Promo 201 is Off to the Printer

Just a quick note to let you know that the completed manuscript for Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing is OFF TO THE PRINTER. We made a small change to the cover at the last minute that I think will look great :) Will definitely post more info when the book is available.

Nikki

Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing

To be notified when Book Promo 201 is available - send Nikki your address --

Name: Email:

Are You Interested in Promotional Articles?

I'm working to build a new website that I'm looking forward to unveiling and I also have a blog where I've posted about 100 promotional articles and tips. I'd like to invite you to come take a look

http://promo101articles.blogspot.com/

I am also happy to let you know that this blog won the Preditor's and Editor's award for best non fiction articles. Drop by and take a look :)

Nikki Leigh

New Posts on My Promotional Blogs

This is post #300. Who would've thought it :)

I have quite a few promotional blogs where I created interviews for authors to help them promote their books. The full list is at http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-promomtional-options-for-author.html. If you would like to use these to promote any of your books - feel free to read this post for a full list of the links and for instructions.

This week I posted the following interviews and chapters -- enjoy :)

http://startatbeginning.blogspot.com/2008/12/starquest-by-hywela-lyn.html

http://startwithfacts.blogspot.com/2008/12/kindred-spirits-by-marilyn-meredith.html

http://shareyourheroine.blogspot.com/2008/12/meet-marilyn-merediths-heroine-from.html

http://authorpromotion.blogspot.com/2008/12/promotional-interview-with-lisa-burke.html

http://detailwithnikkileigh.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-detail-with-russell-vassallo.html

http://judgebookbycover.blogspot.com/2008/12/katana-duet-samurais-forbidden-love-by.html

http://badguysandvillains.blogspot.com/2008/12/witch-hunts-on-internet-by-yvonne-walus.html

I'm starting to run out of interviews to post -- hint, hint :)

Nikki Leigh

Book Promo 201 by Nikki Leigh

Book Promo 201 is the second book in my Book Promo series and I'm thrilled (almost beyond words) to say the draft of the manuscript is complete. Now, I am going through the manuscript to fill in some gaps and to figure out what is missing.

I started this book last November and made great progress, but then I started to have a new vision for the book and over the last year, I've deleted over 50,000 words from the manuscript. But, finally, I'm happy with the topics and the content.

I can't wait to get this to my publisher, so I'm working on the editing every chance I get and will certainly post a message when the completed manuscript goes to my publisher :)

Nikki Leigh

PS - This picture is the one I hope to crop and use for the cover :) I took it near Hatteras Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was taken with a couple of days of the picture that we used for the cover of Book Promo 101 :)

Nikki Leigh Interviews Nationally Known Political Analyst – Earl Ofari Hutchinson on the Eve of the Presidential Election

Your Questions Answered on Promo 101 (BlogTalkRadio)

Nikki Leigh talks with Dr Hutchinson about the unique aspects of this historic presidential election. Promo 101 tackles the tough questions in this election and takes a look at the part race played in this election and elections throughout the 21^st century. Author and political analyst, Earl Ofari Hutchinson shares his thoughts and answer questions. He will also talk about his book The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House. This book was released in February 2008 and he predicted many of the things that happened throughout the election process. This show airs Monday November 3^rd, 2008 at 3 p.m. Eastern. The call in number is (347) 215-8201.

Questions about this historic election and how this election process has been similar to past elections will be the focus of BlogTalkRadio’s “Promo 101 – Create and Promote” (http://blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh) with host Nikki Leigh on Monday, November 3, 2008, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. The show will feature nationally recognized author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson and the show welcomes calls from listeners.

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (347) 215-8201. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page at http://blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh. “Our host and guest will welcome ideas and discussion from listeners during the live show.”

An archive of the show will be available at the same link immediately following the show or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page. Read more about the host and the discussion at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh/2008/11/03/Nikki-Leigh-Talks-Politics-with-Earl-Ofari-Hutchinson.

About Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Earl Ofari Hutchinson has written extensively for many major newspapers. He is the National Political Writer for New America Media and he contributes regularly to the Huffington Post and BlackAmericaWeb.com. He has been interviewed about politics and race on a wide variety of television shows and is a guest analyst on a number of shows. For full details about Mr Hutchinson’s book – The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House – visit http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Presidency-Decides-White-House/dp/1881032256 . Mr Hutchinson is available for interviews, discussions, debates and analysis of topics related to politics and race. He can be contacted at: 323-296-6331 or 323-383-6145 or by email hutchinsonreport@aol.com.

