Below the cut are some inexpensive (but often time-consuming) ideas you might want to implement if you need to market yourself and don’t want to cheat. Because I work with authors a lot, it’s written with them in mind, but even if you’re not an author, it probably applies to you.

1. Build your website carefully.

A. Make sure it’s easy to navigate, that all your links and images have alt tags, that it’s disabled friendly and cross-browser functional. Check it in Opera, IE, Safari, and Firefox, at minimum. Sure, probably 75% of people use IE. Is that a reason to alienate the other 25? Make sure you can see it well and navigate it easily with Flash and Ajax disabled. If you’re feeling brave, try to navigate it using only the keyboard.

B. Avoid Flash, especially for navigation. If you use Flash, be sure to check that your website works without it. Turn off the flash and take a look. If you can’t stand giving up your Flash, consider creating two sites, one with and one without.

C. Make sure it loads quickly. Go to your public library and access your website on their default browsers with their computers. If it’s not fast enough there, consider the people on dial-up (there still are some!) and make changes.

D. Visual interest is important, but make sure that your focus is on content. Leave “white space” to allow people a place to rest their eyes.

E. If you have ads, consider getting rid of them. Ads are for sites that are selling something. You’re selling yourself. Keep your site visitors focussed on you.

F. Throw out your links page. If you do provide a links page, be sure you actually like the sites you’re linking to, that the sites are live (check them once a week or so) and tag them “rel=no follow”. Don’t accept a reciprocal links agreement unless you really believe in the site that’s linking to you. In that case, drop the no follow and blog about the site you’re linking to, tell people why they should care instead of dropping a link on a links page.

G. Get rid of the splash page. People want content immediately. A splash page puts another hurdle between the content and the reader and may negatively impact your search engine rating.

H. Ask random strangers (or friends and acquaintances) to visit your site and write down everything that even slightly annoyed them about it. I went to an author’s site today and clicked on the menu item “List” thinking, I guess, that it would give me a list of the author’s works. Instead, I got a pop-up form to join the mailing list.  Navigation is for navigating. Put your sign-up and contact links on a page.

I. Read up on SEO and implement as many SEO “white hat” actions you can do yourself or get your web manager to do for you. Be sure they’re not black hat tricks (i.e, keyword stuffing). The line between the two changes, and some things that were perfectly acceptable a year ago are frowned on now. If you use black hat tricks you’ll end up in trouble with the search engines, and worse, with your visitors.

J. ‘Subscribe to my newsletter”, if you have one, should be clearly obvious and on every page, especially the first page. I used to think that newsletters were passe in this day of RSS readers, but I was wrong. People like getting newsletters. If you have one it should be easy to sign up, and it should come at regular intervals, with interesting things included. Use text only, though you may choose to provide a link to an HTML version on your website for easier reading, images of book covers, and to get more traffic coming back to you.

K. Make sure your content about your books is up to date and complete. That means providing excerpts, data about your book, reading group guides, and links to the sites where people can buy your books. Provide clickable thumbnails so they can see the cover well. Provide ISBNs and retail price. You might also consider providing a printable list, either as a pop-up or as a simple black-text-on-white page.

L. Provide viewing options for mobile users, either with a different CSS file or a different site. Be sure your content is designed for mobile viewing. Provide a link on your main page or consider redirecting mobile users. There are pros and cons for both.

M. Consider using cookies to provide a greeting to people who have never visited your site before. There are benefits and drawbacks to this one. The biggest benefit is that people like to be acknowledged and they like their experiences personalized.

The big drawbacks, and for me they’re bigger than the benefits, occur when things don’t go as planned. For example, If you have your site set up to say “Hello! I’m glad you visited” to new users, perhaps pointing out newsletter signup options or RSS feeds, or something similar, people who discard their cookies regularly will get it every time. I had one site use a pop-up to offer me a sign-up to their newsletter every time I visited the front page, with the notation “This is just for your first visit here. We will never ask you again.” –and I didn’t even have my cookies set to dump. I got tired of it and quit visiting. The annoyance wasn’t worth the content being provided. Be sure your content is worth the annoyance if people don’t like something you do.

