Book Marketing Tip #22: Use Google Alerts to discover where the conversations are taking place

NOTE:  In January 2018, an updated and expanded edition of The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide was released, offering 65 book marketing ideas and new "Deep Dives" sections exploring social media strategy, how to work with beta readers, and how to earn free press coverage. 

To download the new Smashwords Book Marketing Guide for free, here are the coordinates:

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The new 2018 edition of The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide is also available as a serialized podcast on the SMART AUTHOR podcast, starting with Episode 10.

Click here to access all SMART AUTHOR podcast episodes.






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The information that follows on this page is from the 2013 edition of the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, which will remain here for historical purposes only.


Book Marketing Tip #22:  Use Google Alerts to discover where the conversations are taking place 

Authors are special people, because it takes an enormous amount of talent to write a book on any subject.  Because you’re a subject matter expert, there are probably dozens if not hundreds of online opportunities for you to join conversations and in the process, help promote and sell your book, and promote your own subject matter expertise.  Let’s say you wrote a book on how to grow prize-winning pumpkins.  There are probably hundreds of gardening web sites and online forums that discuss that very subject!  You can join the conversations by commenting on message boards, blogs and news stories related to that subject.  Share your knowledge.  How do you track where the conversations are taking place?  Create multiple Google Alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts, and Google will email you whenever a new conversation, or a new news story or blog post on a given subject, appears.  For this pumpkin example, you might want to track keywords and phrases such as “pumpkin growing,” “prize-winning pumpkins,” and “gardening tips.”  Remember, the goal is to join the conversation and add value with your wisdom and opinions.  Don’t spam.