Online Marketing for Busy Authors

A Step-by-Step Guide

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Pub Date 19 Apr 2016 | Archive Date 02 May 2022

Description

If You Want People to Read Your Book,
Writing It Is Only the Beginning


There has truly never been a better time to be an author. For the first time, authors have direct access to the public via the Internet—and can create a community eagerly awaiting their book. But where do new authors start? How do they sort through the dizzying range of online options? Where should they spend their time online and what should they be doing?

Enter Fauzia Burke, a digital book marketing pioneer and friend of overwhelmed writers everywhere. She takes authors step-by-step through the process of identifying their unique personal brand, defining their audience, clarifying their aspirations and goals, and setting priorities. She offers advice on designing a successful website, building a mailing list of superfans, blogging, creating an engagement strategy for social media, and more. By following Burke’s expert advice, authors can conquer the Internet and still get their next manuscript in on time.
If You Want People to Read Your Book,
Writing It Is Only the Beginning


There has truly never been a better time to be an author. For the first time, authors have direct access to the public via the...

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ISBN 9781626567856
PRICE $16.95 (USD)

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Average rating from 80 members


Featured Reviews

Fauzia Burke does a marvelous job of making a her knowledge practical in this one. If you need help with a book launch and want to take advantage of proven wisdom, look no further!

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I totally enjoyed reading this book as Fauzia took the time to break down actions for authors who want to understand online marketing and how they identify and engage their audience.
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This is definitely a book I will read again. I feel like she shared a lot of trade secrets that are useful to anyone seeking to promote a service or product...even though she specifically wrote this for authors.
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I loved all the tips for #BusyAuthors and all the practical steps given. Seriously, this book is a must read for all authors who want to sell million copies of their books. No exaggeration.
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Rating: 5/5
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Favourite Quote: "In the beginning, it's all work. You wonder is anyone other than your mother is reading your blog. You feel a little defeated because you don't see immediate results from all your outreach."

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Useful information for someone with no knowledge of the subject. Less useful for someone already using online marketing.

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Book Marketing for Authors - Fauzio is comes highly recommended. She has been in business since 2005 and has helped promote over 2,000 books. She offers practical advice and gives examples that you can relate to. I loved her example of comparing marketing to your newborn. In chapter 2, She includes worksheets to help you follow along and track your own personal stuff.
The book is divided into three phases. Phase 1 is getting organized, where she gets you to thinking. She provides tools and gives recommendations on some of the things she uses. In Phase 2 you are putting these thoughts into action. Again, she provides both practical worksheets, tips and checklists.
I recommend buying the paperback edition so that you can fill out the worksheets and checklists.
Although I am not an author, I felt the book provided some great tips that I am putting into action for my book review website.

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This is too expensive. Charging the same price for an ebook as a paperback is pretty damn rude anyway, considering the relative production costs, and when that price is $10 you better damn well be selling THE definitive book in the genre.

I was lucky enough to pick this up for free since I review for NetGalley, and I gave it a good read through before looking it up on Amazon to grab the image and link for this review, which is when I nearly died of shock at the price.

What I planned to say about the book was that while it's full of good advice, there's nothing here I haven't seen before. I was also curious to see how many reviews the book had garnered on Amazon; considering the incredible number of contacts and clients the author claims I find it rather curious that after almost a year of release, it only has 53 customer reviews on Amazon. Gathering Amazon reviews is critical to a book doing well, and a marketer of Burke's caliber should be able to pick up hundreds simply through mailing ARCs to her client list and asking for one. Maybe she didn't do that, though.

Or maybe all those people who might otherwise have reviewed just balked at the price tag. Who knows.

Fauzia Burke is a professional, and if you have the money to hire one of those, I'm not sure why you would need to read this book. If you DON'T have the money to hire one and you want to do it yourself, go read David Gaughran's Let's Get Digital and Let's Get Visible instead. You can get both books together for half the price of this one and they're packed with way more useful advice for the self-publishing author.