About “Promo 101 – Create and Promote”

“Promo 101 – Create and Promote” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on hot topics with a wide range of authors and business people. Host Nikki Leigh is an award winning fiction and non fiction author. She is also a publicist and she owns Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours. For more information about Nikki Leigh and her promotional services, visit www.nikkileigh.com. Callers are encouraged to call (347) 215-8201 to listen or ask questions. The stream and archives are available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh. The show is live every Monday afternoon – usually at 3 pm EST/ 12 noon Pacific. The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio.

Press Contact

Nikki Leigh – Author and Publicist

Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours

Nikki@nikkileigh.com

New Review for Book Promo 101

I just received a review for Book Promo 101 from Lillian Brummet and it is posted on my book review site :) This is the link - http://nikkisreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-will-put-out-that-this-review-was.html

Nikki Leigh

FREE Teleseminar Thursday Oct 23 for Female Entrepreneurs

I'm doing a teleseminar Thursday night. This is targeted to female entrepreneurs and I will have a couple of special offers for people on the call Any questions, let me know quick

Nikki


Build And Promote Your Business Using
Your Personal Expertise...
And Yes, You Have An Expertise.
Find Out What It Is!


Brought To You By Our Guest Speaker: Nikki Leigh

Nikki Leigh is an award winning fiction and non fiction author. She
has over sixteen years of promotional experience. This background
has been helpful with her book promotion and with her new
promotional venture, Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tours. Her new book -
Book Promo 101 - lets her share many of the things she's learned.

Nikki also owns a consulting and promotional business under her real
name, Shri Henkel, called: S&C Consulting Ltd. Shri has 24 years of
business management experience and this knowledge was used to
create books and articles for business managers. She has four
business and restaurant books in print.


Time: 6pm Pacific/7pm Mountain/8pm Central/9pm Eastern

Duration: 75 minutes (with discussion after)

Call (218) 339-2626
(your only cost is your regular long distance call to mid-USA)

Then follow the prompts to enter pass code 578000
followed by the # key

Your friends are welcome to join us too, by signing up at
www.ultimatebusinesscamp.com


Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Nikki Leigh Promotional Services Can Help YOU
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

Book Promo 101 by Nikki Leigh - USA Best Book Awards

I got this information this morning -

Book Promo 101 is an Award-Winning Finalist in the Business-Writing category of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News

Just had to share the news.

Nikki Leigh

Virtual Blog Tours & Use Web 2.0 to Sell More Books Part Two

Monday September 22 –

Susan has written a guest post for http://murderby4.blogspot.com/

Today is the first day of a four day event with Joyce Anthony. Joyce Anthony features information about Susan Wingate and Bobby’s - http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog/

Winton is being hosted by http://www.scottfox.com

Nikki Leigh and Michelle Price share Week Two of a four week teleseminar series about Using Web 2.0 to Sell More Books - www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh - Call-in Number: (347) 215-8201 - 5 pm EST

Winton Churchill will be featured in the Self Growth Self Improvement newsletter this week – visit www.selfgrowth.com to subscribe to the newsletter.

For the most up to date information for all tours, visit www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com

Nikki Leigh – Award winning Author & Publicist

Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr

"Ask Nikki Leigh" - Answering Your Promotional Questions

I've thought it would be fun to be an advise columnist for years. But, I would have to do that under an unknown identity :) Today, it hit me that it might be fun to add a promotional advise column to my Muze's Musings blog. So, I want to extend an invitation to people to send me their questions about writing, publishing and especially promoting. Once I start getting regular questions, I'll feature one or two on my radio show - Book Promo 101 - Write, Publish and Promote. Seems like that could all work together.

So, I invite you to send me your writing, publishing and promoting questions. But, I need to give you give you two warnings -

1 - I reserve the right to chose which ones to answer - and when to answer them
2 - I reserve the right to give you an honest answer - I should mention that I can sometimes be blunt, but I will make every effort to be kind and I will make an effort to make all the answers helpful.

