why.

Remember what I said on November 1: Even though the business of writing takes you away from writing, it does not represent wasted time. By marketing yourself and your writing, you develop a readership for your work — and ultimately all writers want readers. What’s the use of writing if no one ever reads what you’ve written?  Many nonfiction writers write to help others (via self-help, spiritual, body-mind-spirit, religious books), but if their writing never reaches a reader, they help no one.

I’m not poo-pooing the need for good writing. Assuming your goal involves a published nonfiction book (and not articles), it’s a given that to sell your manuscript to a traditional publisher or your self-publish book to readers, you must have (1) a marketable idea, and (2) good writing skills. If you don’t have a good idea, no one will buy your book. If you aren’t a good writer, you can hire a good editor to make it look like you are a good writer. (If you need a good editor, contact me at cpywrtcom@aol.com or visit www.copywrightcommunications.com!) After that, you will need to market yourself and your writing, first, to develop a platform — develop readers (buyers), and, second, to sell books.

That said, if you, like most writers, cringe at the thought of becoming your own marketing expert, let me assure you there are ways in which to make this job less daunting and more fun. You can also make it fulfilling. I know this, because I took on the job and now actually enjoy it.

If you accept that fact that in today’s publishing world you will be asked by your publisher to do at least one thing every day to promote your book, you’ll realize that you might as well resign yourself to beginning this practice now. You’ll have to do more if you self-publish your book, because you’ll have no help from a publisher at all; even small publishers might offer an author a little bit of help promoting the book…even if that simply means getting it into some stores and helping set up some speaking gigs. So, find 1-5 activities you might enjoy doing and make them part of your daily to-do list.

Here are some I enjoy and in which I find some personal value. (Notice that many of them involve writing.)

Blogging: Blogging gives me a presence online and drives traffic to my website. It also gives me a steady stream of readers–both new and regular readers. Later, when my book is published, I can tell these readers and, hopefully, a percentage of them will buy the book, because they’ve grown to trust me as a writer, blogger and “friend” online. Plus, I get personal value out of this activity, because it provides me with another way to express myself through my writing. It’s a writing exercise for me. When I’m bogged down editing for clients or producing articles unrelated to my books, I can write about something that matters to me or that is related to my personal work. And, by doing so, I gain readers every day. I find it very satisfying to look at my stats and discover that 100 people read my blog on a particular day or to receive a comment from a reader who said my post made a difference in his or her life.

Providing Free Content to Directories: I try to write at least one article every month on a topic related to my books and post this to an article distribution service. This places my article in a variety of online directories, where it then becomes available for use in blogs, newsletters, websites, etc. In other words, anyone looking for content and willing to pay one of the directories for my article can purchase it and use it. Each article contains a resource box with a short bio and contact information. This sends them to my website, where they hopefully become regular visitors or blog readers or sign up for my newsletter. I pay for this service.  I love finding my articles in all sorts of obscure newsletters and blogs. Sometimes I just do a Google search of my name and spend an hour trying to find my articles. Or I’ll put a Google Alert out on some of the key words and see where the article landed. It’s really satisfying to know so many people find my articles worth publishing (even if they don’t pay me). And it’s satisfying to see my website traffic spike.

Writing News Releases that I Post to the Media: I maintain a yearly membership with ExpertClick.com, and there I am able to post news releases that go out to the media. I can tell them what I am doing. I can rewrite my articles and post them. In general, I can let them know that I am the expert on the subjects about which I am writing in my book(s). This way, they will think of me when something comes up in the news that relates to my upcoming books. This also provides me with the ability to comment on news that pertains to my book’s subject matter, making me a socially relevant expert. This activity feel personally valuable when I get a call from the media, which doesn’t happen too often. But when it does, I know my efforts have paid off. I did land a monthly podcasting job from this site, and that has paid off in numerous ways. In particular, I now speak ever month to a huge audience. (The podcast has 110,000 listeners in 90 different countries each month.) This site also gives me excellent Google ranking. (If you are interested in signing up for ExpertClick.com, use my link for a discount: www.ExpertClick.com/discount/Nina_Amir.)

