In the past few articles we have discussed how to create a niche following on Twitter. This article is how you turn that following into cash. I have tested the strategy on products I sell directly from my site and can track the response rates, that is how I know it works, but you can just as easily direct the traffic to the Amazon sales page for your book.

So without further ado here is a recipe for making money from twitter.

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So, you wrote your book and you thought that was the hard part, then you had to get it published and you thought for sure that was the hard part, but no, now you’re marketing your book and you’re convinced that this is the hardest part. That may seem like the case, but it doesn’t have to be. This article will give you an easy three-step marketing plan to market your book.

Marketing your book can really be as easy as one, two, three.

ONE:

Jump on the social media bandwagon. One of the first things that you will want to do is get listed on social media sites. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (hook up with me by clicking on any of the site links) are some of the top social media sites I recommend to start with. With the power of social media you can literally be your own promotional tool, allowing you to spread the word about your book quickly and easily to a larger audience than ever before. That is the power of social media.

TWO:

Build your web presence with a website or blog. In days past you might have purchased and distributed business cards when promoting a book or your business, however in today’s society a website or blog is your “digital” business card. It is a necessity no author should be without. A website or blog will be the place for you to showcase your book and you will use it to link to every other outlet that you utilize to spread the word about your book. For example, link to your website or blog from Facebook, Twitter and all other social media sites as well as from articles that you write or that others write about you and your book. You can also include your URL (website address) on any press releases that you send out as a place for them to learn more about you and your book.

THREE:

Hire a team. We aren’t all experts at everything. You are an expert on the topic you wrote your book about, but you are not likely an expert at everything. That is why you should hire a team, specifically a PR team. A PR team has the skills and knows what it takes to promote your book to create the biggest buzz and to sell the more books. After all, that’s what you want, right? So, why not get the professionals to help you make it happen!

I told you that it was going to be easier than you thought. Just work the steps: one, two, three, and watch where it takes your book! I’ll bet you go straight to the top!

Hey authors, are you on Facebook? No, well, why not? It isn’t just a playground for teens and college kids anymore. It is now also full of adults and businesses, and it is a great place to market your book. How, you wonder? The best way to promote your book on Facebook is with an author fan page. Yes, you will ask others to become your fan, but the truth is you probably have a few fans already, so why not use it to your advantage and get the word out there at the same time?

You can create your author fan page on Facebook in three easy steps.

Step 1: Sign In or Sign Up! If you’re already a member of Facebook with a personal profile, all you’ll have to do is sign in to your Facebook profile and begin the fan page process. If not you’ll have to first go to Facebook.com and sign up for your Facebook account. They make it super simple, so don’t be scared.

Step 2: Build it so they can come! Next, you’re simply going to build your fan page. Once signed in or signed up on Facebook, you will need to go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to set up your page. You will want to be sure to include a professional picture of yourself and links to your official website, and of course info about your book.

Step 3: Promote, promote, promote! After you’ve built the page, you’ll want to put it to work for you. Promote it, share it, tell everyone about it. Share it on your blog, put a link to it in your sidebar, share it on message boards, on Twitter, and even offline. You can always put the URL to it on your business cards or any fliers or bookmarks you make to promote your book. And Facebook makes that easy with their “vanity” URLs. Once you have your fan page set up and 100 fans, go to http://www.facebook.com/username and create a custom URL that is easy to advertise. And while you’re at it, check out http://www.facebook.com/writingfan and become a fan of writing!

Studies show that it take a person eight times of seeing something before they take action on what they have seen. That means a person may have to see you and your book eight times before they’ll buy it. You want to help contribute to those eight times and a Facebook fan page can help. It will help give you yet another place to communicate with those interested in your topic, allowing you to send them updates and information. It will also drive traffic to your website or any other social media site you are on. So, what are you waiting for? Go sign up, build and promote! Ready! Set! Go!

When you approach a publisher, apart from your book, they will want to know about your ability to sell and promote your book. They will make their decision to publish you based upon the quality of the book itself and your saleability as an author.

I always advise author who work with me to think about building their author platform in parallel with the writing of the book.

