Market Mondays: part 2 of 3 on how authors can blog effectively with John Kremer

For the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing tips from Marketing Mentor John Kremer. Please visit his web site and sign up for his awesome tips. He’s one of the nice guys who really wants to help us. These tips are taken from some of his free articles.

This post originally appeared June 26, 2011 and has been updated. (These tips came in as a fresh set of numbers, but are really 34-66 on his list.)

101 Ways to Blog as a Book Author – Updated

1. Survey your readers’ opinions on any key issue in your books. You could do a number of posts. Announce the surveys. Then promote the surveys. Then announce the results. That’s worth at least three blog posts, probably more.
2. Run a contest. Ask people to name their favorite character and describe why they like the character. For nonfiction books, ask readers to describe the most important tip they learned from your book. Offer a free book, sample chapter from your new novel or book, a phone call from you, or something else as a prize.
3. Feature your reader comments in upcoming blog posts.
4. Have your readers interview you. Encourage them to send in a series of questions you will answer.
5. Ask your readers to pick which character in your novel is most like them. For nonfiction books, ask your readers to tell you which story you told most touched them.
6. Tell your readers which character in your novel is most like you. For nonfiction authors, let them know which story has most meaning to you – and why.
7. Interview book reviewers.
8. Interview bloggers.
9. Interview booksellers.
10. Interview a celebrity in your field.
11. Interview a major celebrity that has a passion for your field. For example, interview a movie star that loves dogs or is a vegetarian or fights for the preservation of the ocean. In this example, the celebrity should be passionate for the topic you write about.
12. Feature your favorite bookstores (with photos). Describe why you love them.
13. Interview your favorite novelists or book authors.
14. Write a ditty. Write a poem. Share a short story.
15. Expose your inner being. Share your feelings.
16. Let readers know about your day.
17. Post photos or videos of your favorite novelists and other book authors. Write a little introduction.
18. Join in the Amazon Bestseller Campaigns of your fellow authors. Promote these campaigns via your blog
19. Join in the blog tours of your fellow authors. Promote these blog tours via your blog.
20. Have a reader interview one of your characters with you responding as the character. For nonfiction authors, have readers send in a list of questions for an expert to answer. Ask the expert to respond via your blog. Here is an example of a blogger interviewing a character in a novel: http://www.thebookbuff.blogspot.com.
21. Report about the launch parties and other promotional activities of your fellow authors.
22. Have readers vote for variations of your book covers and/or book titles.
23. Write guest posts on other blogs. It’s a great way to exchange blog posts with other authors. Plus, of course, it exposes you, your book, and your blog to other readers.
24. Post photos of your readers and fans. Feature them reading your book.
25. Run a promotion asking readers to send you photos of them reading your book in unusual places: foreign locations, mountaintops, in the water, at the dining room table, in a restaurant, while standing in line for the latest version of the iPhone, while dancing a jig, at a location featured in your novel or book, up a tree, down a sewer, at the zoo (perhaps with a monkey reading your book, in a bookstore.
26. Feature photos of yourself with your book in the same locations. Have fun with it. Make it a game for yourself.
27. Feature tweets and Facebook posts where others write about your book or you.
28. Create a controversy. Comment on a news story, blog post, current event, historical event, website, or tweet. Say something outrageous and let ‘er rip.
29. Write about a service you used in writing or promoting your book. Tell your readers why you liked or did not like the service.
30. Share a quote you like. For example, see http://blog.bookmarket.com/2011/03/whats-important-heres-one-way-to-decide.html.
31. Share your tweets or Facebook posts. At least several times a month, I feature some of my most important or useful tweets with the readers of my blog. For example, see http://blog.bookmarket.com/2011/06/book-marketing-tweets-you-can-use-june_20.html.
32. Write a how-to post. For novelists, tell people how to cook a dish featured in your novel, or how to sew a corset, or how to sail the seven seas, or how to spot a vampire (something, obviously related to your novel). For nonfiction authors, feature tips or how-to advice related to your book.
33. Create videos. Post them to YouTube and then embed them in a blog post. Check out this video I created on advertisements in ebooks: http://blog.bookmarket.com/2011/04/ebook-advertisments-video-reveals-7.html.

Next week: Part 3 of 3.

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