2. Provide new content regularly.

Yeah, I’m recommending a blog. I know. Everyone blogs. That’s because it’s a good idea. Don’t let it become your life, but blog something every day or every other day if you can. If you can only blog once a month, you’ll stay alive (a site of interest people pick up now and again), but you won’t be the “go-to” for content about your subject.

A. Be sure to blog about the stuff you care about, but if it’s personal, tie it into something that interests the people you want to draw in. I go to one author’s site because she has good information. I go to another’s because I’m already a fan and like knowing what she’s up to. The first blog gets more people all the time. The second, finding her work and falling in love with it comes first.
B. Personal information makes you more approachable, but you want to strive for a balance here. We like buying from people who charm us or befriend us, but we’re still there to buy. Give people solid information they can take away with them.
C. Point out the exploits of other authors who write like you do or in the same genre; blog about news stories that relate to your genre; draw people’s attention to the strange, quirky, or unusual.
D. There’s a budding writer in all of us. If you’re an author, at least some of your posts should be about writing (make it a regular feature if you can). How you do it. “Where do you get your ideas?”, etc.
E. Immediately delete every spam comment and respond to all legitimate comments within 24 hours if at all possible.
F. Consider endorsing products or features available on the web that make your life easier (as a blog post, not as an ad or sidebar link). You can sometimes get some nice cross-network traffic that way.
G. Consider asking an author friend to provide a guest post. The change in scenery will draw his readers to your blog and your readers to his.

3. Be an expert on your subject and share your expertise.

A. send out press releases with a free release site (PR Zoom has been my choice because it’s easy).
i. Be sure your press release is news, not just fuzzy stuff about you.
ii. Write it in the third person.
iii. Make it relevant, i.e., if you’re announcing that an author is signing at X bookstore, tell people why they should care.
iv. Don’t flounce, pout, or start flame wars. Sure, be passionate about your subject, but try to remember that you’re a professional and the person to whom you’re responding is a real person, whatever they may sound like.

B. Consider building a site about you the expert vs. you the author, and link the two.

4. Be Visible

A. Comment on other blogs. Most blogs have the ability to link to your website somewhere in the comments feature. There are two benefits to this. If the blog you’re commenting on doesn’t automatically use “no-follow” tags on their commenters’ websites, you get another hit in the search engines. Whether they do or not, if you comment with insight and intelligence, someone’s going to visit your website. And that someone has friends. And don’t forget, the owner of the blog will be kindly disposed toward you as well, and may actually talk about you to his or her friends.

B. Join social networking sites. Put relevant links up on De.li.ciou.us. Join Myspace, Facebook, LiveJournal, LinkedIn, Ziki, Amazon author blogs, even (ack) AOL. Believe it or not, even Twitter is a good idea. Set it up so that it announces every time you’ve made a blog post and you don’t have to think about it again. Make sure they all link back to your site.  Consider adding your blog to blog directories… there’s a massive list of social networking sites on Wikipedia.

C. Work the social networking sites. Cross-post your blog posts (or just certain ones based on content/topic) to all of them that allow blogs. Consider offering cool stuff specific to the readers of that site for those that allow blog posting.  This can kill you. Try not to let it. Either hire someone to do it, provide cross-posted content, or narrow your focus.

D. Consider adding another blog at one of the blogging sites. Cross-post there or make it personal, it doesn’t really matter, though my preference would be for new content as a way to avoid looking like a cheat. Add a link to your “real” site.

E. Join a group author blog or start one with other authors who will interest your readers. Provide content once a month or so about stuff going on in your genre or your books or things people are thinking about.

F. Watch for opportunities to blog about ongoing issues that matter to you and provide links to your site, i.e., blog against racism week; wretched pixel-stained techno-peasant day, etc.

G. Make sure your publisher provides a link to your website.

H. Make sure all of your giveaways (bookmarks, flyers, etc.,) include your URL.

I. Build a squidoo lens, a winksite, sign up at Topix to be an expert in your field, or join Zimbio (among many others, I’m sure), submit short stories to online ‘zines.

