One need look no further than the bustling halls of Javits Convention Center over BEA weekend to get a sense of how international and how digital this commerce has become. Five years ago, I’m told book expos were littered with shelves upon shelves of hardcover and paperback novels, their publisher and author owners accosting any unsuspecting passersby with lengthy verbal pitches, trying desperately to convince anyone who would listen that this is the book that they need to read, this is the company that they must do business with, this is the only booth they need to visit in the whole trade show.

Now, halfway through 2013, the shelves and endless rows of books have been replaced by television monitors playing video book trailers or author interviews, computers offering interactive features and digital book catalogs, and signage highlighting the social media presence of authors and publishers.

I’m proud to count myself among the leaders in this revolution. Author Marketing Ideas (AMI) didn’t bring any books or shelves to this trade show. We brought an iPad camera and some imagination, and I think the results speak for themselves. Over three days in New York, we recorded nearly 100 photos and videos on the iPad, all of which were uploaded directly to Vine, the streaming video component of Twitter. We gave authors and publishers six seconds to pitch their book or company to the world, and then uploaded the content not just to our own AMI Twitter site, but also to the individual profiles of the people who participated. We did it all for free, as a way of showing the BEA attendees just how easy, and how powerful, social media can be in raising awareness, creating exposure, and building a brand for yourself and your works.

Our neighboring booth was occupied by a publishing company that organized a book signing for first-time author Tyler Whitesides. Tyler was the first author to record the six-second Vine video with us, and he made a point of recommending our free publicity service to other authors. He also came back to inform us that he had “re-tweeted” his Vine video from his own profile page, having his fans and followers spread the promo across multiple online platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and his own professional website.

There is a term that has really come into mainstream use since the advent of Twitter and other social media sites, and that term is “trending.” It basically is a way of describing what is popular; what people are talking about, thinking about, writing about…

Marketing in the 21^st century is no longer just about hiring a publicist or a PR team to do the grunt work for you. It is about learning how to effectively promote yourself through social media. Social media levels the playing field between the competition. As was so clearly evidenced by the attention paid to social media at BEA this year, it is not the future of sales and business strategy: it is the present. It is here and right now. And now, more than ever, it is important to be an author or a publisher that is “trending,” rather than one that is not.

Best Wishes,

Patrick M.

Campaigns Manager

@Patrick_AMI

The post Proud to be a Digital Trailblazer at BEA 13 appeared first on AMI.

New York City – May 31, 2013 – Strategic Book Publishing (SBPRA) and sister marketing company Author Marketing Ideas (AMI ) are taking Book Expo of America by storm with their social media marketing campaign, offering free publicity to authors and publishers in real time, via social media like Vine, Twitter and Facebook.

 AMI is filming LIVE promos from their Booth 2343 at BEA and uploading to the online community. In addition, SBPRA is promoting over 600 authors participating virtually. This innovative marketing campaign explodes the old school model of marketing for the publishing world and embraces the importance of social media for the digital age.

AMI is also introducing “Read This!” an innovative online video program to promote the best books using video and multimedia. This leading edge program will be distributed and marketed virally using state of the art Social Media techniques. This is just one example of the innovative marketing that AMI provides to the 5000+ authors in its publishing family.

For More Information please contact:

Jessica Smith
Support@AuthorMarketingIdeas.com  

And visit www.authormarketingideas.com to see free marketing tips and request a free Digital Footprint Evaluation and get an analysis of your marketing profile.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

The post SBPRA and AMI Tweet Up Storm at BEA Free Social Media Marketing for Authors and Publishers appeared first on AMI.

Price: $50.00

BLOGGING What is it? Why do it? And how?

We’d like to invite you to attend a webinar designed to show you how easy, fun and valuable BLOGGING is. On May 22nd. get ready to become an Expert Blogger. We will explain:

• The Basics of Blogging
• The Kinds of Blogs – Personal, Professional, Microblogging, Video Blogging (aka Vlogging) + more
• The ‘Blogosphere’ – How to Get involved in the Blogging Community and Find Your Audience
• What You Can Accomplish With Blogging + How to Track Your Success

Did You Know 77 % of Internet Users Read Blogs?! Don’t Miss Out on This Growing Audience for Your Book.

The post Blogging and Book Marketing appeared first on AMI.

Price: $50.00

Learn how to leverage your Facebook account to create book sales!
Join our Blog Talk Radio Host, Patrick Morgan, on April 4th at 4pm EST for our FACEBOOK 101 Webinar! You will learn:

• What Facebook is and WHY you should use it
• The many different marketing mechanisms built into Facebook for businesses, and your writing career is a business!
• How to get your Fan page noticed and build the right kind of audience
• How to use your fan page to get sales

The post Facebook and Your Book Sales Effort appeared first on AMI.

Price $50.00

Pinterest is the FASTEST growing social network ever! Consider these numbers: there are 25 million users on Pinterest! AND 1 in 5 users bought something they saw on Pinterest!

This webinar will teach you:

• What Pinterest is WHY you should use it
• How to use Pinterest to drive people to your book page!

The post Pinterest Book Marketing Success appeared first on AMI.

Price $50.00

• Do you have a message, or gift that you want to share with your readers worldwide?
• Or maybe you need help in figuring out just what your message is?
• Is this the year you plan to take your book to new heights … your year to really put yourself in front of your readers in a big way?