Commenting on Blog Posts and Articles: I have Google Alerts set up for words related to the topics of the books I am writing. When I get an alert and see that someone has written a blog post or an article related to these topics, I click on the link, read what they have written, and, if I have something to add or feel they have written something worth noting, I leave a comment. These comments always provide a link to my website. This brings more traffic to my website, thus increasing my chances of more unique visitors (those who come back more than once), more blog readers, and more people signing up for my newsletter, thus increasing my the list of people to whom I can promote a new book. This activity seems worthwhile to me when I actually develop relationships with the website, blogger or writer. We may set up reciprocal links or begin sharing leads. This is when I know what I offer has value to someone writing about a similar topic or that someone feels their readers benefit from what I have to offer as well as from what they offer their readers. I also learn a great deal from those writing on similar topics, and I might not normally spend the time online finding these blogs or articles.

Frequenting Social Networking Sites: Since I work at home alone most of the time, only having contact with other people when I need to interview someone from my books or for an article, I have found that I really enjoy social networking. I most enjoy Facebook and Twitter.  It’s fun to find real friends there who follow you because they enjoy what you post or “tweet” not just to gain more followers.  When you show up at Twitter, for instance, and “tweeple’” are happy you are there, converse with you and “retweet” what you post, it feels good. And it’s just plain enjoyable.

Writing Articles for Ezines: I write for ezines related to my topics. Some of these pay and some of these don’t. Many writers refuse to write for free. I prefer to get paid, but if I can post an article on a site that get’s 5,000 visitors per day and is willing to run my bio with links to my website, I’m happy for the opportunity to promote myself and to attempt to gain more readers and more people on my mailing list. As usual, it feels great to have my writing read as well.

Speaking or Teaching: I do try to schedule at least a few speaking gigs per year. Sometimes these are local, and sometimes they are in other areas of the country. I must admit, they give me the jitters, but once there I enjoy myself. I like doing workshops or offering classes; then you get to talk to people one on one. This develops stronger relationships. I find it easiest to offer teleseminars. I can do this from the comfort of my home and potentially reach the most people possible. I enjoy testing out my ideas on people and having them give instant feedback; it’s a bit like test marketing your book, especially if you are doing it prior to having a published book. Plus, each time I speak or teach before an audience, I feel more prepared to be a published author. That gives this activity added value.

Writing for Traditional Print Publications: I send out queries or essays to a variety of print publications on topics related to my books. This tends to be hit or miss, since they have to accept my ideas or essays. However, when they do, I typically get paid and get a short bio and possibly a link to my website. As a magazine journalist by trade, I find this most satisfying. I love having my work published in magazines and newspapers and getting paid for my writing. The fact that people are reading my work, I’m getting paid for that work, I’m building my platform,and I’m gaining “fans” at the same time fulfills many of my goals in one fell swoop.

Additionally, I have gotten involved in a few organizations that give me some promotional advantages while also allowing me to pursue my interests or support causes in which I believe. This is why you’ll find me as director of public relations of CyberJudaism.org, for instance.

I’d like to leave you with the same information I offered on WNFiN Day #1: These efforts have helped me grow my “author” website (www.purespiritcreations.com) to 10,000 visitors per month and the related blog, called “As the Spirit Moves Me” (www.purespiritcreations.com/wordpress), to an average of 3,000 readers per month. To some these numbers may seem huge; to others they will seem small. Remember, I have only self-published a handful of booklets and many, many articles. I am not a well-known speaker.

I will admit that my “opt in” efforts have not been as good, and my mailing list has not grown tremendously over the years. That’s my next task–to get more people to actually opt in to my newsletter so my list grows.

On Facebook, my followers are not huge (over 360), but people tend to be more careful about who they “friend” on that site. On Twitter, though,  in about nine months I’ve gained over 760 “tweeple.” Every day that number increases.

