The Amazon Associates program is one of the most successful affiliate programs in the world. As an Associate, you can create affiliate links to place on your website for your own books and any other products you’d like to promote. Each time someone clicks on one of your affiliate links and purchases the product, you earn a commission.

This is extra revenue, above and beyond whatever you normally make when you sell your book on Amazon.com. You will even get a commission on anything else the customer purchases during that same shopping session on Amazon.

Currently, residents of Colorado, North Carolina and Rhode Island are not eligible to participate in the Amazon Associates program due to issues with sales tax laws in those states. But if you are eligible, you should sign up today.

Selling your book in multiple formats can also increase profits. If you have published a printed book, consider publishing a Kindle ebook as well. Customers expect Kindle ebooks to be priced lower than the print version, but look at the potential profit per book. You can earn a 70% royalty on Kindle books priced under $10, and some authors report that they sell in higher volume on Kindle because the prices are lower.

You can even sell subscriptions to your blog in the Kindle store. Learn how in this free tutorial on Kindle blog subsciptions.

If you have only published in Kindle format, consider publishing a printed book to increase sales beyond Kindle users. To decide if this makes economic sense, you’d need to consider the potential demand for the book as well as the costs of producing a printed edition.

Another potential way to increase profits is to change the way that you sell to Amazon. For example, if you’re a self-published author supplying books to Amazon through the Amazon Advantage program, you may be able to earn a higher profit per book by making your book available through Lightning Source instead. There are several factors to consider in determining the most profitable way to supply books to Amazon, but it’s worth investigating.

Selling your book through the Amazon Marketplace may also yield higher profits. In the Marketplace, authors, publishers, book dealers and individuals sell new or used books directly to customers. If your profit margin through your regular selling method on Amazon is low, you might be able to earn more per book by selling autographed copies of your book on the Marketplace. And if you are comfortable with the practice of selling used books, you may be able to earn extra revenue by selling books from your own library.

Profit margins in the publishing business can be low, so it’s worth considering these methods for boosting your profits on the world’s most popular bookstore.

Learn more about participating in Amazon Associates, working with Lightning Source, selling through the Amazon Marketplace, and boosting your book’s visibility and sales appeal on Amazon in Dana Lynn Smith’s new ebook, How to Sell More Books on Amazon.  For more book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and get Dana’s free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

1. Help others by sharing information, while you gain a reputation as an expert. You can post links to helpful articles, recommend resources, and teach mini-lessons.

2. Meet potential customers and stay in touch with existing customers. Promote your Twitter URL everywhere you’re listed online, and include keywords in your tweets to attract followers who are interested in your topic or genre.

3. Stay on top of news and trends in your field and get ideas for your articles and blog by reading the tweets of the people you follow.

4. Promote live and virtual events such as book signings, podcasts, virtual book tours, teleseminars, and book launches.

5. Gain visibility and new followers by hosting a Twitter contest where you give away a prize to a randomly chosen winner, or give a free gift to everyone who follows you and re-tweets your contest message.

6. Ask for help and get instant responses. When you request product recommendations, referrals to experts, or help with a technical issue, it’s amazing how helpful folks are.

7. Spread good will by helping your peers. Introduce other people in your field or genre, or recommend other related books or products.  Re-tweet interesting posts from people that you follow.

8. Promote your book and other products and services. The key is to be subtle and make promotional tweets a small percentage of your overall communications, so people feel like they gain value from following you, not just a stream of sales pitches.

9. Meet other authors, experts, publishers, marketers, and vendors. Twitter is ideal for networking and it’s a great place to meet potential joint venture partners.

10. Keep in touch when you’re on the road. There are a number of applications that facilitate twittering from mobile devices.

Have fun! It’s fascinating to meet people from all over the world, gain a glimpse into their lives, and develop a cyber-relationship.

Excerpted from the Twitter Guide for Authors by Dana Lynn Smith. For more book marketing tips, follow BookMarketer on Twitter and attend the Boost Your Book Sales With Twitter teleseminar.

A Facebook “Fan Page” or “Page” is designed for business use and it’s a great way to promote your book. You can set up a Fan Page for your business, book, or even a character in your book, and you can create multiple Pages. Here are some advantages that Pages have over personal Profiles.

• By using Facebook applications like “Static FBML,” you can create customized tabs on your Facebook Fan Page containing graphics, text, videos and even opt-in forms to promote your book.

• You can specify which tab of the Page that you want new visitors to land on.

• Facebook users join a Page by clicking on the “Become a Fan” button and there’s no limit to the number of fans who can join.

• You can send messages to your all of your fans, which shows up in their news feed.

• Pages get indexed by search engines and each tab on the Page has its own URL.