The good news - I will leave the comment option on my blog and I invite others to share their thoughts. If the Ask Nikki idea really takes off, I'll move it to another blog. For now, the questions and answers will be posted at www.muzesmusings.blogspot.com and please submit your questions to AskNikkiLeigh@gmail.com That is the address for your questions. I look forward to hearing what people want to learn more about.

Nikki Leigh --- Send questions to ---- AskNikkiLeigh@gmail.com

Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Nikki Leigh Promotional Services - www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

Nikki Leigh Interviews Publisher and Author Arline Chase

Nikki Leigh interviewed Arline Chase on Book Promo 101 Talk Radio on Monday September 2. We had the opportunity to talk about her work as a publisher, some do’s and don’ts for writers and tips for submitting your work to a publisher. We also had the chance to talk about her latest book which was released yesterday. The title is Spirit of Wind and it is the third book in her spirit series. For more information or to listen to the show, visit www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh.

On September 9th, best selling mystery author Doug Cummings is scheduled to discuss his latest book- Every Secret Crime. Doug began his 25 year broadcasting career as a TV investigative reporter before discovering his passion for the immediacy of news-radio. He worked as an anchor, reporter and talk-show host in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois before settling in Chicago. You can visit www.blogtalkradio.com/nikkileigh to set a reminder for future shows.

Nikki Leigh

Book Promo 101 - http://www.nikkileigh.com
Follow Me on Twitter - www.twitter.com/litekepr
Nikki Leigh Promotional Services Can Help YOU
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm

Use an Open Mind in Your Promotion

Three qualities that effective book promotion requires, include:

An open mind
Curiosity
Creativity

These traits will help you search for ways to improve your approach, your promotion, your website and more. You need to always be looking for ways to improve. Potential readers, book stores and other will usually respond to useful input from you. This doesn’t mean everything you suggest will be a valuable nugget of information.

Authors Need An Open Mind in Book Promotion

Remember that we never know where the best promotional ideas will originate. Give people the chance to share their thoughts and suggestions. This is when you need to keep an open mind. Once you consider the idea, decide if you can use the suggestion. If you don’t understand the idea, ask questions. I’ve found that many times, suggestions can give me ideas to use, or it may spur new thoughts and ideas.

The simple answer is to give people a chance to give you ideas about how to promote your books. If the thoughts are useless, then toss them. Very few suggestions turn into wonderful ideas, but you will never find the golden nuggets if you don’t open your mind.

Curious Authors Can Have Great Promotional Success

Are you a curious person? Do you like to learn more about the things around you? Find a way to use that inborn curiosity to offer better books to your readers. It can also help you discover new ways to promote your work to potential readers. No matter whether you are offering one book or twenty books, you can find better ways to promote them.

Creativity Is Essential For Authors

Authors must be creative in their writing, so why not be creative with your book promotion? Curiosity offers you a chance to stretch your promotional creativity. This is a example of “thinking outside the box”. Open your mind and let your imagination run free. Transfer those ideas to your promotional plans. This doesn’t mean that everything you try will work perfectly. You will probably need to make adjustments, but it gets a little better with each change.

Nikki Leigh
Author of the Book Promo 101 Series
www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm

Increase Your Credibility as an Author

Fiction authors need to consider the unlimited options people have when they want to buy books. Years ago people had fewer options. When readers wanted to buy a book, they had to drive to a store to make the purchase. Sometimes, a person could drive to several stores in order to compare items. Along with the internet and skyrocketing gas prices, those days are almost forgotten.

Internet promotion needs to include your credibility in order to attract customers and convert their visit into a sale. In the twenty first century, many people shop online with the click of a mouse. This has changed how people view the places where they shop. So, we need to evaluate our online promotional credibility.

How to Develop Author Credibility

Author credibility is not instantaneous, but it can be built over time. Here are some suggestions to speed up the process.

Borrowing Credibility – Did you raise your eyebrow when you read that? Joint ventures are a wonderful way to “borrow” credibility. Establish a promotional partnership with a business that has established their credibility. This helps people view you in a more positive light. Even though you are working with someone else, continue to build your own credibility. Keep in mind that the opposite is also true. If you work with a questionable company, that can hurt your credibility.

