Over the past few years, authors have felt increasing pressure to promote their works and brands online. This is especially true in the romance world, where wired readers have been quick to adopt e-books, and book discussion blogs have sprung up like wildflowers.

Reaching out to readers and making it easy for those readers to pass the message along has clear benefits, but online self-promotion can also be a big time sink, and many authors worry about the erosion of the line between the professional and the personal.

Teresa Medeiros spent a lot of time thinking about the pros and cons of using social media before writing Goodnight Tweetheart (Gallery, 2010), a Twitter-themed romance. She believes that connecting with readers online enhances her enjoyment of the creative life, but she cautions authors against its addictive qualities. “If you’re not careful, the Internet will gobble up your entire life,” she says. “I recently started making my mornings Internet-free and doing all of my writing on a laptop with no Internet connection. Let’s face it—online promotion of your books could easily become a full-time career if you’re not careful. But if you’re not writing regularly, then it won’t be long before there’s nothing to promote.”

Medeiros involves herself in social networking in an effort to drive traffic to her Web site and expand her e-mail list. “Our Web sites and our e-mail lists are the two things that we control,” she points out. “I’ve learned from numerous sources that e-mail marketing is still far more effective in driving book sales than social media. That’s why we all get those e-mail blasts from Amazon every morning.”

Jill Shalvis, author of the upcoming Time Out (Harlequin Blaze, Feb.), starting blogging to stave off the loneliness of novel writing. “I wanted to connect,” she says, “and people started showing up. I quickly realized that I had a fantastic marketing tool. So I spread it from my blog to Facebook and Twitter. People are out there talking about me, and that can’t hurt.” Shalvis is all too aware of the pitfalls of social networking, though: in her novel Simply Irresistible (Forever, 2010), the protagonists’ relationship becomes fodder for their small town’s Facebook page.

Michele Grant (Pretty Boy Problems, Dafina, Aug. 2012) takes a very personal approach with her award-winning Black ’n Bougie blog, created in 2010 as a platform to promote her first book. “I certainly don’t go out of my way to be controversial, but I do shoot straight with my opinions and ideals,” she says. “My thinking was that if people liked my writing on the blog; they would like my writing in books. Even if they don’t agree with my opinions on the blog, they can admire the way I state them. If that sparks someone to buy a book, then it’s a win.”

Like Grant, Victoria Dahl (Real Men Will, HQN, Nov.) is renowned for her very personal, very opinionated online presence. “When I first started, I tried to be ‘professional,’ but I’d get off topic,” she says. “I’d get a little inappropriate, then I’d try to get back on task. But you know what? People were more interested in conversations that had nothing to do with books or writing. And at some point, I stopped worrying about whether or not I was doing it right. I just started enjoying it. I started to be myself. I think that’s why people enjoy my Twitter feed.”

While Dahl cheerfully shares every detail of her life (sample tweet: “Last thing I did before trip? Cleaned toilets”), many authors are reluctant to get so personal. Fortunately, there are other ways to provide interesting, engaging content that keeps fans coming back. Gena Showalter (The Darkest Seduction, HQN, Feb.) occasionally offers exclusive digital fiction on her Web site and likes to preview book covers. She also runs contests and posts video trailers, chats, and interviews. “Because word of mouth is so key to sales, I like to host ‘help me promote my book’ contests,” she says. “Readers enter by discussing my books online (good or bad). It’s easy to do, so anyone can enter. Plus, the prize might interest someone who’s never before heard of me.”

Meljean Brook (Heart of Steel, Berkley, Nov.) also finds contests very useful in rewarding her readers and reaching new ones. “They work on multiple levels,” she says, “the first being exposure: building name recognition and getting a description of my book in front of readers who might not have otherwise heard of it. For those new readers who win a book and enjoy it, they usually talk about it to other readers, and so I’ll receive word-of-mouth promotion that goes beyond the contest. For my established readers, giving away books is one of the few ways that I can say thank you for being loyal; I wish I could give everyone free copies. Large-scale giveaways are the most effective. When I give away one or two copies at a time, I receive a little exposure and I think it’s a fun bonus for guest blogs, but when I give away 20 or 30 copies, I see many more entries from readers who haven’t tried my books yet—and that also means that 20 or 30 more copies are going out and building that word-of-mouth promotion.”

