Today’s article is a by a special guest,  Athena Dean, founder of WinePress Publishing and three-time self-published author.

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The Who, What, Where, and Why of Christian Book Promotion & Marketing
By Athena Dean

So, do you think every Christian needs to read your book? If you do, let us stop for a moment and get real. If you think your book is going to end up in WalMart, on Oprah, and on the NY Times Bestseller List…really, I hate to rain on your parade, but you really are setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment. It will help from the start to have realistic expectations and recognize clearly who your real market is. You must ask your self these defining questions…who, what and where? Then you must prove the why.

This post is from John Kremer’s blog, author 1001 Ways to Market Your Books (a gem every author should own!) I thought it was such a simple, but brilliant idea… Hmm… gets you thinking doesn’t it? What could we put in the Penny Saver or other free magazines in our hometowns?

Think there is no such thing as a free book listing? Think again! For absolutely no fee of any kind self-publishers may display their book’s cover, a blurb and a link to their own website.

Mark Landsberg, founder of http://www.selfpublishersplace.com , says, “Book lovers deal directly with authors cutting out the expensive middlemen. We have a unique sales plan and work tirelessly to help authors promote their books. Our international forum is open to all. Whether you are a writer or a reader please check out our new site and let us know what you think. We value your input.”

Social Bookmarking and Article Promotion with Onlywire: The Only Social Bookmarking Tool You Need
By Robert Watson, published Jul 07, 2007, Reprinted from Associated Content

AC writers need to promote their articles, and one of the most popular ways to do that is with social bookmarking tools. You might not get a good deal of pageviews directly from these tools, but you will boost the pagerank of your articles, as almost every decent social bookmarking site has a pagerank of at least 5 (some are as high as 8 or 10).

You undoubtedly have seen many article submission and press release sites on the web, however, no good service, free or otherwise will succeed unless it is seen by users to be beneficial to them as well. Before posting your press release or publicity article to free posting sites, you should review the sites to make sure that they meet the following criteria:

1. Will your submitted article or press release translate into a quick sale, or at least a look at your book?