Overall, I’m struck by the personal value I’ve found through my marketing efforts. Although I have bemoaned the fact that I have yet to receive the coveted traditional publishing contract, I have found my writing in ezines, newsletters and blogs all over the world. More people read my writing each day than I ever thought possible–possibly more than would read a published nonfiction book of mine unless it was on the New York Times best seller list or the next Harry Potter of nonfiction. When I think about the fact that I have yet to sell one of my book manuscripts to a traditional publisher, I remember that because of my marketing efforts I actually am reaching–and helping–an enormous number of readers. That fact, however, will likely help me reach my goal of landing a traditional publishing contract. In the meantime, I’m having some fun, finding personal value in my marketing efforts and feeling fulfilled as a writer.

No, I’m not making much money off these efforts–well, I make money off a few of them. However, if I wanted to self-publish a book or push my self-published booklets harder on my website, I could. When I want to market my teleseminars or workshops, I can. And when I do have a traditionally published book in hand, I can tell all these “friends,” “followers,” “visitors,” “readers,” and “tweeple” about it, and hopefully they will buy the book…and tell their “friends,” “followers,” “visitors,” “readers,” and “tweeple” to do the same.

In the meantime, I’m being read and listened to, and more and more people know who I am and what I do. I get feedback as well. All of this I find personally valuable. That makes my job as Nina Amir’s marketing director a bit easier to stomach. Actually, most days, the job “tastes” pretty good.

On that note, I think I’ll dig into my mashed potatoes and eat a bit of turkey before it get’s cold.

About the Author

Nina Amir is a seasoned journalist, nonfiction editor, author, consultant, and writing coach with more than 30 years of experience in the publishing field. She has edited or written for 45+ local, national and international magazines, newspapers, e-zines, and newsletters on a full-time or freelance basis. Her essays have been published in five anthologies and can be found in numerous e-zines and Internet article directories. An award-winning journalist, she also has a proven track record as a book editor; one of her client’s books was self-published and then purchased and re-released verbatim by Simon & Schuster (Fireside) and another won the 1998 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Award (Inspirational category), received a contract from William Morrow but remained self-published and went on to sell over 115,000 copies. Another of her client’s books recently was purchased by O-Books, a fast-growing British publisher.

Nina also is an inspirational speaker, spiritual and conscious creation coach, teacher, and the regular holiday and spirituality expert on Conversations with Mrs. Claus, a weekly podcast heard in more than 90 countries and downloaded by 110,000 listeners per month (www.thefamilyyak.com). Through her writing and speaking, Amir offers human potential, personal growth and practical spiritual tools from a Jewish perspective, although her work spans religious lines and is pertinent to people of all faiths and spiritual traditions.

Additionally, Amir has written and self-published several booklets and workbooks, including :

• Using the Internet to Build Your Platform One Article at a Time, 8 Tips for Getting Publicity, Exposure and Expert Status by Providing Free Copy Online
• The Priestess Practice: 4 Steps to Creating Sacred Space and Inviting the Divine to Dwell Within It
• The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation: How to Mystically Manifesting Your Physical and Spiritual Desires
• From Empty Practice to Meaning-Full and Spirit-Full Prayers and Rituals…in Seven Simple Steps
• Navigating the Narrow Bridge: 7 Steps for Moving Forward Courageously Even When Life Seems Most Precarious

Currently Amir is writing four books; she also compiled a Jewish celebrity cookbook for which she is seeking a publisher.

To learn how to use the Internet to build your platform one article at a time, why every author needs a platform or how to enhance your expert status by posting articles online, go to:  http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/Teleseminars.html orhttp://www.copywrightcommunications.com/Products.html

Nina Amir
CopyWright Communications
cpywrtcom@aol.com

www.copywrightcommunications.com
www.purespiritcreations.com

http://www.facebook.com/people/Nina-Amir/1180528530
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nina-amir/6/460/134
http://twitter.com/ninaamir

www.mysoncandance.wordpress.com
www.purespiritcreations.com/wordpress
http://www.examiner.com/x-7363-San-Jose-Jewish-Examiner

Help writers find the wonderful information and resources at Write Nonfiction in November all year:
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October is half over…That means it’s almost November. Time, once again, for Write Nonfiction in November! Whoo hoo!