Click here to create a Fan Page. Here are some ways to promote your book by building traffic to your Fan Page:

• Once your Page has at least 25 fans, go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ to create a personalized URL for your page.

• Beneath the photo or image on your Page, click “Suggest to Friends” to send invitations to your Facebook friends to join your page. The invitation will appear in the In Box of your friends.

• Write an article for your blog and ezine inviting people to join your Page.

• Invite people to join your page by posting updates on Twitter, your Facebook personal Profile, and on other social networks.

To encourage Facebook users to join your Page, be active in posting on the page, maintain lively discussions, and offer some benefits and incentive for becoming a fan. Even though promotion is allowed, you still need to be somewhat subtle and provide value to your fans rather than just a sales pitch.

For more detailed information about how to promote your book on Facebook, see Facebook Guide for Authors, by Dana Lynn Smith. For more book promotion tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog at http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dana_Lynn_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?Promote-Your-Book-on-Facebook-With-a-Fan-Page&id=3829973

According to Dana Lynn Smith of The Savvy Book Marketer, nearly all – 94 percent of the respondents – said they plan to promote their books with social networking and other social media this year.

“Online book promotion through social media is clearly a popular strategy,” says Smith, a book marketing consultant. “But, it’s important that authors and publishers learn to use these new book promotion tools effectively.”

According to the survey, here are the top 10 book promotion methods that authors and publishers plan to use this year:

1. Social networking and social media: 94 percent

2. Blogging: 84 percent

3. Seeking book reviews: 75 percent

4. Seeking testimonials and endorsements: 73 percent

5. Press releases: 68 percent

6. Ezines or email marketing: 62 percent

7. Radio and television talk shows: 62 percent

8. Speaking or teleseminars: 60 percent

9. Article marketing: 57 percent

10. Book signings: 56 percent

“Despite the emphasis on online book promotion in 2010, more traditional activities like book reviews and radio interviews are still important,” notes Smith. “An effective book promotion plan should use a variety of online and offline tactics for the widest reach.”

Of the 136 people responding to the book promotion strategies survey, 42 percent are independently or self-published authors, 25 percent are authors published by a traditional publishing house, 12 percent are aspiring authors, and 21 percent are publishers or others in the industry.

Dana Smith, who develops marketing plans for nonfiction books, is the author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing and several other book promotion guides.

For book promotion tips, visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com. Subscribers to Smith’s complimentary newsletter, The Savvy Book Marketer, get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips e-book when they register for the newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com. For more book marketing tips, follow Smith on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BookMarketer.

Many reader community sites allow authors to set up a profile page to promote themselves and their books. Some sites allow users to create a “friends” network and join groups composed of readers and authors of a particular genre, and some offer promotional opportunities to authors.

Look over the various reader communities to find those that are the best fit for your book and your audience. You may want to set up a profile on several sites and visit them occasionally, but it’s probably best to focus your time on just two or three sites.

Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com claims to be the world’s largest social network for readers. The site has 1.8 million members who have added more than 41 million books to their bookshelves. Authors can promote their books in a variety of ways. See http://www.goodreads.com/author/program for details.

LibraryThing at http://www.librarything.com/ has 600,000 book lovers who have cataloged 35 million books. Registered LibraryThing authors can promote book readings and events, participate in author chat, offer review copies, and add photos and information to their author page. See http://www.librarything.com/librarything_author for information.

Authors can build profile pages on AuthorsDen at http://www.authorsden.com and interact with readers. Nothing Binding at http://www.nothingbinding.com is geared toward independent publishers.
Shelfari at http://www.shelfari.com is owned by Amazon and it’s popular with Facebook users. Red Room at http://www.redroom.com/ is another popular site.

JacketFlap at http://www.jacketflap.com focuses on children’s and young adult books and Big Universe at http://www.biguniverse.com is devoted to children’s picture books.

Amazon.com offers groups (called communities) and forums (called customer discussions). Customer discussions appear just below the customer review section on book detail pages.

For a list of other reader communities, see http://bit.ly/readers.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing, www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For free book marketing tips visit www.BookMarketingMaven.com.

1. Encourage your readers to share your content with others.
Make it easy for readers to share your content by adding “share” buttons from http://sharethis.com or http://www.addthis.com. Then ask readers to share by including text at the end of your best posts such as: “Do you know someone who might benefit from these tips? Just click the Share This button below to send a link by email or recommend this post on your favorite social site.”

2. Actively solicit comments.

Get readers engaged by including a sentence at the end of some posts inviting comments. Thank each commenter and make a further comment based on what they said.