I'll give this three stars because it's not a BAD book, but I'd never pay that price for it and I couldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

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I met Fauzia Burke when she was presenting at a San Diego writers conference and came away with no doubt she knew her stuff. I wasn't surprised she has marketed books for some of my favorite authors (Jeffrey Archer, Dean Koontz, and Daniel Silva to name a few). When her how-to book, Online Marketing for Busy Authors (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2016) became available on NetGalley, I grabbed it.

Based on what I'd seen at her presentation, I expected expert advice that would kickstart the online marketing campaign for my latest novel in a down-to-earth voice with ideas achievable even for the novice marketer. And that's exactly what I got. It's important to note: If you're looking for a palette of marketing options that includes physical events such as book tours and radio interviews, this may not be the book for you. If you're looking for online events you can participate in that are low-no cost and the payback on time spent is excellent, this is the right book. Fauzia specializes in showing authors how to use readily-available online tools to market their books such as blogs, websites, social media, and more.

She calls this an introductory book but don't let that confuse you. I consider myself pretty savvy with online marketing--I've published dozens of ebooks over a decade--and I found nuggets that I can make use of immediately. Fauzia organizes the book into three parts:

* Getting organized
* Turning Your Thinking Into Action
* Staying the Course

Each has relevant subtopics like personal branding and know your reader, as well as worksheets to help writers organize their efforts around the specific topic. Here are some of my favorite ideas:

* The best part about online marketing is that it levels the playing field.
* How do you prevent your brand from getting lost in all the social media noise? The answer: Be uniquely you. Aim for authenticity.
* ...building an effective brand is a marathon, not a sprint.
* Over the years, authors have told me interesting things when it comes to their audience. Most of the time it’s half the planet. “My audience is women..." [this is part of the chapter on knowing how to narrow your audience].
* Develop a long-term relationship with your readers...
* You don’t have to be an early adopter and chase every new social media tool. Use tools that have a track record for success.
* When you look at all the different elements of online marketing, you may feel overwhelmed. But here’s the thing: You don’t have to do it all. You can start slow and small and grow gradually.
* Double down on what’s working and ditch what’s not.
* The bottom line is this: Don’t spam ever, on any network. Always show respect for others and their time.

Overall, this book is highly recommended to all authors who are trying to market their book and just need a few meaty suggestions to make that go well.

--This will go live on my blog on October 24th (http://wp.me/p90mx-3qQ).

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There was a lot of good advice packed into this small book. I thought that it was super helpful and I recommend it to any author, especially newer ones without much marketing experience. The only thing I wish was different about it was the sections about social media. She tells you everything you need to know about Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook - but she only briefly mentions Snapchat, Instagram, and other sites that I'd like to learn more about in terms of marketing. If she had gone into detail about more of those sites, it would've been 5 stars from me.

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Good advice in clear, easy to implement steps.

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This book was needed because it provides some foundation in online marketing for authors. Most marketing advice for authors just assumes that an author can Tweet, do Facebook posts, blog, and more while also writing a quality book. This book points out (and rightly so) that you need to do it in stages.

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Speaking as a newbie author just starting in the business I have to say I found this book to be very helpful. The ideas presented are clear and easy to follow. I'm putting some of them into action on my various web pages and am looking forward to seeing the results. There are tips for marketing any kind of book, be it fiction or nonfiction and any genre. Well done.

I received an ARC of this great book in return for an honest review.

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I have one complaint about Online Marketing for Busy Authors by Fauzia Burke. That it’s targeted perfectly for authors.

This is one useful marketing book. Replace the word author with your profession and this book will talk you through online marketing. It was a random grab on NetGalley (thanks for the complimentary copy) and I had low expectations. It came at a perfect time to remind me how much fun it is running campaigns for a product you believe in. Yes, there’s a larger story to that last bit but one I’m not sharing online.

As Fauzia tells us through the book, the publishing world has changed. Authors need to take more responsibility for their book promotion. Actually, I’m not sure if she distinctly says that, but Fauzia definitely teaches what authors need to do. And that is manage their own book marketing.