J. Send your book to the ebook reviewers, and/or offer interviews where appropriate. Print authors sometimes overlook the online reviewers, but they can be quite popular. If your book is available as an ebook, send it out for review.

5. Finally, most importantly, don’t forget to write.

People may stop visiting your website if your next book is late.

“Brilliant! The next great American Vampire novel!” Famous Author

After you dismiss the rumor about how Famous Author is paid to do that, shed the bad advice you’ve most likely read somewhere. That is, “You should never pay for a blurb.”

How in heaven’s name did the unknown author get the famous author to say that? It would mean the famous author read it! (Absolutely, entirely, right now, dismiss from your mind any rumor you may have heard about how Famous Author really doesn’t read the book; he or she is just paid to say that. That’s unprofessional behavior and unlikely; a rumor probably started by those sour grapes people who can’t get a blurb.)

As everyone knows, getting anyone to read something by an unknown author is an uphill slog, and the hill gets steeper the more impact the reader may have on the author’s career. You finally got a publisher to read your novel, maybe you even have an agent, which means you’ve convinced two people to read your work and they liked it!

You probably don’t absolutely need one of those blurbs, but it’s a hefty piece of artillery when you’re selling your book. So, how do you get one? Ask.

Ask? That’s it? No.

Somewhere in there after you’ve dismissed the rumor that famous author is just paid to do that, shed the bad advice you’ve most likely read somewhere. That is, “You should never pay for a blurb.”

The thing is, that author is in the business to make money. Famous Author may love telling a good story, may love creating fascinating plots and great characterization, but their cats have to eat too. Their time is extremely valuable–as valuable as is yours!–and they’re hard at work tapping out the next Great American Novel. You’re asking them to interrupt their work, which goes to feed their slightly-better-fed-than-yours cats. That doesn’t mean you have to pay them what they’re worth. If you’re just starting out and you’re a normal human being (not a member of any monied class, I mean) you can’t afford what they’re worth. So:

1. Start with an author of your acquaintance, or the acquaintance of a good friend, loving relative, or someone you can blackmail or bribe for a polite introduction. Your editor may know someone who would be perfect. Your agent may too. Ask them first. If they know someone, your work may be done for you. If the introduction is from a friend or family member, you’ll probably have to keep working it. Try not to accept introductions to self-help gurus if you write torrid romances. It will only embarrass you and Famous Author. Your clueless friend or relative will just wonder why you’re both confused and embarrassed. If Famous Author writes potboilers and you write fantasy, a blurb from them will most likely not serve you well. Readers who are drawn to a blurbed book pick it up because they expect it to be “just like” the work of the author who blurbed it. That doesn’t mean they want the exact same thing. It’s easier, for me, to think of it as a food craving. If your Famous Author writes steak and he blurbs your watermelon, readers who wanted steak, even if you provided a very good watermelon, may feel cheated, and readers who feel cheated complain.

2. If you can, find out if the author you want to ask has a no-blurbs policy (many of them do). If they do, Do Not try to get them to change their mind for you. Believe me, the rules always apply to you, even if you think they don’t. Just go find another one.

How do you find out if they have a no-blurb policy? One of the easiest ways is to search the author’s website and/or blog. I’m betting that all mid and top list authors have been asked for at least one blurb and will probably have written about it. Make notes of what they said. Plan to use them later.

3. Now’s the time to ask. A sample letter might go something like:

Dear Author who is my friend:

I don’t know if you remember, but my novel, “Abigail Adams” is going to be published by Brilliant Press this year and will be coming out in December. “Abigail Adams” is an 80,000 word story that is sure to attract your readers, since it contains blah and blah, and has the edge of the seat quality you’re known for. I know you are very busy and that this may be an imposition, but I wondered if you would consider reading my story and providing a blurb for it.

Brilliant Press is a micro indie press, but the publisher appreciates your time as much as I do and has offered to pay an honorarium if you’d be willing to read it, even if you’re not comfortable providing the blurb after you have done so.

