Connecting with your audience, in specific and consistent ways, is the best way to sell books. Episodic promotion and marketing -- think ads, big events, one-time media hits -- rarely work to build an audience awareness for author, book or subject.
That's one reason Ms. Obie Joe has been recommending Twitter, a mini-blogging service; authors send out 140-word updates throughout the day, with whatever frequency is preferred, to subscribers. Your subscribes - many of whom will sign up via your blog or personal invite -- can follow the live life feeds via multiple channels: the Web, IM, SMS, etc.
"Great," says an author. "More content I gotta put out."
Well, yes. But the informality and real-time aspect of the very short posts might be easier to write.
Mr. Obie Joe can see some of the limitations of Twitter. Fiction writers, particularly those with a more staid profile, might find the Twitter an annoyance. But for nonfiction writers, particularly those in the midst of research, Twitter is a gold mine for readers who would love to hear more about an author's dive into Victorian train stations, or the jewels of 50s-era bombshells.
Twitter should only add to your audience; Twitter fans tend to be blog fans, too.
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