In Online Marketing for Busy Authors, you’ll learn, step-by-step, how to promote your book online (and a little bit of offline). I love the worksheets to discover your personal brand, identify your reader, and set some goals. Later in the book, Fauzia describes the different marketing tools available and how to get the best out of them. I love that she connected tactics to analytics and goals. It’s something that’s easy to overlook, even if you’re a marketer. The website section tells you what metrics to track and inspired my blog post from last week (it’s a question I get frequently). There’s also a section on media relations, which kind of breaks the digital marketing focus, but is necessary. I did my public relations degree after working on the last Harry Potter launch and not having a clue what I was doing.

Fauzia-Burke-smallNothing in this book is patronizing, nor does it expect a level of marketing knowledge. To quote Goldilocks, it’s just right. Which makes sense from all the experience Fauzia has working with authors. It is her day job, and while she uses some personal anecdotes, she’s not pushing any self-promotion. The anecdotes are supplemented by many researched examples giving a well-rounded, practical instruction.

Who Should Read Online Marketing for Busy Authors?
Correct marketing says that this is for first time, self-published, or confused authors. Confused in that they know they need to take more responsibility for their marketing but aren’t sure how. While reading this I was mentally making a list of who needs to read it. Maybe I’m too creative but no authors made my list. It did have a friend who’s launching a new gift basket company, though.

I do need to finish this with something that’s been dwelling on me about my reviews. They are always so positive. Apart from being a Pollyanna, I realized I don’t enjoy reading and reviewing bad or unhelpful books, so I became pickier with the books I’ll review. Occasionally I’ll take a chance, like with this one, but I am selective. Which means you get all nice stuff. I think this is a sorry, not sorry moment. I’m not giving you other perspectives, but I am saving you (and myself) time by only giving the good. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that the reviews are genuine, regardless of if I bought the book or was gifted with it.

Online Marketing for Busy Authors is released on April 19. Pre-order it at Amazon or your favorite bookstore now.

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These days it seems as if publishers would like authors to take a more active role in promoting their books. But doing so can often be difficult for the writers because they don't know where to start.

Burke's lively handbook will give you just the help you need. Based on her experience working with writers and with promoting her own work, she divides the book into three sections.

The first helps you define yourself and your goals so that your efforts will go to the right end. Burke does this with fantastic worksheets.

The second section covers how to do book publicity with chapters on social media, blogging, publicity,and more. It's a great introduction to these tools that can have you being productive quickly.

Often neglected in books about publicity, the third section covers on-going efforts.

My only complaint is that she didn't talk enough about two trends that are becoming increasingly important:self-publishing and writers of ebooks (instead of print books). While the process of publicity is the same, these authors often have to overcome additional obstacles and specific advice to them would have been a great addition.

Full of good basic advice aimed at authors,this book is a helpful handbook.

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Gold nuggets galore. This book is THE handbook for any aspiring author thinking about or just getting into self-publishing their manuscript. Lots of foundational basics and industry insights that any author could benefit from no matter what stage in the process they are in.

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This is a great guide for writers who want !to market their work. A truly no nonsense guide to getting your writing noticed and earning income. As a writer looking to launch a freelance career, I find this book informative and helpful. I highly recommend it to anyone who is new to the concept and reluctant to market their own work. This book will get you up and running quickly and easily.

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This is a book by a big name in the field of publicity. But it was a basic book. Scratch that - it was very very basic. Maybe it will be useful to someone who has zero idea about online marketing or has never heard of the phrase before but to someone who is already out there and eager to learn, top 5 google results may tell more in a lesser time.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

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A useful book for authors, no matter if they're Indie or already signed with a publisher. Marketing is already fraught with peril and uncertainty, but this book will help the author navigate the waters with sound advice.
Most helpful!

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An excellent resource for authors who can't seem to wrap their head around marketing. I will be recommending this to clients and adding it to the resources page on my website.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC.