Your friend,

New Author

Your publisher may not be willing to provide the honorarium (ask if they’ll at least pitch in). You may have to do it yourself. Ask yourself how hungry your cats can get before they gnaw off your toes in the night, cut that amount of cat food in half so that you don’t lose your toes, and plan to spend that amount. Being a new author, I wouldn’t expect you to offer more than $500.00. I would hope you could offer less.

Your new acquaintance, the friendly author, is either going to ignore your note, tell his or her secretary to ignore the note, have a minion answer that he or she doesn’t do blurbs but please buy his or her next novel, or he or she may come back and say “how much of an honorarium?” or “I remember you! Sure!” or even better, “Oh, I’d love to, no honorarium required!” Any one of those means you’re very likely in (though the second and third are best for that Whoot! feeling you want).

Please note: It helps with the remembering you part if you’ve met him or her more than once, perhaps even talked to him or her about his or her books, or even struck up a casual friendship where you could talk about clothes, children, or those pesky cats. The casual friendship should feel mutual…on both your parts. Don’t assume they’re just like you, or that they’ve been waiting for your call/e-mail/registered letter/actionable offense in a parking lot and will drop everything to get this done for you.

4. If he or she says “how much?” or “I remember you sure!” ask the author what his or her normal honorarium might be, but be prepared to make an offer if they hem and/or haw. If what they normally receive is completely out of your budgetary range and would mean that you’d be eating the cats instead of the other way about, tell him or her so honestly and regretfully decline. Then start over again at the top with a new author. You may find that the author will come back and say, “Naw, that’s okay. Send it anyway,” but please don’t plan on it.

5. If the author says “sure!” or any form thereof, tactfully try to discover how much time they think it might take, while you’re straightforwardly asking if they want an electronic copy, and if so what format they’d like (PDF, Word document, Works document, Open Office Document, some other document from some obscure software!?) or a printed copy and whether they would prefer bound or loose pages (you can get it bound at Kinkos and sent at the same time). Professional reviews from respected publications often take 4 months. Give your author the courtesy of at least that long, and let them know that you’ve done so.

Be sure to send the payment with the book in the type of payment they prefer (check, PayPal, money order, cashier’s check, other). If they want an e-copy of the book but don’t want electronic payment, be sure to inform Famous Author that the check went in the mail on the same day that you e-mailed them your manuscript, and don’t let that be a lie nor the check rubber. You don’t want to add this author to the list of famous authors with a no-blurb-ever policy.

6. Be sure to include a release for the author to sign stating that you can use their words in your marketing campaign.

7. Be prepared to lose the honorarium without losing your professionalism. That’s a tough one to swallow, but remember, you told the author not to provide a blurb if he or she couldn’t in good conscience do so. Then, too, the author may forget, or get behind on deadlines, or be swamped. It’s okay to write and ask the author about the blurb when you’re getting close to when you MUST have it or the publisher will pull your book from the print lineup, but… be prepared for it all to go pear-shaped, just in case.

If the author provides the blurb after the book is published, if an e-book with print occurring later, it can be added. If it’s already a done deal up there on Amazon and available at all fine book outlets, the blurb can be used for marketing purposes. If the author doesn’t provide it at all, just don’t talk about it.

If you talk about it, you run the risk of creating resentment in the famous author, or in the hearts of the famous authors’ friends or fans. You really don’t want to do that. If you talk about it, it will appear on the Internet. If it appears on the Internet, everyone will know. They will wonder why Famous Author hated your book. They will wonder why you’re lying about Famous Author. They will not, most likely, consider that your book is brilliant but that something happened that caused Famous Author to renege on his or her friendly agreement with you.

If you’re gracious, if you forget it, if you get the opportunity to be friendly with Famous Author again, you’re very likely going to improve your chances of becoming Famous Author yourself. Most Famous Authors are also people, really likeable people, and often very professional people. They’ll talk about you, and that, if you’re gracious and polite and write well, is a very good thing.

And that’s pretty much it. Let me know how the blurb went. I’m sure I’d love to read it.