Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.
- David M. Ogilvy

The following is a random list of marketing activities I started since the release of my novel The Bleeding Hills. First, it serves as a written record for myself, but I also wanted to share some marketing ideas with every author or self-publisher. I will update the list as soon as I initiate further actions. The size of the – still growing – list also proves the case that the real work begins after you have finished your novel.

Most of my activities are targeted toward increasing traffic to my blog and the Copperhill Media web site. Nevertheless, the difference between try and triumph is the “umph” in form of a larger investment. I have a list of options to provide the umph, but a decision will take some time.

• Most importantly, I updated my blog web site with all vital sales information.
• Added a “media kit” on my web site containing downloadable versions of the book’s synopsis plus a cover image.
• Updated my Amazon AuthorCentral blog. If you are an author/self-publisher you can start a blog and “claim” your books. See the Amazon web site for more information.
• Registered my book for sale through the Amazon Kindle store.
• Updated book information on Amazon.co.uk. They had only the title plus cover listed without any description.
• Connected my blog on FrogenYozurt.com to my blog on Amazon AuthorCentral per RSS feed, meaning I write my entries on FrogenYozurt and they are automatically shown on Amazon.
• Did the same with my blog on WordPress.com.
• Opened a “celebrity” account on Facebook. I am still having trouble seeing myself as a celebrity, but you need to expose yourself.
• Advertisement on Facebook. Costs per click were $0.59 in average, which is high, but the advantage of Facebook is that you can select very specific target groups. The downside is that you can spend easily several thousands of Dollars. I opted to spend $10/day for a limited time and I may restart the ad campaign at some time again.
• Paid ad ($19.95) on bookhitch.com. They are no stats to determine the worthiness of the investment, but, apparently, they do have a large readership (more than 2 million web site hits in 2008).
• Updated my record on AuthorsDen.com. No costs involved.
• Web site & Blog promotion through digg.com. No costs.
• Web site & Blog promotion through reddit.com. No costs.
• Signed up for paid services ($9.95/month) at ineedhits.com. They promise 1,000 hits on your web site per month. It could be more if you pay more. I have installed a hit counter on my web site to measure the success, and it turns out they do provide the monthly hits.
• Signed up at AuthorNation.com. Seems to be a more civilized authors’ forum than others I tried.
• Got a free book listing on coalition-independent-authors.com.
• Registered at IrishPenpals.org and made some entries in their Online forum (This is a marketing measure very specific to the topic of my novel, The Bleeding Hills).
• Got  a free listing for my web site at Browse Ireland. Also bought a one year ad for 29 Euros, roughly $45.
• Posted a paid listing for $150 at ShelfAwareness.com – Listing will also appear on Unshelved. Apparently the listing will reach 16,000 people in the book trade who subscribe to Shelf Awareness and 45,000 librarians and others who read Unshelved.
• Listed my book on eBay (Nov 16, 2009) – Updates on success or lack thereof will follow.

Just a word on Online press releases: Regardless of whether you pay for a press release or not, you will get a great number of readers during the first week or two, provided the press release web site provides statistics for you – most of them do. After the initial week or two the number of “views” will slow down significantly. Be aware that “views” means that somebody read your press release, but does not necessarily end up at your web site. When you pay for press releases take the time to calculate the costs per click. Let’s say you pay $30 for a press release and you get 278 views. In this case you paid roughly 11 cent per view – See also my remarks below. You can find some tips on writing a press release at Send2Press.Com.

• Posted a free press release on prlog.com.
• Posted a free press release on openPR.com.
• Posted a paid ($30) press release on free-press-release.com. As the web site name indicates, they also do it for free, but paying “improves” your chances of being read. My experience is that there is no difference in exposure. In all consequence, the $30 I paid were not worth the result.
• Posted a paid ($80) press release on PRWeb.com. The web site promises you heaven, but the number of “views” is not higher than other, free services. Also, the costs per click are relatively high. Nevertheless, I use prweb.com on a regular basis in addition to the free services. Their ranking is usually higher than other services.
• Posted a paid ($49) press release on 24-7Press-Release.com. Costs per click (currently $0.17) are relatively low; they provide a good number of views.
• Posted a free press release on i-newswire.com. No stats unless you pay. Costs are reasonable.

What’s on the To-Do List?

• Getting in touch with local bookstores. Even though I wouldn’t want the limelight, I would be willing to do some readings and to sell my books locally.
• I checked out another web site, AuthorBuzz.com. They promise to get in touch with several hundred of thousands of readers, including book clubs. For me that seems to be a very effective way to get my book directly to the reader, but it is also pricy. Fees are between $850 and $1,650.
• I have been “scraping” addresses of bookstores all over New England from a web site. My intention is to send all of them a special offer to buy at least 5 copies each.
• Constantly adding to my blog and my AuthorNation account.
• I am thinking about submitting short stories to EveryDayFiction.com. The pay $3.00(!) per short story, but I believe the most important consideration is the added exposure. If people like your writing they are more likely to check out your web site or blog and may even buy your book.

What didn’t work?

• I started yet another blog on today.com. They promise to share profits with you. Profits are created through Google ads. The reality is, your blog needs to be huge before you make your first dime per month. Today.com does not have a high ranking and the web site loads very slow. Links I created to point to my web sites probably won’t have any effect.

What I didn’t even try…

• Google Ads. Don’t waste your money on Google ads. You can spend easily thousands of Dollars without measurable success. The costs per click can be extremely high ($5+) when competition in form of the big guys (Amazon, Google, etc.) is involved.
• It is widely recommended to get in touch with local newspapers and radio or TV stations and get an interview. While many authors might try this lane, it doesn’t work for me. That is a very personal choice. I like writing books and I’d love for people to buy my book, but I wouldn’t enjoy the limelight.

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The Bleeding Hills

A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

The Bleeding Hills is available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Nobel, and any other good bookstore.