Must-Read Interview: Insights on blog marketing for book publishers, social networking, e-newsletters and more

For contemporary-issues books, such as “Fighting for Dear Life,” we have sought to get the book in the hands of influential conservative and Christian bloggers. We have also used advertising on individual blogs. We did so with “Fighting for Dear Life,” running ads on 40+ individual blogs that are of an evangelical/conservative bent. We have also run ads on niche blogs for our recent fiction release, “Summer of Light,” which dealt with stay-at-home dads.

In other targeted advertising, we have taken advantage of Google and Yahoo’s search advertising to key in on niche markets for our books.

We regularly send review copies to bloggers, who tend to post reviews on their own blogs, as well as Amazon.com, and other book review sites. I select a portion of the 50+ blog list that I have contact with for any individual book, and I am regularly expanding that list.

EXTRA: What are you working on in the areas of social networking, e-newsletters and video?
HART: I have recently begun exploring social networking sites, and currently have a Bethany House profile on ShoutLife.com, which is a large Christian-oriented site that is similar to MySpace. On this site I post announcements of new releases and build a network or “friends” whom I hope to use as potential reviewers as the site grows. We have also begun to explore having company blogs to promote our fiction and nonfiction, but one that will have a distinct voice rather than be a site to post our publicity materials.

We make newsletters a priority in our online marketing efforts and regularly seek to increase our newsletter subscription rate. We promote the newsletters through back-of-book ads, feature them prominently on the Bethany House Web site, and use some online advertising to direct people to a newsletter sign-up option. These newsletters feature special content, new release notifications and giveaways.