3. Make comments on other blogs.

Making insightful comments on related blogs is a terrific way to boost your visibility and create links and traffic to your site. Subscribe to the top blogs related to your book’s topic or audience and watch for posts that you can comment on. Comments should be helpful and relevant, not self-promotional.

4. Write guest posts for other blogs.

Contact other bloggers that cater to your audience and offer to write a guest article. Include a brief bio and a low-resolution photo. Search for blogs at http://blogsearch.google.com/.

5. Create a feed for your blog.

RSS feeds allow your blog posts to be automatically delivered to your visitors and to other websites. To create a feed, go http://www.FeedBurner.com.

6. Do a virtual book tour

Make guest appearances on blogs, ezines, podcasts or other forums to promote your book. Provide unique content to each host on your tour. Content can include interviews, how-to articles, book excerpts, videos, book reviews, or an article about how you developed the plot or characters for a novel.

7. Join a blog carnival.

Blog carnivals are a collection of links pointing to blog posts on a particular topic, or topics of interest to a particular group of people. Learn more at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/faq.html.

8. Hold a contest or drawing on your blog.

Use the blog comment feature to hold contests. For example, post a question and award a prize to the first person who leaves a comment with the correct answer. Or, write a blog post stating that everyone who leaves a comment on the post by a specific date (allow five to seven days) will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of your book. Promote the contest on your social networks.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing, www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For free book marketing tips visit www.BookMarketingMaven.com.

Forums are free and they are a great way to network with people who share your interests, build your reputation as an expert, learn from others, and subtly promote your book.

Typically, forum members post questions and others offer answers. Some posts are informational, passing along a resource that would be of interest to the group. Many forums are moderated, which means that each message must be approved before it is posted to the group.

To find forums related to your topic and target audience, search Yahoo Groups and Google Groups, and also type “your keyword + forum” into a search engine. You can also search for a keyword on Google, then click Show Options (near the upper left) and click Forums. Larger and more active groups will give you more exposure, so it’s best to concentrate your time there.

On some forums, you can specify whether you want to receive each message as it’s posted or receive a daily digest. If the forum has a place for member profiles, upload your photo and enter biographical information and links to your websites.

When you join a forum it’s best to lurk for a while first, to get a feel for the group and the level of expertise. Also read each group’s rules. Then look for opportunities to respond to posts in a helpful way. You can also gain visibility by posting a question.

For maximum benefit, you’ll need to participate regularly. When you receive the digest of posts, it’s easy to skim over the discussion topics looking for anything that you can respond to. After you make a post, check back to see if you need to respond to any replies it receives.

Forums usually allow you to list promotional information in the signature at the end of posts, but signatures may be restricted to a certain number of lines. Your signature can include your name and other details such as your book title and website addresses.

In most forums, it’s okay to mention your book when responding to a question, as long as you are subtle. For example, you might say “In researching my book XYZ, I found that …” Some forums allow purely promotional posts, such as announcing a new book or an author event. Just make sure you’re following the rules for each forum.

Here are some publishing forums to consider:

Self Publishing http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Self-Publishing/

POD Publishing http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/pod_publishers/

Publish-L http://groups.google.com/group/publish-l?hl=en

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing, www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For free book marketing tips visit www.BookMarketingMaven.com.

1. Think about the other promotional tactics you are already using and how social media fits in with them.

2. Decide how high a priority should be placed on social marketing, compared with other your marketing activities. How many hours a week can you devote to it?

3. Determine what target audiences you want to reach through social marketing. For example:

• Potential new customers
• Key influencers (people who can introduce/recommend you)
• Peers and other experts in your field or genre
• Publishing and marketing professionals

4. Set objectives, describing what you hope to gain by marketing through social media.  Here are a few examples:

• Increase visibility and name or brand recognition
• Establish yourself as an expert in your field
• Develop relationships with others in your field or genre
• Drive traffic to your website (directly and through enhanced search engine optimization)
• Sell books and other products and services
• Develop relationships with potential joint venture partners

5.  Based on your objectives, set specific, achievable, and measurable goals for your social marketing activities. Here are some examples:

• Add five new incoming links to your website this month
• Double the traffic to your website within two months
• Increase your opt-in mailing list by twenty five percent within three months
• Increase book sales by ten percent within two months

6. Develop your branding

• Get a good quality headshot photo, in low-resolution format, to use in all online marketing activities.
• Decide what “user name” you want to be known by online. Nonfiction authors should also develop a short tagline that reflects their specific area of expertise.
• Write standard bios in several lengths.
• Create an online signature for emails and online forums. Include your book title, company name if appropriate, website and blog address, and one or two social networks.

