Add/Edit Your Email Signature

Add your book title to your email signature, with a link through to your product page on ucpress.edu. Your book will be promoted with every email you send.

Create a Blog or Website

Creating a blog or website is a time-intensive undertaking, so please make sure that you have the time and resources to dedicate to creating a good website or blog. Interested in starting a website or blog? Please read our Author Website/Blog Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to get started.

Start a Twitter Account

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you connect directly with your readers in 140 characters or less. An account is easy to set up and a great way to promote your book and your research. You can check out our UC Press Twitter feed for an example of how Twitter works.

Trying to figure out how to get started? Check out Mashable's Twitter Guidebook

Encourage Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com Reviews

Ask anyone you know who has read and enjoyed your book to write a review on amazon.com and/or barnesandnoble.com. These reviews do not need to be long. The more reviews, the better.

To add a review to amazon.com:
Search on a book title
Scroll way down the page to "Customer Reviews"
Click "Create your own review"
Sign in or create a new amazon.com account

You will then be asked:

• To confirm that you are over 13 years old
• To rate the item—you'll choose from 1 to 5 stars
• To provide a title for your post
• To write your review

Click "Preview your review"
You will then be asked either to set up a pen name or to certify that you are using your real name in the review (you only have to do this for your first review)
Click "Publish your review"

To add a review to barnesandnoble.com:
Search on a book title
In the "Overview" tab, click on the button "Write a review"
You must then either sign in or create an account

You will then be asked:

• To rate the item overall—you'll choose from 1 to 5 stars
• To rate the item's details (characters, plot, writing style, etc.)—you'll choose from 1 to 5 stars
• To write a headline for your review
• To write your review
• To recommend related titles
• To choose between using a pen name or posting anonymously

Click "Preview"
Click "Submit"

Join Online Affiliate Programs

If you have a website or blog, we encourage you to sign up for an online affiliate program. Your affiliate partner will send you the tools you need to put a book link on your website and will then manage the e-commerce function, track the sales, pack and ship the books, and send you a small commission for directing a customer to the affiliate's website.

We are currently working on setting up an online affiliate program for UC Press. Until we have our affiliate program up and running, you may consider one of the following:

Amazon Associates

affiliate-program.amazon.com/

Barnes and Noble

www.barnesandnoble.com/affiliate

Powell's Books

www.powells.com/partners/partners.html

Online Video and Podcasts

We aren't suggesting that you spend a lot of time or money trying to do your own videos or podcasts. But if you are asked to do a video or podcast, jump at the chance! Once your video or podcast is online, please let us know so that we can link to it from your ucpress.edu product page and promote it on our blog. If you can get the actual podcast or video file, we can add it to the UC Press podcast/video channels. Contact your publicist or askpublicity@ucpress.edu with video or audio links or files.

Post on our UC Press Blog

Posting on our UC Press Blog is a great way to get information out about the publication of your book. Interested? Read our UC Press Blog Submission Guidelines.

Reach Out to Online Communities

One of the most effective ways to promote your book online is through online communities centered on your subject or area of expertise—including blogs, websites, newsgroups, listserves, and email lists. There are three steps to successfully promoting your book through online communities:

1. Find the appropriate communities
You are already an expert on your subject. Most likely, you are also aware of successful online communities in your field. If not, here are some ways to find popular online communities:

1. Google Groups: groups.google.com
2. Yahoo Groups: groups.yahoo.com
3. Technorati: technorati.com
4. Digg: digg.com

2. Research the top blogs, websites, and newsgroups in your subject area
Once you have a list of relevant online communities, do a bit of research. You don't want to invest time in a community that has only 10 users or that is not of genuine interest to you. Explore the online community and look for the following:

1. Has the site been recently updated?
2. Does it appear that there are a number of users involved in the community? Look for recent comments to blog posts and the number of users in a newsgroup.
3. Do a Google search. Does the site come up on the first page of results?
4. Check out the overall design of the site. Is it professional? Does it make you WANT to participate?

3. Get involved in the community
Resist the urge to join a community just to promote your book. If you log on, put up a link to your book, and then disappear, you will have done a big disservice to the promotion of your book.
Once you have narrowed down the online communities that you would like to join, get involved by:

1. Reading and understanding the rules and regulations of the community
2. Sharing your expertise by responding to emails, blog posts, etc.
3. Keeping your responses short and to the point
4. Getting in touch with the owner/moderator of the site or newsgroup and asking if the person would be interested in reviewing your book. If so, please let us know (contact your publicist or askpublicity@ucpress.edu) so that we can send a review copy

Request and Distribute Your Book Flyer

Our Direct Marketing Department can create a 4-color flyer of your book and send a PDF of it to you by email. Request this flyer through your publicist or at askpublicity@ucpress.edu. It will have all your book information as well as a link to your book's product page on ucpress.edu. We can also include an incentive (such as 20% off on ucpress.edu) to encourage online book sales. Unfortunately, our budget and staff restrictions do not allow us to print or mail these flyers for you, but you can print and distribute the flyer yourself and send it to your email contacts. This is a great way to increase your online book sales.

Start a Facebook Account

Facebook is a social networking website that allows you to reach out to a large number of contacts in minutes. Currently, the fastest-growing group of Facebook users is in the 35-57 age demographic. You'll be surprised how many people find you when you open an account. You can also create a fan or group page specifically for your book. Find UC Press on Facebook.