Author, Promote Thyself The "Basic" Tool Kit by Lloyd LofthouseWow! You wrote a book. So what? By now, you may have learned that getting noticed is noteasy, but there is a way.One more book is another drop in the ocean of print. Were you dreaming of being on

Oprah

and hitting the

New York Times Best Seller List

If so, stop dreaming. The publishing world is brutal, competitive, overcrowded, and the reading audience is limitedR. R. Bowker, the company that sells ISBNs, reported that there were 275,232 new titles andeditions published in 2008. That doesn't take into account the backlist. Bowker's Books In Print®database, the industry's largest, has 7.5 million U.S. book, audio book, and video titles, as well asanother 10 million international titles. Bowker also lists 80,000 publishers as clients. Does thatgive you an idea about the competition?Most authors must promote or fade into obscurity. The Internet makes it possible. Beforestarting, consider these three crucial steps:1. A Website2. A Blog for building a platform3. A Media KitThe publishing world is a sink-or-swim environment. If an author doesn't promote her work,it's as if an anchor had been tied to the book. It quickly sinks—forgotten.What to consider when planning a Website. Everything visitors see should fit on one screen,and there shouldn't be a scroll bar. Here's the reason why you keep the home page short andsuper simple. Studies show that about 90% of the visitors to a Website stay less than thirtyseconds. That means you have a brief time to hook them. Here are some stats from my Websitefor September 2009. There were 1,409 visitors. Eighty-seven percent stayed less than thirtyseconds.Organizing the Website home page is important. In journalism, I was taught that a newspaper page is designed in a reverse six pattern. The reason for this is because most newspaper readersstart at the top left-hand side of the page and scan right and then down.That's why the menu should be placed high starting on the left side of the page so visitors seethose links first. Keep that menu short and simple with five links or less. At least one of thoselinks should lead to a place where the visitor may buy the book. One trick is to turn the book'scover or title into a link leading to the book's page on Amazon.com.