If you said YES to any of the questions above, then make sure to register for this opportunity now.

Our on-demand, convenient, view at any time webinar if perfect for you and will teach you everything you need to know about how to:

JUMPSTART YOUR BOOK SALES ON AMAZON
Join this workshop and learn to:

• Access and optimize your Author Central Account to set up your Amazon Author Profile and Author Book Page
• Discover the power of Reviews, Tags and Votes to increase exposure and book sales
• Utilize “Listmania” and “So You’d Like to Guides” to increase your SEO results
• The do’s and dont’s of discussion posting and community participation
• Tips and tricks on how to feed traffic to your website
• How to integrate Amazon with major social media sites for maximum exposure and networking

The post Amazon Optimization Webinar appeared first on AMI.

Even if you can’t be physically present at the show you can be there virtually and you don’t want to miss out on this. Connect with your fellow self published authors and join the conversation today! It’s all digital baby.

Connect with book bloggers today by joining in on the conversation on Twitter. Follow #BEA13 and #AMI to get started.

Day one focused on the concept of book bloggers and we think this is 100% something every author should start looking into and incorporating into their marketing efforts.

Looking for a way to get reviews for your book? Book bloggers are your solution.

Book bloggers are hungry for new books to read. They will provide you with honest well written reviews and the best part is they do this completely for free! We all know getting the word out about your book is crucial to success and often easier said then done. Book bloggers are an untapped resource sitting their waiting to help you reach new readers. All you have to do is connect!

Quick Facts about book bloggers we learned from today’s events:

1.  Most Book Bloggers only accept titles with edits done.

2. You should start networking  with book bloggers 6 weeks before your publication date.

3. Book Bloggers post their submission requirements on their website for you to use when contacting them for how to send them your titles.

4.The top social networking platforms used by book bloggers to discover new titles are Goodreads, Ripple, LibraryThings and Shelfari.

Connect with book bloggers today by joining in on the conversation on Twitter. Follow #BEA13 and #AMI to get started.

More to come!

The AMI Team

Author Marketing Ideas

www.authormarketingideas.com

The post Keep up with BEA virtually! Join the conversation online. appeared first on AMI.

View Press Release

The post Press Release: Free Book Marketing Tools Just Released For Publishers & Authors appeared first on AMI.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
It has never been more imperative for the savvy publisher to embrace these tools and platforms, and begin using them to build exposure for their authors and their own brand. Processes like search engine optimization, or “SEO,” increase visibility of a website or web page in a search engine’s search results. The spike in web traffic that SEO could create for a publisher’s website or online presence is remarkable. Ignoring this digital revolution is the equivalent of ignoring thousands of dollars in added revenue, and the best part of all is how cheap and how easy it is to get started.

Social Media
Signing up for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube among others, is free, and the account creation process consists of user-friendly walkthroughs and simple step-by-step instructions. These websites have incorporated tools and features into their construction that are specifically designed for professional and commercial use.

Facebook
Facebook allows you to create customized “Fan Pages” – perfect places to showcase new books, increase publicity for authors, and post interesting content aimed at growing an online fan base of followers.

Twitter
Twitter is ideal for notifying large groups of people about upcoming events, such as book signings, author interviews, book fairs, and other publicity campaigns proven to raise awareness and subsequently increase sales.

Pinterest
Relatively new, Pinterest is already the 3rd largest social media organization behind Facebook and Twitter. Even more impressive, Pinterest generates more consumer-driven sales and profitable income for its users than Facebook and Twitter combined, thanks to its unique photo-sharing design and a visually based, attention-grabbing layout.

Using Video
With over 4 million views a day, YouTube has blossomed into the undisputed epicenter for online video sharing, and as such has become an integral factor in content distribution and online marketing. If a picture is worth a thousand words – a video is worth a million – views, that is. Anyone who has seen video of a cat playing a keyboard or babies doing hilarious things knows first-hand the mass market appeal and effectiveness of a video that goes viral. It’s up to progressive publishers to take what they learn from these cyber sensations and apply it to their own marketing and PR strategies.

A professionally created video book trailer highlighting an author’s new book has the same effect online that a well-constructed movie trailer at the theatre has on an audience – both build “hype” for their products and help sell books or tickets. Author Marketing Ideas (AMI) has just launched READ THIS!, a book review show with episodes aired regularly through YouTube. It’s a perfect example of how publishers can combine video and social media to raise awareness of authors and their works.

Though it might all be a little overwhelming at first glance, the statistics are there: never before has social media marketing, SEO, and the use of streaming video content been so important in an effective business plan for publicity and branding. We at AMI are here to help you, the publisher (or the author), to better understand these exciting new developments. It’s our job to help you navigate this changing landscape, and we are ready and willing to lend our expertise to your cause!

Our AMI Support Team is always here to help. If you have any questions or comments on the above, we would love to hear from you.

You can email our team at: Support@authormarketingideas.com

Good Luck!

Patrick Morgan
Campaigns Manager for AMI

The post Marketing for Publishers in 2013: Implementing New Technology appeared first on AMI.

Congratulations, Dave!

The post Webinar Winner Announcement (Video) appeared first on AMI.