An article I recently read caused the writer in me to ponder the future of book marketing via social media. The piece might be a downer to some or a challenge to others. Or perhaps it expresses the view of one person who tapped into a sea of stats and turned his findings into an op-ed designed to dampen the dreams of writers in search of book sales. Or it may be a well-thought-out evaluation that reflects the proverbial handwriting on the wall. For me it’s a challenge — I love challenges — but check it out for yourself here . The book-publishing world has plunged from the ranks of standardized, regulated industries into a free-for-all. Anybody can jump into the foray and grasp at its elusive straws. Rules don't exist within its vague boundaries, logical organization has left the building, and the proverbial needle in a haystack looks like a sure find beside the unrealized hopes of myriad writers. Credibility takes a back seat to g...

March Madness may be over but I thought I would write about the madness of promoting and get some help from our fearless leader, Dani Greer at Blog Book Tours . She is always passing me a promo tip and then pushing me to move down the court and put it in some basket. Most recently, she suggested I ask everyone to "like" my author page on Amazon. Then she asked if I posted a link on my blog, Web site and every social site I belong to. Well, of course I had not. I write. I don't think of things like this. So here’s a little discussion we had and would like to share with you, readers and authors. Please join us in the comments if you have suggestions of your own. Maryann : Dani, how on earth does a writer balance writing time and promoting time? Dani : Maryann, promotion just requires a plan and an hour or so a day. Authors should develop their own blogs by posting at least three times a week. They should also promote their blogs and their books daily on social networ...

I received a review copy of Penny C. Sansevieri's revised Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider's Guide to Marketing Your Book on the Internet so I could review it on Bloogernews.net -- which I will be doing soon, honest. Penny Sansevieri is with Author Marketing Expert s and her book is chock full of good tips and advice , as well as giving links to Web sites with more good tips and advice. It is a wonderful resource for any writer, and I am already highlighting points to use when I start promoting my next book. The author uses bullets and lists, which makes it easy to pick out the points to highlight, and this list really caught my attention: Golden Rules of Social Media and Internet Marketing 1. Listen: listen and observe, see what's being said online and how you can participate. 2. Participate: join in, share stuff, be helpful. 3. Give first, ask later. The best rule of thumb is to give more than you take. 4. Dialog: communicate (don't j...