THE POWER OF THE INTERNET

When social media sites hit the internet, (otherwise known as web 2.0) there was an explosion of sites and ways in which you could market yourself as a poet, and your books.  One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "How do I sell my books?"   Well there are a number of answers to that varying from make sure you show up to open mics, read from your book and offer it for sale, to my preferred method now - the internet.

If you want to reach millions of people with your poetry, get familiar with the internet and the marketing tools available to you for free.

You can do 5 things right now which will change how you are known as a poet, around the world.

1. Start a Blog - (WeB LOG)

Go to www.blogger.com

Create a name for your blog
Start posting to it - like journal writing, only at the end of every post you will sign off with your name and promote your book and where they can buy it.

ie. Tracy Repchuk
Bestselling author of 31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles - Available at Amazon.com
(And in the Amazon.com is a live link to my book - and if you want to make money from that as well - become an Amazon affiliate and sell your own book)

2.  Buy your name as your domain name, and redirect this to be your blog.

When you are an author, you are the brand of your writing.  You want to own your own domain name.

ie. www.TracyRepchuk.com

Because when you get famous, and you didn't buy your name, it will probably be gone. 

3.  Participate in social media/web 2.0 communities.  

There is a lot of chatter that these are junk sites, and decreasing the value of poetry, which simply isn't true.  Perhaps there is a lot of 'not so good poetry out there', but people are smart, and can detect good poetry from bad, so don't be afraid to go to sites such as www.myspace.com, www.linkedin.com,  www.furl.net, www.digg.com, and the thousands of specialty sites that are community and user driven, and promote your book, and your websites.  Every time you do a post you have a little signature at the bottom, that says your name, and promotes your website and your books.  You don't have to post your poetry on these sites, most of them are discussions, you can take part in, and then let your signature do the rest.  This not only gets you a brand new set of people that are discovering you, but it gets you very valuable links back to your websites, which will increase your value in the eyes of the Google God, and help with your organic search engine placement. 

4. Video tape a reading and post it on YouTube

Poetry is a visual and auditory medium, and when you put it into a video, you reading one of your poems, or record yourself at an event, this is where poetry promotion can really explode.  Millions of users hit YouTube EVERY DAY, and you can create your own channel, and load up everything you do.  Go to www.youtube.com and find out more
Here is my station: http://www.youtube.com/marketingmaestro
Create your own.

5.  Create a radio station and broadcast your poems

About a year ago now I spoke of the podcasting technology, which was a great way to get your audio's out for your poetry.  However, it was complicated, and time consuming.  But now, there is no excuse not to get the message out every day.

The latest technology is called www.Blogtalkradio.com

It is free, and you can be a host of your own show and broadcasting live to the world in 15 minutes.

I have 3 radio shows, you can even go and check them out.
www.blogtalkradio.com/busyworkingwomen

www.blogtalkradio.com/bookwisefamily

www.blogtalkradio.com/todaysguest

- For todays guest there are 5 of us, called the Fab5, and we each talk on one of the days.  I am Wednesday mornings at 7:00am PST.  What is great is this show discusses writing, goals, fears, barriers, story telling, and business strategies.  There is something for EVERYONE.  Weekdays 7am PST, 10:00am EST.

Later you can actually download your show to your IPOD for easy listening, or simply let the world enjoy it.

So be sure not to neglect the internet as a tool for promoting your books, and your self, and help get quality poetry out there for all of us.

PS - Don't forget to plug the CFP while you are it, because the more we promote each other, that's the way poetry will grow.   It could be as simple as saying For a great group to belong to check out www.federationofpoets.com.
or whatever fits the conversation.