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Plug Your Book!
155
Syndicating your content
“Information wants to be free,” as the saying goes. Yet it’s also true
that the best way to sell information is by giving some away free. You can
apply this to fiction, and particularly to nonfiction, where every bit of
exposure helps build your reputation.
Most people don’t purchase a book the first time they hear of it, but
the sixth or seventh time they’re exposed to it. The more frequently you
can pop up in front of your potential audience—providing valuable, free
content—the larger your audience becomes. When Internet searchers
discover valuable content, they become prime candidates for buying a
book from someone regarded as an expert.
The benefits of posting free sample content online grow by the day.
Not only can consumers find you, but reporters and news producers
increasingly turn to the Internet to find expert sources and story ideas.
This can lead to exposure and credibility that can’t be bought at any
price.
Here are some good ways of providing sample content to burnish
your reputation and achieve expert status:
Post question-and-answer content. On your blog or Web site,
summarize the best questions you receive from readers via e-mail, phone
calls, letters or personal conversations. Publish them in a question-and-
answer format. This provides interesting, valuable, and easy-to-read
content. Q&A content is simple to produce, especially if you’re already
producing the raw material by answering e-mails. When you post this
content publicly, your entire audience benefits, instead of just one
person (although you should omit personally identifying information
where appropriate). Further, Q&As expand your audience because the
format boosts your visibility with search engines. Many people searching
the Web actually type questions into Google, such as “How to stop
thumb-sucking.” You can rewrite the questions for clarity, or even write
the question yourself to help illustrate a point. You can use this same
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