Lisa Kleypas and her publisher, St. Martin’s Press, are rewarding fans who boost her forthcoming Rainshadow Road (Feb.). Using Facebook, Twitter, and Kleypas’s Web site and e-newsletter, they encourage fans to join “Lisa’s Divas” and receive early excerpts and plenty of swag in return for spreading the word about the book. This level of publisher involvement is not available to many authors, but Kleypas points out, “New content is something that publishers are happy to promote, especially when it ties in to a series. For example, I wrote a free 10,000-word story called ‘A Hathaway Wedding,’ which St. Martin’s put on its Web site to help stir up interest in the Hathaway historical series.”

Those Who Can, Also Teach

Writers love to teach and readers love to learn, so it’s no surprise that some romance novelists’ sites have an educational bent. Historical novelists Loretta Chase (Scandal Wears Satin, Avon, July 2012) and Susan Holloway Scott (The Countess and the King, NAL, 2010) write the Two Nerdy History Girls blog, making breezy daily posts about historical garb, manor houses, love affairs, and historical men behaving badly. These posts, which Chase says are designed to “give readers insight into our writer personalities” can be read on the Web or delivered daily via e-mail—and those e-mails aren’t boring walls of text, but entertaining and informative daily missives full of photos and links.

Marjorie Liu (Within the Flames, Avon, Dec.) often uses Twitter to narrate her travels to Asia, giving her feed a travelogue quality that armchair travelers find very appealing. “I love talking about my experiences overseas!” she says. “I love traveling. It’s too easy to take our lives for granted, and when we journey to new places and experience different cultures, it shakes us up and forces us to see the world through new eyes. As a writer, there’s nothing more important. I have family in China, but even so, it’s a remarkable source of inspiration when I’m on deadline. I travel there to write.”

When Meljean Brook branched out from paranormal romance into steampunk romance with The Iron Duke (Berkley, 2010), she found herself educating fans of one subgenre about the other. Her long-running blog has become something of a steampunk 101 course, and she doesn’t mind at all. “I’m one of the first authors to be explicitly marketed by my publisher as writing steampunk romance rather than paranormal romance,” she explains, “and I encourage readers to look at the books that way. I think it’s important to be specific about genre, because romance readers are voracious, and after they’ve discovered something that they like, they will seek out similar works.”

While Brook introduced romance readers to steampunk, Gail Carriger, another avid user of Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads, and a prolific blogger, introduced steampunk readers to romance through her Parasol Protectorate series (the latest will be Timeless, Orbit, Feb.). When she wrote the series launch book, she kept the word count low, “knowing that if it sold to a romance house I would augment with more nookie and interpersonal relationships, and if it sold to the SF/F market I would add in more world-building and steampunk elements.” She takes every opportunity to share her enthusiasm for steampunk, including ending each post on her blog with Victorian-era images and historical research links labeled “your moment of parasol” and “your tisane of smart.”

Like many authors, Carriger began blogging well before she was published, but that didn’t stop her from preparing herself and her blog for a writing career. (In one of her first posts, she wrote, “Next Monday I start querying publishers on my lonesome. Time is running out. I have only given myself 2 years, and I’m already 7 months in!”) Erotic romance author Maya Banks (Sweet Addiction, Berkley, Apr. 2012), went one step further, forming a group blog of unpublished authors “to establish an online presence for the eventuality of my becoming published.” She explains, “So many authors wait until they get a contract and then rush to play catch up. I wanted readers to be invested in me and my success from the very onset. Many of my readers are those who followed me through the ups and downs of rejection and the attempt to become published. So by the time I did get that first contract, I already had a built-in audience that wanted to buy my books and wanted to see me succeed.” Larissa Ione (Lethal Rider, Grand Central, June 2012) took a similar approach when she started blogging in 2003, several years before being published. Her primary goal was “a Web presence so editors and agents could see that I was serious about writing.”