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This book is just pure awesomeness. Burke does an excellent job getting to the point - online marketing for busy authors. I like how she broke everything down and said all that needed to be said, without any extra fluff. While reading the book, I also did an inventory of my own marketing efforts and realized that I still have a lot to learn. Thank you Fawzia for helping me see the light!

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While this was an interesting read, I found that it was often too vague and generalized. I understand that this is probably due to the rapid changes in social media and digital marketing tools, but I would have liked more concrete tips and strategies - perhaps also more advice on how to structure an author website.

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.we live in a highly connected world, thanks to internet and social media. In old times books trickeled slowly from reader to next reader. But these days they fly.
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Sophisticated social media platforms help authors to interact directly with readers. If a person has great social media following a publisher may reach him for book contract.
And vice versa if author writes a book his social media following can sell it fast.
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Today due to mushrooming of publishing firms and rise in number of aspiring author this book has lots of potential readers out there in the market.

In this book author guides how authors can build and accumulate social media influence.
It covers all social platforms. It also gives specific tips sbout each platform. I liked sdvice about WordPress and author website. Insights into enail list are also informative.

Advice is simple and comprehensive.
Author completely ommited publicity websites like netgalley and edelweiss. Author also doesn't cover self publishing.

It also does not name other book promoting firms and websites.

Advice is useful. Flow of writing may be boring at few points and there is slight repetition.
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Overall good book which has to be read superficially and speedily; if you have basic idea of social media. Because lots of stuff will be slready known to you.

Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

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Very technical - too technical for me, but will probably suit those who like to do a lot of IT stuff themselves. Some useful information for those it suits.

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I’m not sure if I was the intended audience for this book as I already knew the information, but I would say that it is objectively a great reference book.

Burke provides a lot of information that is well-organized, easy-to-understand, and gives you space to do your own work.

I would recommend this to first-time authors or newbies to the marketing/branding world.

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As a new Author I am keen to learn from those with experience of marketing , and especially marketing of books.
Marketing for Busy Authors does exactly what it intends to - provides guidance and also reassurance.
Read as a whole and then looked back on it is a valuable resource which I am to revisit again.
Fauzia Burke is clearly thorough, and at the same time humble enough to recognise that such a book is only as up todate as on the day it is written. So, she directs the Reader to her website where updates will be available in the future.
I have, from reading this book gained confidence in my marketing strategy and recommend it to all Authors, of which there are hundreds busy writing but wanting and needing to market what they write, and also market themselves.

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Some great tips and advice in this book. It is written in a clear and concise way-a must for all aspiring authors.

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First, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book comes right in time for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, a marathon for writers to finish 50,000 words of a novel in one month. I have 'won' this event three years on and off, but have never finished or tried to finish what I worked on, mostly because I had no idea what to do next.

"Online Marketing for Busy Authors" is just the book to help me with the completed project. As most writers today know, if you self publish, or if you are lucky enough to get a contract with a traditional publisher, you will have to do the marketing yourself.

Marketing is not something writers are comfortable with, We are idea people, not people people. We would rather be in the corner of a party watching the rest of you to mine ideas for upcoming characters, not the center of attention. But, we have to learn how to MAKE our new work the center of the reader's attention. How do we do that? This book helps the novice marketer get the buzz we need.

This book is mostly concerned about online marketing, not book tours and readings which is fine with me. It is written logically and I could follow all the steps the authors suggests easily. It talks about branding and figuring out what you, the author, wants from your work. Next, it outlines how to be organized with web sites, blogging, social media, and mailing lists for fans. Fans? My biggest fan (my only fan) is Mom. Maybe this book will help me change that!

It is a short book, but loaded with information. Since I am an absolute beginner at this, I will need to read and re-read her advice. Now, all I need to do is keep up with my word count for NaNo!