I didn’t manage to post a blog last month. I was too busy setting up some really great guest bloggers for this year’s challenge. You’ll be so pleased with the line up!

And, to get things rolling, tomorrow you can listen to me talk about Write Nonfiction in November on The National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) teleseminar. If you recall, last year one of my guest bloggers was Linda Joy Meyers, founder of NAMW.  Meyers and I will be chatting about Write Nonfiction in November, my response to National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). For anyone new to this site, Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) is a contest that has fiction writers writing 50,000 words in 30 days during November. My blog challenges nonfiction writers to spend the month of November writing and completing a work of nonfiction. While they do so, the blog itself provides nonfiction writing, promotion and marketing information to help them sell themselves and their writing to publishing companies and readers. Additionally, via the blog comments, Write Nonfiction in November provides a forum for nonfiction writers to comment on their writing experiences during November each year.

During the NAWM teleseminar, I will discuss different types of nonfiction, including:

• journalistic articles
• personal essays
• inspirational essays
• booklets
• books

If time allows, I’ll also discuss:

• the difference between personal essay and memoir
• platform building on the Internet
• how to use your nonfiction skills to write articles to generate publicity for yourself as a writer
• how the business of writing can be a spiritual endeavor

NAWM  invites memoir writers from all over the world to connect, learn, and become inspired about writing their stories. The goal of our organization is to help memoir writers feel empowered with purpose and energy to begin and develop their life stories into a publishable memoir, whether in essay form, a book, a family legacy, or to create a blog.

Many memoir writers want to use writing as means for healing and transformation, so we assist in this goal by offering workshops, teleseminars, and interviews with writers and experts in the area of memoir, writing skills, therapeutic writing, spiritual autobiography, and healing through writing personal, authentic stories.

Myers, President of NAMW, has been a therapist for 30 years, and is the author of three books, a prize-winning memoir Don’t Call Me Mother, about three generations of mothers who abandoned their daughters, and two books on the ways that writing helps to heal emotionally and physically. Her new book The Power of Memoir—How to Write Your Healing Story will be released in January, 2010, through Jossey Bass publishers in San Francisco. She teaches writing workshops nationally, online, and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Those who join NAMW receive a unique package of memoir writing resources including the NAMW welcome kit and a collection of online and hard copy resources to help memoir writers within all phases of the exciting journey of memoir writing.  Members also receive discounts on select NAMW teleseminars, workshops, retreats and other learning opportunities and materials.

To learn more about NAMW, contact info@namw.org or visit http://www.namw.org

Now…you do have to be a NAWM member to listen in on the teleseminar tomorrow. But if you are a memoir writer–or want to become one–this is a great time to go ahead a join this great group of writers.  So, hurry up and join and call in by 11 a.m. PST!

Here are the details:

Date: October 16, 2009
Guest Speaker: Nina Amir
Times: 11 am Pacific | 12 noon Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern
Cost: Free for NAMW Members
Become A Member of NAMW Today to take part in this teleseminar!
To join: info@namw.org or http://www.namw.org

On this, the second to last day of Write Nonfiction in November, I’d like to devote a blog posting to how to build your platform and promote books on the Internet. The Internet offers a vast resource of free promotional tools, if we, as writers, only know how to use them – and actually use them.

I was speaking with a POD publisher the other day who told me that she can’t get her authors to do enough promotion for their books. Not only will they not build platform before their books come out, they won’t do it afterward either. I have discovered that a lot of authors are interested in hearing about platform building, but they just don’t want to do the work.  Here’s the deal, folks: As nonfiction writers, if you want to publish a book, the only way to get it sold (either to a publishing house or to actual readers) is to promote yourself and build a platform. Period. Platform and promotion = books sold. There’ s no way around this fact.