Honest Communication Helps Author Promotion

Open and Honest - Let website visitors know how to find you if there are questions or problems. A woman I know said that she hid her email address to make people work for it. That is not a good way to build your credibility. If you don’t want to circulate your home address or personal email, then rent a post office box and set up a business email. The important thing is to make it possible for people to contact you. When potential readers contact you, answer their concerns and questions in a timely manner.

Policies – Does your publisher accept returns? Do you accept returns? If so, what are the requirements? These details need to be posted clearly on your website. It may be best to include it on your order page. These details can be especially important to bookstores and other retail outlets. But, posting these details is not enough, you must abide by them.

Tell Readers About The Author’s Credentials

Show Off - Do you have a long list of publishing credits? Do you have special skills and experience that make you “the perfect person” to write these stories? Include this information on your website. If you write spy thrillers and you worked in a related field, mention that. Any strong background that would apply to your books should be made known. This information about your background will increase your credibility. Share your insights and experience with your website visitors. You can also share this information on message boards and forums. When you post messages, include your website link in your signature block. Publish articles to share this information and include your name and website link at the bottom. Include links to these articles on your website so that your regular visitors can learn from your knowledge too.

Talk About Your Team - Do you work with someone else who brings special experience to the project? A wonderful example of this is the writing team of Jefferson Bass. I have to mention that I met Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson in the spring of 2006. They are very nice people and a talented writing team. Jon Jefferson has a wonderful way with words and Dr. Bass brings his knowledge as a world renowned forensic anthropology to their fiction and non fiction works. The realism in Jon’s writing and the authentic forensic details certainly add to their credibility. While not everyone has the opportunity to work with such qualified individuals, we can focus on our specific qualifications. It you earned any recognition or awards, share the details. This is your chance to brag.

Testimonials - I mention this to many people. When you have satisfied customers, ask them to write a simple testimonial. It’s always good to have other people telling your potential customers about your wonderful product and service. When these are submitted, be sure to add them to your website.

All of these things help you build credibility with customers and website visitors.

Nikki Leigh
Author of the Book Promo 101 Series
www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm

Promote Books by Telling The Author's Story

Your potential readers want to learn about you and “what makes you tick”. We’ve all found writers whose books we love and we want to know about them. This is an advantage that we have with the internet. There are so many ways to interact with our readers and potential readers. You have the chance to tell potential readers who you are, why you became a writer and why they have to read your books.

Reveal Author Details to Readers

There could be things about you that could be used to promote your books to new readers. Are you a single parent who needed a way to support your children but still being available for them? Do you have a disabled child or family member who requires your attention, but you still need to make a living? Mention this to your potential customers. This is NOT meant to make them feel sorry for you. It is a chance for people to learn what attracted you to writing. You can connect with someone who could be in a similar situation.

Authors Can Become More Well Known to Readers

This helps make writers more real to their readers. It helps them see you as more than a faceless online entity. We are all people with problems, challenges and who searched to find a solution for our lives. It is very important not to make up a story about yourself that isn’t true. Share your real story with potential readers.

How To Draw Media Attention For Your Books

The media loves a good story and you can submit a press release to announce the release of each book or maybe your new website. Find a way to strike an emotional cord with the readers and you will get their attention. You can gain lifelong fans by letting them get to know you and understand more about your work.

Nikki Leigh
Author of the Book Promo 101 Series
www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm

Qualities of a Writer Who Promotes

All writers who want their book promotion to be effective should consider the key qualities of a great marketing person. Two of these qualities include:

Determination
Persistence

These are two qualities that some people believe are positive traits, while others consider them to be negative. But, depends on how you exhibit these qualities.

Effective Authors Show Determination

Determination and persistence are positive traits, but you can drive other people crazy if you are overly persistent or determined in an irritating way. Are you persistent or obnoxious? There is a big difference in those two traits. I was just talking to another writer today. We were discussing how persistence is necessary for writers. This applies to writing the book, submitting the work to publishers and/or agents and promoting the final product.

It Is Acceptable for Writers To Be Persistent

When you are persistent, you see a project through to the end or until you reach your goals.However, how do you react when you approach someone and they are not interested? Do you continue to bother them and pester them even when they are clearly not interested? This can apply to agents, publishers, book stores owners and managers and many other people that you encounter when promoting your books.