Joan Swan, who will debut in March with Fever (Brava), started blogging in 2007. After four years of low traffic, she began interviewing other authors and hosting giveaways of their books. As a result she is “more comfortable, happier, and far more successful in relationships with authors I would have never met otherwise,” and her blog’s traffic has increased by leaps and bounds.

Vicky Dreiling started out tweeting on a topic that seems entirely unrelated to romance novels: the TV show The Bachelor. Then she wrote How to Marry a Duke (Grand Central/Forever, Jan. 2011), in which Regency London’s most eligible bachelor must choose among 24 debutantes, eliminating unsuitable candidates one at a time. Sound familiar? It did to fans of the show, who snapped up the novel. “I didn’t go out of my way to promote my book while live-tweeting the show,” Dreiling says, “but my Twitter followers knew about it. I think the combined efforts of my publisher, my agent and agency, and my own social media presence definitely helped create awareness of my brand. All of my specific promotional campaigns flow from a single high-level goal of creating awareness.”

Julia Quinn (A Night Like This, Avon, June 2012) started her Web site in 1996, well before most authors knew anything about the Internet. “It has been absolutely critical to my online success,” she says. “It provides an informational hub for anyone who wants to find out more about me or my books. My aim is for a reader to be able to find the information she is looking for, but also to discover something else along the way.” In addition, Quinn is followed on Facebook by more than 60,000 readers who enjoy her weekly historical romance recommendations and appreciate that she responds to every reader post. Since she started using Facebook, she’s noticed “a sharp increase in attendance at book signings.”

Like Quinn, Brenda Jackson (Feeling the Heat, Kimani, Apr. 2012) maintains a Web site and Facebook page, and she also uses Twitter. For her, online promotions are part of a regular routine: “I start off each weekday sharing a ‘Thought of the Day’ with my Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Then around the 15th of each month I begin work on my monthly e-mail newsletter and usually have it ready to go out around the 20th of each month.”

H.P. Mallory is making a different sort of debut next year. When Witchful Thinking is published by Bantam in March, it will be her first print book from a major publisher, but Mallory has already sold more than 250,000 digital downloads of four low-priced self-published e-books. She says at least part of her success is due to her online promotion. “I’m very reachable to my fans on Facebook and I also push my e-mail distribution list, which allows me to send people an e-mail whenever I have new releases or contests,” she says. “Consequently, on the first day of my last release, I nearly hit the Amazon bestseller list and I hit B&N at position 13.” Mallory hastens to add, however: “Social media will only take you so far. In terms of separating myself from my competition, that’s really up to my books.”

Getting the Word Out

These quick tips for online self-promotion can help authors reach readers without burning out.

DO make sure all roads lead to a Web site or blog under your control. “One of the main goals of any promo is to drive readers to your Web site and coax them into joining your e-mail list.” —Teresa Medeiros

DON’T expect to control how your words are construed by readers. “Every time you speak or post on the Internet, you are essentially putting out your own press release.” —Vicky Dreiling

DO connect with readers as a reader. “One of my most popular Web site features is my Monday historical romance recommendation. My readers love this, especially because many readers who have already read the book in question will chime in and offer their opinions.” —Julia Quinn

DON’T overpromote yourself. “Shoving your book down people’s throats is a mistake. No one likes that. It won’t sell books.”—Jill Shalvis

DO schedule time online—and limit it. “The greatest pitfall is that an author can spend an equal or even greater amount of time promoting a book than actually writing a book. And writing a great book is still the ultimate promotional tool.” —Lisa Kleypas

DON’T take negative reviews personally or respond to them. “It’s definitely cringe-worthy when an author cannot accept criticism of their work, and even worse when they feel the need to strike back. It’s a battle you never win.”—Michele Grant

DO make it fun! “My tweeting philosophy is to have fun. I think that’s why people enjoy my Twitter feed. People are more interested in conversations that have nothing to do with books or writing.” —Victoria Dahl

The Mass Market E-book

The brave new world of e-books has created special challenges for publishers hoping to expand their audiences. Everyone wants to reach the growing number of digital book readers—but not at the risk of ignoring those who currently read only print.

