Authors. What if I told you there was a way you could
promote your books without paying plane fare, hotel fare,
and exorbitant car rentals prices? Or, what if there was a
place where you could sit in your pajamas, feet up on your
desk, sipping your coffee, while you talk? Well, there is a
way and a place-Internet radio in Cyberspace.
As an Internet radio host of "On The Same Page" on
www.voiceamerica.com over the past 3 years and 3 months,
I've learned that this new medium is a very valuable tool
for promoting your books. Why? Because this medium has the
ability to reach a global, worldwide audience.
When I started hosting on www.voiceamerica.com on March 5,
2002, this was considered to be the wave of the future.
Well guess what? The future is now.
I currently host a show on www.voiceamerica.com (Maxine
Thompson's On The Same Page at 6:00 a.m. PST, re-aired 6:00
p.m. PST, and Saturday at 1:00 p.m. PST.). The shows are
archived both on www.voiceamerica.com and on my website at
http://www.maxinethompson.com . I also host shows on
www.artistfirst.com and www.maxineshow.com where I
interview authors in order to provide a platform to promote
their books.
On March 1, 2005, I launched a literary show at my
website,www.maxineshow.com, which will be
information-driven in terms of teaching how-to-writing
techniques and Internet marketing secrets.
A study by Arbitron, an Edison Media Research agency,
reports that, in the past 4 years, the audience for video
and audio broadcasting has doubled from 10% to 21% of all
Americans. As of January 2004, on a monthly basis 51
million people use Internet broadcasting as background
music/talk shows/soundtrack while shopping on line. Four in
ten Americans have listened to Internet Radio. The
estimated weekly broadcast audience for Americans is 30
million listeners, which is approximately 13% of the
population.
Studies show that 80% of listeners listen to the archives
or the tapes of the show, which I now have 30 months worth
of shows archived on my website.
So how does that translate for you as a writer? You can use
technology as one of the many tools available to get your
name out among the reading public. People who have Internet
access in other countries are able to hear about your book,
gaining you international exposure and readers. This can
help with word-of-mouth buzz, as well as media exposure.
Most of all, many of these shows are picked up on search
engines such as google, which is another way to drive
traffic to your site and to promote your titles.
So why be left behind in terms of making money on the
Internet?
Why not use on-line, as well as offline promotion? Why not
use inter-mercials? So you say, what is an intermercial?
According to www.worldwidewords.org , in origin, the word
seems to be a blend of interactive and commercial, after
the model of infomercial. You've heard of
infomercials-those insidious paid-for commercials that have
you whipping out your credit card in the middle of the
night, buying diet products that you know you'll never use?
(I've been guilty of that.) Just think of an intermercial
as an Internet commercial which is a savvy way to advertise
your products and services over the Internet. On on-line
radio, audiostreaming is used to send your message to a
global audience.
What are the benefits of an intermercial for you as an
author?
1.You get to discuss your book, as well as tell who you are
as a human being. Many readers like to get inside of a
writer's heads.
2. You can read excerpts from your book and answer call-ins
or emails.
3. You get to give out your websites, or places your books
can be purchased and you get experience with being
interviewed by the media.
4. You get to build a larger fan base through the archives
and through search engines such as google.
5. You get to connect emotionally with your readers.
6. Your interview is not limited to one geographical area
such as in off-line radio.
Why is Internet radio Cost-Effective?
For a small fee, you get exposure to a worldwide audience
of avid readers. The conversion rate on a large number of
listeners who get repeated exposure to your book can be
astronomical in the long run. In off-line radio, the show
generally has a limited amount of wattage as to the area
they will cover. It's generally a one-shot deal. In
Internet radio, the sky is the limit. Measurements of
listeners in terms of one-minute segments are now reaching
the millions.
Moreover, in addition to interviewing authors, in listening
to these shows, one can stay abreast of trends in the
publishing industry.
To conclude, I have had the privilege of interviewing many
celebrities and upcoming authors. Past authors interviewed
include Mark Victor Hansen, Robert Allen, Jack Canfield,
Robert Kiyosaki and many others. Self-published authors
interviewed include Denise Turney, Delores Thornton, Baba
Evans, to name a few.
So where am I going with this line of reasoning?
Bottom-line, who can better tell our story but us?
Likewise, who can better sell our books but us? In order to
compete on a global scale, writers must make use of this
new technology.