Pushy Authors Are Not More Effective

There are very few people who respond in a positive way when they are pestered and badgered. They may agree to sell a couple of copies of your book to get rid of you, but they won’t work with you on a long term basis. But, will they make an effort to help promote your books? Or, will they make an effort to avoid you? It’s been known to happen.

You can get good results without being a pain. Be enthusiastic and persistent, but there are times when you need to learn to take no for an answer. Make the rejection positive by asking if there about the reasons why they aren’t interested. Use these comments to improve your approach or your book promotion.

Nikki Leigh
Author of Book Promo 101 Series
www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm

Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava

I want to take this opportunityto tell you about a wonderful new business book - its called Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava.

I've always worked to make any business I owned or managed, customer friendly and unique. I have never liked the "faceless" companies that are so big and that seem to ignore the customer and the human element. The idea of a business having a personality is a great idea and Rohit definitely has the background and the resources to create a great book about this topic.

I highly recommend it and my review of it was just posted - the link is posted below. Feel free to let me know what you think and if you have questions. If you want to set your business apart from your competitors -- this is a must read. Even if you think business is fine, it would be good to read this and see how you can make it even better :)

Nikki Leigh

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Book-Reviews/2820/Personality-Not-Included-by-Rohit-Bhargava.html

Brainstorm Your Book Promotion

A great way to get promotional ideas for your books is through brainstorming with other writers. This can easily be done with online message boards, forums and marketing groups can be a huge help. I’ve been a member of networking groups where you work on marketing ideas together and the members promote each other. This works face to face, online or over the phone.

Work With Other Authors to Brainstorm Promotions

You can create a group of people so that you can brainstorm ideas. This group can be made up of friends, family or business associates. Anyone who can and will offer useful input about your ideas can be part of this group. You can post a link on your website to ask people for their thoughts. It would be interesting to post a graphic of a “suggestion box” and invite visitors to send their ideas.

Online Book Brainstorming Options

This doesn’t need to be an expensive promotional opportunity. Online promotional brainstorming should be free. Our promotional forum is a great way to brainstorm and share ideas. Anyone can ask questions, start a discussion, ask for feedback about your website or let your hair down and have some fun. This offers chances to become acquainted and to share ideas and suggestions. You may even find writers who write similar genres, use the same settings or any other similarities.

Book Promotion Does Not Need To Be A Solitary Activity

Working together along with sharing ideas and suggestions is also a way for all of us to learn more and to develop new friendships. These friendships can easily turn into productive promotional relationships for each person who is involved. I’ve also found the people who participate and help one another, attract more attention to their books.

Nikki Leigh
Author of the Book Promo 101 Series
Owner Promo 101 Virtual Blog Tour
www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com

Get Your Feet Wet By Hosting Someone on a Tour

If you would like more information about what is involved in hosting a blog tour and why it is beneficial for you - feel free to read my latest blog post -

http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/06/get-your-feet-wet-by-hosting-someone-on.html

Nikki Leigh

Develop An Author Marketing Mindset

In the beginning, I’ll explain the promotional mindset – how to develop it and how to use it. Every great promotional campaign begins with a well constructed and thorough marketing plan. I’ll take you through each step of building a marketing plan to help you promote your books.

Talk To Readers About Your Books

One of the things I love about promoting my books is that it gives me a chance to talk about my writing. How many writers do you know that can keep their mouth shut when someone asks about their books? Most of my friends who are authors love to talk about their books. So, we need to find people who want to ask questions and then listen to the answers.
These are the building blocks that we’ll use to help you promote your books. You don’t need a fancy education to promote your work. I won’t lie and tell you that it is easy from the beginning, but it is easier when you practice the things we will discuss.

How Will You Promote Books

As you read the book promotion articles, keep in mind that not every technique will be right for you. But, I’ll give you plenty of suggestions so there will be plenty of ways to promote. Then you can pick and choose the methods that you feel right. As your promotional experience grows, it is good to expand the methods you use and step outside your comfort zone. Remember, the best promoters all started somewhere. Now, its time for you to get started learning more.

Nikki Leigh
Author of the Book Promo 101 Series
www.nikkileigh.com/promo.htm