Before I even begin telling you what to do, I’m going to broach the topic that always comes up at the end: How much time will all of this take you? A lot. I know you’d rather be writing. I would, too. But, in fact, I spend about 80 percent of each week on promotion and platform building activities I’m going to tell you about…and there are so many more I could be doing as well (such as going out and speaking before live audiences). You have to do it, though. So, stop fussing. Stop procrastinating. Stop saying, “I just want to write.” The days when writers could just write have passed.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here are my top five tips for promoting yourself and your book and building platform on the Internet.

Tip #1: Write articles for ezines and distribute them in ezine directories.  Plenty of ezines exist for each subject niche. You can easily find these by doing a Google search. Most don’t pay writers, but a few will offer payment, and if they don’t know you are being paid with the fact that the online publication will include your author’s bio and links to your website or locations where readers can buy your book on line. This will increase traffic to your website, where hopefully you have ways to capture their email addresses (like with a newsletter sign up), or result in book sales.

Beyond individual ezines specifically related to your subject matter, I suggest you sign up for specific ezine directory services. These tend to be services for which you pay on a monthly basis or each time you post an article. (I have listed several ezine directory services I recommend in my ebook, Using the Internet to Build Your Platform One Article at a Time -scroll down the home page to find it at a reduced price through the month of December.) The benefit to using these services comes in the fact that rather than submitting your article to 20 ezines individually, these directories submit them for you to many more than that. Plus, your articles remain in the directory and are available for ezines to find at any time in the future. My articles and essays have been picked up and used by an assortment of publications all over the world. This gives me enormous exposure. Each time someone publishes one of my articles, my bio (including the links to my website) is published along with it. This sends more traffic to my website.

Tip #2: Comment on Other People’s Blogs and Articles: By leaving comments here and there on the Internet, you let people know who you are and what you do, while also letting them know where to find you fi they want more information. If, for instance, you are a medical expert writing a book on medicine, you would want to comment on other blogs about medicine – in particular the type of medicine about which you write. Each time you leave a comment, anyone who clicks on your name gets sent to your website. There they discover more about you…maybe they read your blog and subscribe; maybe they see that you have a book for sale; maybe they notice you’ll be speaking in their hometown and decide to come hear you and purchase a book there. 

You can take advantage of the chance to leave comments by finding articles that relate to your writing projectsand that have been published and are available on line. A friend of mine has gotten a lot of traffic to her blogs and website in this way.

Tip #3: Use Google Alerts to help you find out when you need to leave a comment.The best way to discover when you should be leaving a comment somewhere online is to set up Google alerts to notify you each day of articles and blogs that relate to the subjects about which you write. Then you can look at these alerts and decide which ones are worth your time and energy. You can also set up an alert for you name.

Tip #4: Take time for social networking:  Sign up for Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace and use them. I was a member of LinkedIn for a long time and didnt’ get much out of it until I joined a few groups and participated in the discussions going on there. Then suddenly I started seeing these people going to my website and commenting on my blogs or offering to link with me in other ways. I recently joined Facebook, and I’m thrilled at the result. I have been able to form groups of friends in many circles related to my book projects. I already called on several people to help me promote something for a friend, and it worked great. I’ll be sure to do the same when it comes time to promote my books. Plus, you always have a presence on Facebook if you are using it. And that’s really important.

Tip #5: Review competing or competitive books on Amazon.com.  Okay, there’s a whole art to this, but let me just say that by reviewing books that are similar to the book you are about to publish or have published or are writing, you let readers know you and your book exists.  Again, you can send them to your website and hopefully capture their email address or at least make them a unique visitor.

More and more books are being published on the topic of promoting your self and your books on the Internet. Find a book that speaks to you. Read up. Then, take the time to do what you can on line. It’s cheap. You can’t get better than free. All you are spending is your time, but it will be worth it. Then use the paid services, like a PR pro, when you really need them.

