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6 Steps For Establishing Yourself As An Expert
By Brent Sampson, Sat Dec 10th
Like the Internet itself, online marketing resources such asblogs, chat rooms, and user groups are vast and puzzling. On onehand they offer that elusive “promise land” of free andeffective marketing. On the other, they embody a “time sink” ofastronomical proportions. They have addictive qualities andtheir effectiveness is measured only by your own self-control. That said, let’s briefly describe each opportunity and exploretheir potential. “Blog” is short for “web log” – an online diary of sorts that isrelatively user-friendly, at least by Internet standards.Through free services such as Blogger.com, an author (or“blogger” as they have come to be known) can compose content andthen, with the click of a button, become “published” onlinewithin a matter of seconds for the world to see.
Whether or not the world actually does see it, however, is amatter of distribution (just like a published book!). The topicof distributing blogs is outside the scope of this article, butmay be one I tackle in an upcoming newsletter. Suffice it tosay, it’s a little more technical, requiring techno-babblereferences to jargon-esque acronyms and geek-speak like .xml,atom, and RSS. In the meantime, let’s discuss the other two Internet venues.Online and user groups also provide a forum for theonline promoter. While they share similarities with blogs theylack some of the distribution possibilities. Yahoo offers bothchat rooms and use groups/bulletin boards organized by subject,and you can find similarly themed groups on Google. I briefly discuss blogs, chat rooms, and user groups in my bookPublishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-PublishingWriter when I discuss ways in which to establish yourself as anexpert. Become an expert in your field and book sales will follow. It’strue that promoting a book requires a great amount of resolve,but it is also true that working smarter, rather than harder,can help reap those rewards. By projecting yourself as an expertin the genre in which you write, you can open new doors fornetworking, doors that often remain shut without that expertisestatus. 1 Write a book You’ve done this already, right? If you haven’t, consider it.You may find yourself closer to a finished manuscript than yourealize. Writing a publishable book from your knowledge orexperience is often a matter of simply putting your expertise onpaper. 2 Publish
your book A published book becomes a calling card to line-up speakingengagements, freelance writing gigs, and other opportunities.Don’t become a victim of “Catch-22 Paralysis” where you can’tpromote because no one knows about you, but no one knows aboutyou since you can’t promote. Instead, become a “Catch-all frontrunner” where you’re an expert because you have published abook, and your published book proves your expertise. 3 Promote your expertise Two good places to begin are AOL and ABOUT.COM. Both havecategory-specific forums in which you can participate. Bymentioning that you are the “author of such-and-such” within thescope of your communication, you begin to label yourself as anexpert. Web-logs, or “blogs” are also a cost effective, efficient way topromote your expertise. Blogs utilize .xml and RSS feeds toprovide dynamic, up-to-the minute publication across a varietyof searchable platforms. The integration between blogs andcontextual search engines becomes a self-fulfilling prophecytoward recognition. If you write about something, peoplesearching for the topic will invariably find you, and that makesyou an expert! 4 Overcome the fiction hurdle Being recognized as an expert in a technical or non-fictioncategory is admittedly easier than the largely subjectivecategory of a fiction expert. Even so, if you have written awork of fiction, becoming a recognized expert is not onlypossible, but necessary. Just look at Clancy, Rowling, andRobbins. 5 Explore the possibilities Whether you’ve penned a techno-thriller, children’s fantasy, orromance, there is a forum in which to voice your expertise. TheInternet is full of chat rooms, writing groups, genre-sites, andmore. They’re all thirsty for content from published writers.You just have to know where to look. Conducting a Google searchis a good place to start. 6 Join, participate, schmooze Seek out conferences, associations, and other experts to helpyou. Outskirts Press is a member of PMA, SPAN, CIPA, SPAWN, andthe BBB, just to name a few. This leads to professionalrelationships with experts (Dan Poynter), mentors (Dr. JudithBriles), and editors (Writer’s Digest). About the author:Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts PressPublishing at http://www.outskirtspress.com . He is the authorof Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-PublishingWriter (http://outskirtspress.com/publishinggems) andSelf-Publishing Simplified (free ebook edition available athttp://outskirtspress.com/publishing)
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