In January, Berkley/NAL will launch an e-book imprint, InterMix, designed to complement its existing mass market lines by publishing both new authors and old favorites. “InterMix offers us an additional avenue for introducing great new writers to readers,” says Jodi Rosoff, Berkley/NAL’s associate director of publicity. “It also allows us to bring back popular books, authors, and publishing lines that haven’t previously been available in digital formats.” InterMix will premiere with e-book releases of 11 popular Nora Roberts titles, and fans of historical romance can look forward to a digital revival of the beloved Signet Regency line in February.

InterMix titles will have newly designed covers, and review copies will be available on NetGalley, Rosoff says. “Though there obviously won’t be in-store signings for InterMix titles, we’ll continue to connect with readers through LiveStream events, author Web sites and Facebook pages, and Berkley/NAL’s popular Project Paranormal Face-book community.”

In a creative spin intended to synergize e-books with traditional print, Avon’s Impulse and Harlequin’s Carina Press are both “digital-first” imprints, with titles that do well in e-book form seeing print release as well. “As print editions become available in traditional retail markets,” says Liate Stehlik, senior vice president and publisher at Avon, “we’ll work with retailers to create store placement strategies that build awareness of Impulse authors and titles.” Impulse titles are publicized with e-galleys and dedicated outreach to romance blogs and Web sites, with additional support from social media like Twitter and Facebook.

Carina Press has similar plans. “We know readers actively read both formats,” says Brent Lewis, executive vice president of digital and internet at Harlequin. “The nature of digital-first publishing, and publishing in more specific niches, means an opportunity for greater word-of-mouth promotion. Like-minded readers want to share their favorite books and authors with others.”

There’s a very real possibility that these publishers may find their digital and traditional imprints going head to head with each other for reader’s dollars. As the market loses major bricks-and-mortar retailers and others reduce physical shelf space, e-book sales are filling the void. The trick is to find ways that will allow e-books and print to complement each other rather than compete. “Digital-first publishing enables Avon to offer discoverability and growth for new authors and fresh, exciting voices as the market continues to evolve,” says Stehlik.

That evolution can take some surprising turns. Carina Press has quickly grown into a cozy home for a wide variety of romantic subgenres as well as steampunk, fantasy, science fiction, mysteries, and thrillers. Says Lewis, “That freedom allows us to enhance and expand the editorial content Harlequin has always provided to readers, instead of acting as competition with our more traditional mass market titles.”

To catch the eyes—and dollars—of digital and print readers, InterMix plans cross-promotion to publicize its digital versions of classic books through back ads, print ads, and social media platforms as well as Penguin’s “eSpecials” program. “eSpecials are short pieces of writing—everything from important updates for nonfiction works to unknown novellas by bestselling novelists,” says Rosoff. Typically, an eSpecial is published a month before the release of a full-length print novel from the same author, often in the same series. Fall 2011 romance eSpecials include “Spanish Lullaby” by Emma Wildes, as a tie-in to her new novel, Twice Fallen (Jan.) and “The Scargill Cove Case Files” by Jayne Anne Krentz, as a tie-in to the paperback release of In Too Deep (Jove, Jan.).

Between print ads and the ever-widening world of social media, it’s becoming easier to reach readers, no matter where they are or what format they’re reading. With so many different venues possible, publishers are working hard to stay flexible and take advantage of every opportunity. Lewis says the focus remains on “giving the reader what they want to read, whenever and wherever they want it.” —Charlene Brusso