I can tell you this: Using these tips, in about two years I built my website traffic from almost zero to between 3,500 and 5,000 visitors (2,000-2,700 unique visitors) per month.  (I attribute a small amount of this growth also to my monthly appearances over the last 11 months on Conversations with Mrs. Claus.) I see the difference in how many visitors I get by how many of these tips I employ each month. That’s how I know they work.

Since the Internet offers so many opportunities to promote yourself and build your platform, I asked Linda Lee to add a five more tips to my list. After all, she taught me a lot of what I know! If you recall, Linda offers website and blog coaching and consulting services as well as custom website development. The following information is just a bit of what you’ll find in the book she’s writing, You have a Website, Now What?

Tip #6: Find online “communities” that share your passion or interests. This can be a forum or a blog network, like the Moms Club, or Blogher or Red Room. There are thousands of choices out there. This is where you find readers. Whether your passion is writing, gardening, health, fishing, animals, politics, spirituality, there is an online community for those topics. Participate in those arenas. People will get to know you and want to hear from you. This will translate to readers for your site.

Tip #7: Network. As you are reading other peoples site, you can start to network with them. Leave comments and build a relationship. Ask them if they would want to “guest” blog on your blog. On your blogroll, link to other blogs you enjoy and recommend. Search engines love back links. Focus on the smaller bloggers rather then fighting for attention with the A list.

Tip #8: Participate in some of the newer social media sites. Right now the new kid on the block is YahooBuzz. I highly recommend you join and start using it. Then there is Digg, Stumbleupon, Friendfeed, and many others.

Tip #9: Use your a newsletter. Use your newsletter mailing list to promote a website article or blog post you have written. Only do this with your most relevant articles and posts. Encourage your readers to forward your email to a friend by inserting a button that will easily allow them to forward your email. Also be sure to invite them to leave you a comment on your blog.

Tip #9: Include email signatures. In addition to your website address, add a little line about your latest article or post and make it clickable so people can just click through to read your latest work. To see how to add a signature file to your email go here.

Linda concludes with the following advice: “All this can feel overwhelming at times. You may feel stupid or inept. You aren’t. Trust me, the Internet is huge and most people have the same feelings at one time or another. What I have found over the years is that you must stay focused. Don’t let yourself get sidetracked on other sites when you are working on your items. You can bookmark things and come back to them later.

“You are just as able and competent to promote yourself and participate in this online world as the next guy. Believe in yourself. Good luck and have fun!”

About Linda Lee

Linda Lee is a writer, speaker, educator, and website designer. Available for consulting and coaching, she helps people launch blogs and websites and trains then in how to get traffic to their sites and to maximize their website presence with the use of blogging and search engine optimization of their websites. Linda is passionate about empowering people to take charge of their computer, showing clients with laughter and enthusiasm that they can make it work for them. This explains Linda’s slogan: “Don’t Let Your Computer Outsmart You.” Linda is co-president of the Women’s National Book Association’s San Francisco Chapter and a speaker and volunteer coordinator for the San Francisco Writers Conference.

http://www.askmepc-webdesign.com

http://www.smartwomenstupidcomputers.com

For information on my teleseminars, Why Every Author Needs a Platform and How to Build one on the Internet or How to Build a Platform One Article at a Time, please check out my teleseminar schedule here. Also, for information on my ebook, Using the Internet to Build Your Platform One Article at a Time you can check out the page on this blog, click on the link above, or go to www.copywrightcommunications.com. I’m also available to give talks on these and other topics related to nonfiction writing and platform building.

Don’t forget, if you like this blog, please vote Write Nonfiction in November one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers by going to writersdig@fwpubs.com. Write “101 Best Websites” in the subject line. Then, place the link to this blog – www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com - in the body of the email. If you want to add why you like the blog and the challenge, that’s helpful. If not, just send the link.