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This book offers useful and practical advice, tips, checklists, and worksheets to help authors confront the daunting prospects of selling their work. The first section guides the author toward identifying goals, establishing priorities, and understanding their target market. The next section offers practical steps for establishing an online presence.. The worksheets are an excellent point of reference for both understanding what having an online presence entails, be it a website, blog, or social media, and thinking about how to get established online.

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📚 📚 📚 📚 📚

ONLINE MARKETING FOR BUSY AUTHORS is a terrific guide with brilliant step-by-step instruction for getting your work OUT THERE! Fauzia Burke, a digital book marketing guru and pioneer, shares the 411 on:

-Personal Branding
-Audience
-Dreams and Goals
-Website Design
-Mailing Lists
-Blogging
-Engagement Strategies

She takes online marketers from beginner to confident strategist, showing where to start, where to spend one’s precious time, and how to pull it all together with finesse, with ever helpful worksheets, tips and checklists. Highly recommended!

Thanks to Berrett-Koehler Publishers and NetGalley for the review copies. Opinions are fully mine.

#OnlineMarketingForBusyAuthors #NetGalley

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This book is a fine jumping off spot not only for authors but also for anyone needing to build an online presence. It covers all the basics and gives explanations for why and how things matter. The additional resources are helpful.

Written in a clear manner the book assists even the most inexperienced author or marketer a plan to follow to begin building a personal brand and engaging a local community.

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Online Marketing for Busy Authors: A Step-By-Step Guide by Fauzia Burke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a much-needed primer for authors needing a kick-start on their marketing campaign.

A lot of it isn't news, but being reminded of everything that's necessary and to highlight a few steps we might be missing, it's fairly essential.

Big takeaways: Every reader, every kind of contact, needs to be earned by a real voice, a personalized message. It's unfortunate for the author who would rather spend his or her days actually writing and polishing the stories that they are so invested in, but it's still important. And kinda obvious.

No one likes spam or blather. Take your time with each person, build contacts, build relationships, make real friends. Then ask for help, especially after you've given it first.

Does this sound daunting for confirmed introverts like myself?

Oh. Yes!

I don't have any issue with treating anyone like they are real people. It's the amount of headspace required to build vast networking empire that makes me want to quail. I don't think I'm any good at any of that. I don't out and mix with people. At all.

If I'm talking with people about things that get me excited, and so much DOES get me excited, then I'm as right as rain. But ACTIVELY asking for help in the much-vaunted art of begging without actually seeming to beg?

It sounds so phony. It sounds so self-serving. It makes me squirm.

And yet. And yet. Writing books is an almost solitary endeavor... at least at first. Some of us are forced to accomplish miracles in a perfect vacuum.

But selling books? It requires word of mouth and therefore a constant building of relationships. We have to use our tools REGARDLESS of our strengths. :) Alas.

I guess it's time to start making friends and begging them to do the things we're unable to do! lol

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A fantastic book for authors who need to understand the world that online marketing can bring to them. Useful for both traditional and indie published authors, Burke breaks online marketing down to the very basics and makes a subject that is often daunting for some into something that seems possible for anyone to pick up.

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Online Marketing for Busy Authors serves as a good crash course in marketing, especially for emerging authors who do not have the benefit of a major publishing house's marketing department behind them. While these actionable tips may not guarantee sales, they certainly can't hurt. It's good to hear from someone who has actually helped books become bestsellers. Burke's success and experience in the industry sets her far apart from the herds of unsuccessful writers pushing books about how to become successful writers.

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I found this book to be helpful. I am a poet and an author so I found Fauzia material to be useful in building my own marketing strategy. Especially, the Twitter information since that is my go to platform.

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Much more useful than I could have anticipated.
Well writtem, informative, and most importantly, relevant in todays busy world

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I love that this book focuses on brand as the cornerstone of digital marketing. As a publishing consultant and educator, I have recommended Burke's Online Marketing for Busy Authors as one of the five essential books for every author's bookshelf.

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The book Online Marketing for Busy Authors by Fauzia Burke, a leader in online book marketing and consultant for authors, explores essential aspects of marketing such as personal branding, reader profiles, goals, and much more. It offers a plethora of resources, exercises and integrated worksheets.

