One form of free advertising around right now that can really help you to book marketing on the internet is the informal reader review on bookselling websites. I have a couple of friends who have published books and they have gotten people they know to write reviews for them on some of these sites. One man wrote a book about his experiences in Antarctica. It’s a hilarious book, but I think the initial printing was small partly because it was his first book. He utilized some of the larger online booksellers to help him market book by using their handy reader review feature.
We worked together at a creative company where we both made many friends. He got several of these friends who were all literary people or animators to write reviews for him. I thought about writing one myself because a mutual friend gave me a copy of the book for a gift, but I was too busy right then to sit down and read it. I didn’t want to write a fake review of a book I hadn’t really read so I let other people help him out. I have read the book now because it’s years later. I don’t know if he ended up selling enough books to have a second printing because our mutual friend moved to San Francisco and it’s harder for us to stay in close touch. I did think that it’s a clever marketing idea to try to pull in people who will want to read your book by utilizing online reader reviews.
The author of the book about Antarctica has other irons in the fire anyway. He made a short film about his Northern experiences as well and I believe that he’s gotten some good exposure through that too. When I first met him, he was writing homemade zines about sharks. So I guess he grew a lot in his scope of who he would reach through his writing anyway. I am sure he is still involved happily in creative adventures.