You can gain exposure for yourself and your books by using your nonfiction writing ability to write articles and “news releases” (short articles) that you post to online article directories and distribution services. You can also submit them to e-zines, which represents a more targeted approach. I’ve done this consistently for more than a year, and if you Google my name, you’ll find load of entries. Not only that, if you search for any of the many subjects about which I’ve written – all of which pertain to the books I’m trying to promote – you’ll likely find something I’ve written on that very subject.

Let’s start with e-zines. These are magazines published on the Internet. Some print magazines also have e-zines, and sometimes these carry different articles. I tend to go for the e-zines that are published only on line and that carry articles solely on topics related to my books. Therefore, you can often find my articles in Jewishmagazine.com or Interfaithmagazine.com. The latter pays me a little for my articles; the former does not, but it affords me its 3,000 unique visitors a day and a link to my web site. That’s great exposure and publicity, especially since my bio mentions my book or books.

As for article directories, many of these are free, and you can submit to them yourself. This can be very time consuming, however. Instead of doing this myself, I choose to use a service called SubmitYourArticle.com (There are others out there.), which costs me $37.00 per month for unlimited article postings per month. They are sticklers about what you post – no outright promotional stuff that sounds like a press release, for instance, but they then submit it to a huge number of article directories for you. (There is some upfront work involved; you have to get a Yahoo e-mail account – or some place where the tremendous amount of posted articles will show up – yes, other people’s articles arrive in your inbox — and give it to all the directories, which takes a lot of time. Once it is done, though, it’s quick and easy. I never even look in that Yahoo e-mail box, by the way. I have to say that the upfront work has deterred me from leaving the service and trying another. I wouldn’t want to start all over again if I came back to them!) I am happy with the number of places I find my articles published, and I seem to get a lot of web site traffic from these listings.

Another service can be used to submit articles all over the Internet; I can’t even begin to tell you where all your news release will go, but boy it goes. It’s called PRWeb.com. They offer a range of services, the cheapest being $200. I posted a news release there last December, and it received 82,000 hits! My web traffic increased quite a bit, and I did find part of the news release used in a newspaper article in the South. I was hoping to enroll some people in a teleseminar, however, and that didn’t happen. Lots of people I know swear by PRWeb.com, but it isn’t cheap. I’m planning to use it to promote a teleseminar a friend of mine and I are running this January. We’ll split the cost, and see if we get some enrollment this time. Be sure when you write your release, however, that you use lots of key words, so people can find your article.

The more exposure you get online, the better when it comes to building your platform. You just never know what will come of it. I spent a year writing news releases almost every week and paying money to submit them on line or giving them away for free. I paid to have myself listed as an “expert” on Expertclick.com, where I can post four news releases a month and have them read by journalists. I thought it was for nothing, even though I knew that I’d plastered myself all over the Internet and increased my web site visitors from an average of 500/month to between 2500 and 4000/month in a year. (My unique visitors went from an average of 300/month to an average of 2500-3000/month in a year.) Oh, some lady did mention something I’d said in a blog once and, as I said, one part of a news release ended up in a newspaper article, and there were all those pieces picked up by e-zines. But nothing big happend. The media weren’t calling me as an expert for interviews.

Then, after a little more than a year, suddenly things started to happen. I was contacted by a regional magazine for an interview for an article. I was asked to do a podcast interview (for a show with 38,000 listeners/month), and it looks like I’ll be asked back as a regular guest. And I received a request to participate in a virtual book launch party wehre a possible 500,000 people might see my name and face — and download my free gifts (related to my books). Then someone asked me to write a blurb for the back of their book, and now I’m speaking with someone about writing a piece for an anthology that is closely related in subject matter to one of my book projects.

It’s taken more than a year, but my platform is building a little bit at a time, and I’m becoming an “expert.” So use your nofiction writing skills to promote yourself online. It’s time consuming and hard work, and it costs a bit of money, but I do think it pays off in the end.