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Steve Weber
type of content to build an FAQ, or Frequently Asked Questions, page on
your site.
Offer book excerpts or sample chapters. Make this available
as a PDF download from your Web site. At a minimum, you should offer
your book’s table of contents, index, and a short excerpt. If you have a
copy of your book in a word-processing file, you can convert sections
into PDF documents with free software from the site
One popular science-fiction author, Cory Doctorow, provides free
downloads of the entire text of all his novels at his site,
www.CrapHound.com. The resulting publicity far outweighs the cost
of any lost book sales, Doctorow says: “It’s about word of mouth. My
readers have large social circles of friends whom they never see face-to-
face.”
Participate in online discussions. Answering queries about
your topic on discussion boards and e-mail lists can lure more visitors
to your site. Find relevant groups on Web boards and in groups
sponsored by Yahoo, MSN, LiveJournal, and America Online. Add a
three- or four-line signature to the bottom of your posts, including your
Web address and current book title. Be sure to provide helpful
information; don’t post purely promotional messages. Follow the rules
of the group, which sometimes preclude commercial content.
Post comments on blogs related to your topic. Most blogs
allow you to include a link back to your site in your comment. Invest the
time in providing useful, thoughtful commentary, and you’ll bring some
new visitors to your site.
Article banks
An increasingly popular way to get exposure for your book is by
contributing to online article banks. One of the most popular,
EzineArticles.com, has more than 40,000 participating authors.
Contributors aren’t paid, but they figure the added exposure is worth the
effort.
If your articles are accepted, they’re featured on EzineArticles.com
and made available for reuse on other Web sites, blogs and e-mail
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