Fauzia Burke really does the job she set out to do in this short yet immensely helpful book. Since there are several good points to it and very few negative points, I’ll start with the latter: it is indeed too short. That’s it. I loved it so much I craved for more information, examples, explanations, and resources! I was satisfied with the book when I reached the end yet disappointed because I wanted to dive even more in Miss Burke’s experience.

As for the good points, prepare to be overwhelmed (no, really, this book is fantastic for authors like me who have no idea how to market their books!). In the first pages, the author makes it clear what to expect from her book and what its structure is (three sections in order to make the best gradual use of it – a step-by-step approach). I must admit what I loved most about this book is how straightforward it is: Miss Burke’s tone is friendly yet she doesn’t kick around the bush. She gives precise and direct information with just enough detail so as not to bore the reader. Plus, the information shared by the author is highly relevant to the field and does exactly what the title of the book implies. In other words, it makes you think about YOUR own online marketing strategy and find guided solutions for you. Her examples are clear and easy to understand.

This book also includes worksheets, advice, and quotes, which are all useful and well thought to help us. There’s even space for the exercises in her book – it’s close to being interactive! It really feels like the author, Miss Burke, truly wants to help us, starting from the basics and expanding on that newly learned knowledge. Her vocabulary is inspiring and diverse; it is also laced with kindness and even sometimes a pinch of humor. Thus, the writing is quite enjoyable and conveys the intended messages. Do you want to know another fabulous point about this book? It is free of typos and mistakes of any kind! That impressed me, I must say. It made my reading flow like a river (now, don’t you just like my failed attempt at poetry here?).

Miss Burke is always professional! Her twenty years of experience really show in all the information she gives us and how she does it too. She covers a wide range of topics and gives in-depth but short explanations throughout the book. Not only does she tackle what we can get out of each marketing effort, but also the why, which professionals rarely do. There are constant reminders of your goals and marketing strategy in every chapter so you don’t lose your focus. The author also provides tips on how to best use social media and certain platforms, which she deems the best in terms of online marketing.

Her views and guidance on the different marketing efforts are realistic. Miss Burke also makes use of good questions that prepare you and make you think about your own strategy. There are also lists of things to do that cover the steps you need to go through in order to succeed at that particular marketing effort. This book demystifies marketing for authors. It makes me feel more confident about my own online marketing strategy, which I’ll now tweak a bit thanks to Miss Burke! One of the best things about Online Marketing for Busy Authors is the tools (a.k.a websites) it gives us to learn more about our niche and potential bloggers, customers. It also provides the tools for us to find help, tips, and ideas. Lastly, Miss Burke does a recap of everything learned at the end of her book, which is a useful refresher training!

Fauzia Burke, the author of Online Marketing for Busy Authors, hit the bull’s eye with her book. In my opinion, she covers all the essential points and makes it interesting, even for a marketing newbie like me. Because I found it very helpful and true to its blurb and title (and also her own experience as a leader in online book marketing), I give it a rating of 5 out of 5. There were no major bad points, only the fact that I wished her book was longer so I could learn about marketing even more. This book is perfect for fans of Joanna Penn and James Scott Bell for it gives practical tips to achieve your own online marketing with no nonsense explanations of how to do so, a particular manner that reminds me of those two great authors. If you’re an author or an aspiring one who’s lost in all the marketing you need to do, Fauzia Burke’s Online Marketing for Busy Authors simply must be on your shelf. I have the conviction it will make you even like online marketing, just as it did with me.

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Well written & laid out with some useful Q&A exercises to define your goals & 'brand'.
Useful for a brand new beginner - more experienced authors will probably have seen the advice here already.
More useful for non-fiction writers than fiction.

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I requested this on a whim - I aspire to be an author one day and thought it might be good to read. I skim read it for the most part.

It was through, easy to understand, and packed full of information that was neatly organized and easy to follow.