7. Determine which social marketing tactics are the best fit for your book, your audiences, your objectives, and your available time. Social marketing activities can include:

• Social blogging (commenting on blogs, doing blog tours)
• Social networking (Facebook, MySpace)
• Microblogging (Twitter)
• Virtual reader communities (Goodreads, LibraryThing)
• Online forums
• Expert sites and wikis (Squidoo, HubPages)
• Media and content sharing sites (YouTube, Flickr)
• Social news and bookmarking (StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious)

8. Decide how you will measure the effectiveness of your social marketing efforts. What metrics will you track and what tools will you use to measure them. Below are some examples of metrics you might track:

• Friends or followers on social networks
• Articles or pages posted on expert sites or article sites
• Sales  of books and other products and services
• Business contacts (peers, influencers, media, potential partners)
• Weekly unique visitors and return visitors to your website and blog
• Subscribers to your mailing list and blog
• Visitors to your website and blog
• Inbound links to you website and blog

9. Implement your chosen social marketing tactics, one at a time.

10. Evaluate your progress periodically. Can you tell which activities are generating the best results? Are some activities taking up too much of your time? Make adjustments to your strategy as necessary.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing, www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For free book marketing tips visit www.BookMarketingMaven.com.

1. Be sure to take full advantage of the promotional opportunities on your profile page. Just below your photo is a small box where you can enter a concise description of what you do, including the title of your book.

The About Me box (under Personal Information) is a good place to describe your book and your business. In the Contact Information section you can enter multiple website addresses. Post your book cover in your photo album or another application and display it in the left column of your profile.

Remember, your Facebook profile must be registered in your real name. If you create a profile for your book or business, you risk having your account cancelled.

2. Facebook Pages are similar to personal profiles, but they are created for business use. You can create a page for your book, your business, or even one of the characters in your novel. People join a page by becoming a fan.

You may want to offer an incentive to join (or at least visit) your page, such as a free download, a coupon for one of your products, or a contest. Another way to attract fans is to set your page up as an information hub, offering links and resources.

3. Groups are a great place to meet people who share your interests and find new friends. Search for groups by entering keywords in the Search box at the top of the page and then clicking on the Groups tab. You can gain visibility on a group page by introducing yourself on the wall, participating in disucssions, and posting your book cover, photos or videos.

Forming your own group can also be beneficial. Be sure to encourage discussions and offer valuable information such as free downloads and links to resources. You can direct message the entire group.

4. Joining relevant events is a good way to get visibility because you can write on the event wall and post photos. You can also promote your own live or virtual events by hosting an event. http://snipr.com/higrf

5. Facebook displays pay-per-click ads on most pages on the site, and ads can be targeted by age, gender, location, education level, relationship status, or keywords in people’s profiles.

6. In the Facebook Marketplace you can post a listing to sell your book. There’s no charge for this service, so it’s worth an experiment.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing, www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For free book marketing tips visit www.BookMarketingMaven.com.

• Upload several versions of your proposed book cover, logo design, or blog header, then ask your friends, followers, ezine subscribers, and blog readers for feedback.
• Upload your book cover when you’re promoting your book launch, and include a link in your tweets and social network updates.
• Post photos of your book signings or speaking engagements.
• Post photos related to the topic of your book or the setting of your novel.
• Upload illustrations, photos, or charts from your book.
• Post images on your blog or ezine to add interest and illustrate a point. iStockphoto at www.istockphoto.com is a great place to find high-quality, inexpensive images.
• Use personal photos (pets, vacations, hobbies, etc.) in personal posts on your blog or social networks. When I posted photos of my baby goats, I got a number of comments on Twitter and Facebook.

When you upload an image to your Facebook photo album, it gets posted in your newsfeed, visible to your friends. You can also attach images or videos to your status updates. Display your book cover in the left column of your Facebook profile page by using a Facebook application such as My Profile Box or Profile HTML.

Upload images to Twitpic at http://twitpic.com and link to them from your status updates on your social networks, your blog, or anywhere else online. TwicPic keeps track of the number of views the image receives and allows viewers to make comments.

Photo sharing site Flickr at http://www.Flickr.com is a great place to post your book cover, author photo, and other images. If you have several images, you can use your Flickr page as a photo album to link to.

Flickr allows you to add friends to your account, participate in groups, and comment on photos. Users can search by keyword and add tags and comments to photos. Applications are available to display images from Flickr on your blog or feed them to your profile page on social networking sites.

Flickr, owned by Yahoo, also provides quality links back to your website. Other popular photo sharing sites include Photobucket at http://photobucket.com and Smug Mug at http://www.smugmug.com/.

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Successful Social Marketing, www.SavvyBookMarketer.com. For free book marketing tips visit www.BookMarketingMaven.com.