How to Promote Your Parenting Book Online

Congratulations, you just had your parenting book published or signed a publishing contract! The writing and submitting part of your parenting book is now over, but you are not finished yet. In order to sell your parenting book, you are going to have to promote it like crazy. Yes, you read that correctly: promotion of your parenting book will be placed upon your shoulders. Sure, your publisher may put in some effort, but if you are not a well-known author, the publisher will not put a lot of effort in to the promotional aspect. Have no worries, though, because promoting your parenting book does not have to be hard. If you following the steps below, you will discover how to promote your parenting book online. Apply the following steps, and you should be on your way to cashing a well-deserved royalty check soon.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Internet access
• An email account
• A way to accept online payments

1. Solicit book reviewers to gather book reviews for your parenting book. In addition, you could also contact parenting experts and ask them for a review.
2. Create an effective press release for your new parenting book.
3. Search the Internet for websites, newsletters and ezines that will let you post your press release free.
4. Build a website that includes information about your book, your writing and you.
5. You will need a way to accept payment from those who order your parenting book from your website. Paypal can get you setup for this.
6. Start a free newsletter and provide a sign-up form on your new website so people can subscribe. Your newsletter could include parenting advice as well as announcements related to you and your parenting book.
7. Send an email to all your friends and family to let them know about your new parenting book. In the email, kindly ask them to help you spread the word, and don't forget to include the ordering information. Word-of-mouth is the best form of promotion for any book, product or service.
8. Write parenting-related articles and submit them to ezines, newsletters, trade magazines, consumer magazines and online publications that pay. In addition, search for publications that will accept and pay for reprints. Once you discover these publications, pull a chapter from your parenting book and it submit as you would an article. For each parenting article that you sell, make sure your bio mentions your parenting book. Furthermore, if you have published a chapter from your book, your bio could say something to this effect: (your name) is the author of "Title of Your Parenting Book," and this article is one of many from her parenting book. For more information about (name) and her parenting book, you can visit her on the web at (your website URL would go here).
9. Create a blog and use it to talk about your book or your writing. You could also launch a blog about parenting to expand on the topic. No matter what you decide to blog about, be sure you mention your book on the "About Me" page of your blog, and place a picture of the cover and the order link toward the top of your sidebar.
10. Start planning a Virtual Book Tour. Virtual Book Tours are becoming more and more popular among authors.
11. Promote through social networking. Register for a free MySpace account, and then mention your parenting book on your profile. After you build a profile, search MySpace for parents and send them a friend request. You may also want to register with other social networking sites. Use these sites to send announcements related to your book, share a few excerpts from your book and links to your parenting-related articles, blog and website. Mention those links in your profile as well.
12. Search the Internet for parenting message boards. Visit each message board and join the ones you like best. After you join, create a signature (if allowed) that links to your new parenting book--a link where those interested can find out more and purchase a copy. Finally, find the introduction thread on each message board and introduce yourself. Be sure to mention that you are an expert and will be happy to answer any questions. Your signature will verify that you are indeed an expert, because the people will see you have published a book on the subject.
13. Visit the parenting message boards that you signed up on every day to see if someone had a question for you, or if a parent asked a question that you could answer. If so, answer their questions, and then (if the feature is available for that message board), subscribe to that thread so you can be notified of any follow-ups.
14. Scour the Internet for popular blogs about parenting as well as blogs run by moms and dads. Once you discover these gems, contact the blog owner and offer to do guests posts in exchange for a short bio at the end of your post. Let them know your guest posts will offer parenting advice.
15. Email parenting-related blogs, websites, newsletters, ezines and online radio shows. Introduce yourself and include a short description of your parenting book, and then, toward the end of your email, let that person know you are available for an interview; keep the email brief.

Tips & Warnings

• Some parenting-related newsletters and ezines have an announcement section for parenting-related news and information. Read these newsletters and ezines for instructions on how to send your announcement.
• When soliciting online radio shows for interviews, also let them know how an interview with you will be beneficial to their listeners. If you can discuss a timely topic related to parenting, this is a plus!
• Do not spam the message boards. Just interact by posting your own questions, answering questions and offering advice. Spamming will get you banned from the message boards and give you a bad reputation, which you do not want.
• Be prepared to fork out money for some advertising, but make sure you plan within your budget, and only advertise in parenting-related publications or on parenting-related websites.