I'd say it seems pretty useful for a self published author especially.

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A great guide for digital marketing of any sort - not just for authors. I did know a lot of this already, but the focus on mailing lists surprised me. I'm going to have to up my game in this department!

I liked that the author didn't focus too much on specific sites and approaches, as this could date the book far too quickly. Instead it was a long term guide that will remain applicable in the future.

I would recommend signing up on the author's website to her 'updates' newsletter, where she talks about new social media approaches as they are developed.

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As a self-published author, I'm always looking for good information on marketing my books. The writing seems relatively easy - and reaching prospective readers in a crowded online marketplace so daunting!

This guide walks the reader step by step through marketing a book - from brand creation to social media to building your own author platform and mailing list. Definitely a good choice for the DIY author!

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This small book is packed with tips, advice, suggestions and literal steps to plan and implement a marketing plan for authors who know little or even hate marketing. Fauzia Burke takes your hand and guides you step by step. She begins with your dreams, helps you establish your priorities, tells you how to implement and closes with the importance of on-going sales monitoring of your published book. She gives helpful tips and advice to implement an online marketing plan including a website, mailing list, blog and social media. Her recommendations hold for first-time self-published authors as well as the experienced or traditionally published.

Ms. Burke has devoted her career to marketing authors and supports her advice by including stories of her coaching and support for authors. She writes with a clear direct style that encourages me to sit down and follow her advice step by step.

I recommend this book for all of us who are authors resisting and reluctant to market ourselves and our books. Burke provides an easy to guide to help us overcome our foot-dragging. I am motivated get started creating the marketing plan for my book.

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This is not a very long book. I learned how to market over the last two years of being an Indie, so the information was not new to me. However, this is great information for authors who don't know where to begin. The landscape of author marketing is forever changing, but many tenets remain the same and this book covers them all. Essentially, this is a great guide for authors to pre-plan their marketing strategy. I encourage readers to answer the questions. The more prepared an author is while marketing, the less time will be spent trying to figure it all out. The extra time should be reserved for writing the next book, which is another tenet--keep writing and publishing.

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Online Marketing For Busy Authors is the perfect resource for both new and experienced authors, those that already have a large following and those just starting out. It works with you through the often daunting process of engaging with your readers through social media, but also refines the perhaps less clear area of first setting out your goals for engaging with online markets. This book is also a great guide for anyone in the business of promotions trying to understand the methods behind this online world and designing a marketing plan to target the right people in the right ways.

Online Marketing is organised into three sections. The first helps you plan for your social media promotions, outlining your goals, expectations of success and ultimate dreams in this field. Targeted questions, examples, explanations and checklists make this grey area far easier to outline. Every good strategy needs a set of goals and that is exactly what Fauzia Burke helps authors create. The second section, aptly titled Turning Your Thinking Into Action, helps break these goals into manageable steps, as well as outlining each of the most popular online forums and how to best use these in your marketing. Fauzia here finds the delicate balance between details of current social media platforms, as well as being aware of how changeable and fluid this area is. The third and final section outlines how to keep this plan moving forward in the future, monitoring and adjusting the plan as it progresses.

The book is interactive, with information grouped by chapters with lists, checklists, worksheets and handy tips, along with examples, anecdotes and advice from other professionals in the book business. Fauzia Burke ultimately keeps this book accessible and succinct, perfect for busy authors looking to improve their online marketing strategy.

The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Online Marketing is a long-term game. It is not like an advertisement in a Newspaper or a flyer in your mailbox. Whatever content you create and distribute online, stays online.

Building a reputation takes time and so does attracting the right customers. In Online Marketing for Busy Authors, Fauzia Burke makes this point clear in the first few chapters of the book.

The author begins with explaining the problems with taking on online marketing head on. Although the tools of marketing may remain same, every product is different and the customers are attracted to a product for a different reason.