Your platform comes in two forms – between which there may be some crossover.

Firstly, your offline platform and network – this could consist of professional bodies you might belong to or groups and associations.

Say for example you were writing a book on team building in sports, you would want to connect with all the various sports’ controlling bodies and be working from the grass roots up to professional levels.

Within these bodies you will also find brilliant contacts to validate your book with endorsements and even content.

Secondly, in this wired world, you can now connect instantly with anyone anywhere on the globe with an Internet connection. At the central core of your strategy you need a blog site and/or to be able to publish as a guest on another blog site as  am doing here.

Content is king and is a magnet for both potential readers, publishers and of course search enginess. Many a book has started off as a blog and I always think of my blogs as seeds for potential chapters in a book or even a whole book itself.

A new author called Sarah Lamb came to me with her blog only in July and i just publishing her book based on it next month – that’s 4 months – see www.appreciatingangels.com for more details.

On top of your blog sits your social media strategy which can be fuelled directly from your blog content. For example, each time I blog, it updates my Twitter and Facebook profiles and appears on at least ten other site automatically.

This all in turn leads to increased visibility which then leads to speaking engagements and full workshops from where, of course, you sell your books and associated wares.

The diagram below shows how this all fits together …

And why it’s different from writer’s block

When you get asked the same thing three times in the same month, you know it’s time to blog about it.

Last month, three different authors came to me with the same tale of woe. Either a publisher had not delivered what they said they would or had let them down on a previous promise.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned the publishing industry is no different from any other – it has its stars, its stalwarts, its pretenders and wannabes and even its cowboys.

All three authors had completed manuscripts which were all well worthy of being published. So writer’s block wasn’t the problem, they were suffering from something equally insidious – Author’s Block.

The only reason I spotted this was I’ve had it too and only just cured it a few months ago. Since then, my world [and that of my clients] has opened up to a load of new possibilities.

The issue isn’t with the publisher. All they are doing is unconsciously picking up self-doubt in the author. This could be either an unconscious fear of success, a fear of the unknown or a fear of failure or ridicule.

Fortunately, the cure is simple and it’s to take action and actions which lead to new levels of self-belief and motivation. When you take such action, you move a step closer to success and signal your intent that you are ready to become a successful published author.

Here’s the seven things I told each author to do:

1. I told them to buy a copy of my new book Blocks and listen to the Becoming Fear-less MP3 visualisation – it’s transformational – you can do that here – and for good measure, to get a copy of The Wealthy Author

The last chapter of Blocks tells all you need to know about Author’s Block and the others will be jolly useful too.

2. Ask yourself where else in your life this pattern of being let down by third parties you have no control over occurs. Ask yourself what is the common theme and learning to be had from tackling this pattern? Think about how your life would change beyond all recognition.

3. Upload your book to one of the many free ebook aggregator sites like Smashwords

Myebook

Freado

- let people read the first 3 chapters for free. Contact me if you need help technically.

4. Get a Twitter account and read this blog – Useful links for authors on Twitter

5. Buy a new and relevant domain name and start a blog – this is the central pillar of your Author Platform.

6. Get an email account using this new domain name so as to look more serious and professional about your author brand (i.e. no @gmail or @aol)

7. As they were all fiction authors, I told them to submit their work to Harper Collin’s Authonomy or MacMillan New Writing & then to tell all their friends to read it, review it and Tweet from the high hills about it.

Calling all authors … did you know you could use Twitter to do all of this ?

Post samples of your words

Post your pictures & art

Post audio readings of your work

Post 12 seconds of video

Connect with other authors, publishers and agents like these

100+ of the best authors on Twitter

70+ Non-fiction authors on Twitter

25 Good Author, Publisher & Agent Follows

Bloomsbury Books

Simon Trewin

Hay House

Find amazing mentors & coaches like these

The Creative Penn

Julia McCutchen

Jo Parfitt

Maria Schneider

Connect with alternative publishers like these

Cooler ebook reader

Lulu

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Myebook

BookBuzzr

That’s 20, the 21st useful link is, of course …

Joe Gregory

If you know of any more, please add them below …