For authors, it is necessary to understand who their target audience is before taking the plunge in online marketing. In Kow Thy Readers, the author explains the subtleties of recognizing who your readers are and how you must use different marketing tactics for different types of readers. She provides the authors with information and worksheets to help them come up with answers to pesky questions like reader demographic to build a typical reader profile.

The theoretical discussion in the first part of the book will help first-time authors understand where they stand and clearly define their goals and objectives. Authors who have until now used social media only for personal use, will get to know a bit about other social networks and platforms.

In the second part of the book the author gives you how to tackle all the different aspects of online marketing. Online marketing is a broad area. It covers everything from building an author website to populating your social media profiles, and also reaching out to influencers and the press contacts. The chapters in this part of the book give you a brief introduction to each of these areas and suggest tools that you can use if you wish to go the DIY way.

In summary, Online Marketing for Busy Authors is a book that you would want to read if you have no clue about what marketing or online marketing includes. Authors will get a good high-level picture of what online marketing entails and nudge them in the right direction. Authors will get all the Dos and Don’ts while exploring these different channels and save them effort and time in reading up information from multiple sources.

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I requested this book because it's a topic that I'm very interested in. How can I, as a full-time student who also happens to be job hunting, do online marketing without burning out?

The book is basically divided into three sections:

1. Know yourself 2. Know your audience 3. Ways to reach the audience

Or at least, that's how I see it. The book itself says that it's divided into three phases:

1. Getting Organised 2. Turning your thinking into action 3. Staying the course.

Either way, it's the same thing.

What I liked about this book is that there were concrete exercises on how you can define your author voice and how you can narrow down your target audience. The advice on how to promote pretty much corresponds to everything I've heard and read from self-publishing advice podcasts and books. Actually, I think The Creative Penn, Rocking Self Publishing and the like may be slightly more advanced with the type of marketing they're trying.

Most of the advice seems to be more suited for the non-fiction author, although I think that fiction authors can probably adapt the advice.

The only thing I didn't really agree with was the line "if you are self-publishing your book, you will probably get fewer reviews than if you were published by an established publisher." If you're talking editorial reviews, then I can see how this is the case, but if you're talking about customer reviews (aka Amazon/Goodreads/Kobo/etc reviews), then I don't see how being traditionally published is going to automatically get you more reviews. I think your marketing is going to play a bigger part.

All in all, the advice seems pretty solid and aimed at the beginning author (like me). But, if you're willing to listen to the various podcasts, read blogs, you can probably get much of the same information for free. The next step would be putting it into practice (which I am admittedly lagging behind on)

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

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Wonderful advice for those that self publish as well as authors in general.

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A clear, concise and effective guide to getting your book the attention it deserves!

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A decent basic book of online marketing. I found the sections with the questions to answer a little off. You are asked questions and given empty space to answer but it is a DRM protected file so it's not easy to use that space. I found some sections not detailed enough such as the section on website where it lists things you should do but doesn't expand much on it. I would have liked to have seen this section expanded as well as the section on social media. She lists many places such as snapchat but only talks about facebook, twitter and linkedin.
Does have some information about determining your goals, dreams, priorities etc. Worth checking out for the starting author.

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The beginning of this book felt a bit like the author was blowing their own trumpet but I guess it could have just been a way of establishing their expertise. She talks about the internet meaning authors can establish a link with their readers in a way they couldn’t before. The checklists within the book were semi-useful and I liked the’ tips for busy authors’ section. However, I felt that this book would be best for those with absolutely no knowledge of online marketing tools or social networks at all. For me, with only a basic knowledge, I found I didn’t learn anything new. This book was not for me but having said that it was set out in a clear and concise way and explained all the possible tools in extensive detail.

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This book is an excellent online marketing guide for authors.

Fauzzia Burke explains in a practical, entertaining and simple way what is necessary to establish an author's brand, create a promotion strategy, as well as the use of each social network for the book marketing.

One of the aspects that I highlight the most are the #TipsForBusyAuthors that are included at the end of each chapter, are simply useful.

I think there is no one who reads this book and doesn't get something out of it.

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