What's Wrong with the Internet? It Must be Broken!

After months of scouring the internet, I could not put my hands on the 2 million links various search engines said were available to do my book promotions. First, let me say I perceive myself as an intermediate user of the internet, but maybe my perception was misguided as I searched and realized I couldn't put my pointer on the links I wanted.

The promotion of my book began with submitting a press release (PR) to one of the major PR services on the internet. They tracked how many click throughs received, and I began to think, if so many eyes are looking at the PR on this site and web crawlers (whatever those are?) are picking up the PR for other sites; what would limit me from submitting as many PRs as possible? This was not the only site that provided this wonderful FREE service and the more places I had the PR, the greater my chances of being picked up by "big" media.

My imagination began to go wild, conjuring up that lone journalist who was itching to break the story on the next bestseller. You chuckle! With this PR service, I placed the needle in the haystack but I could improve my chances if many needles were placed. A technique I learned from my days of online sweeping. What is that you ask? If allowed, the more you entered a particular sweepstakes the better your chances of winning as was one man's story where he would send out literally thousands of entries and had won valuable prizes. My odds with sweeping were not that stellar but I do have a few trinkets to show for limited efforts. Hopefully, with my quadrupled book promotion efforts I could have stellar results-dreaming again. Tip 1: There are auto-fill internet form software available and some even designate a few empty fields for your own personal use. A lifesaver when you have to input the PR summary line more than a few times. Tip 2: Don't input your social security number and credit card information because I have read of mistakes made because of the ease of auto-fill.

Okay, I have deviated.

So I proceed to use my internet service provider and searched for "submit press release" and was in heaven when it responded with 2 million sites to upload my PR. I would spend hours determining which sites were free; which maybe more receptive; and which needed me to tweak the PR. Then just as quickly, my dream was shattered. I couldn't go any further than 250 links, Why can't I see or go to the other sites? I contacted my internet service provider to complain and they "allegedly" helped me to fix the browser. That didn't work, so I moved on to the next major internet service provider, and again was limited to how many links I could access.

This time, I levied a stiff complaint about the violation of the freedom of information act, which I think only pertains to government (real smart). Why am I not allowed to access all 2 million-search results containing "submit press release"? It is only right that we have access to all the information on the internet, and not limited by how much or what we can see. Worst of all, we aren't able to refresh the search and to be presented with other links we have not viewed.

I assume, businesses with an internet presence would perceive themselves as having access to the world, where millions are able to view their products and or services, and as a result, their livelihoods would be better-meeting of the minds was just not taking place. And in this world of legalese, SPAM laws limit those who are promoting on meager budgets, and the few legal options we have of putting our product in the market place via the internet; where websites are actually telling us to submit information, our browsers (or internet service providers) are denying us access.

I continued checking the top search engines and kept encountering the same problems. What was most irritating about the search, besides the same links coming up, a few sites would fill several pages of the results with multiple categories. Do these websites have a monopoly on my already limited internet search? It was infuriating, the process was tedious, and now I was livid. Convinced my internet was broken, I was on a mission to fix it. I had another great idea, it was my browser (whatever that is?) that needed fixing and found a website that offered free software to do the job. I was nervous; I could be opening up myself to a can of worms, my husband would kill me for infecting HIS system. With all the scare of viruses and spy ware, I decided to only download what I thought were reputable software and ended up back at the number one software company. Based on their computer evaluation I already had the most updated browser. I was relieved, 1) I didn't have to download anything, and 2) the browser was working.

What was the fix?

I continued my search efforts, going down the list of internet service providers. Alas! I think it's working, I was flipping through pages, upon pages of links, so far I am at the 900th link to submit my PR, hoping my success continues. Though the search results were still littered by a few sites, at least, I was able to bypass them to go to obscure sites to submit the news about my book. The press release may have a huge appeal to that lone journalist working at "big" media, or maybe just one buyer willing to pay a few bucks for a great book. In this day and age, with the proliferation of information, I am happy to have any appeal at all.

Caren A. Adams, freelance writer and author of "Life 101 For the Young and Young at Heart!" ISBN 1-59457-835-4, $13.99 ($7.99 e-book) at bookstores, http://www.booksurge.com and http://www.amazon.com Freely give and freely you shall receive!

http://www.booksurge.com/product.php3?bookID=GPUB00869-00001

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Book Marketing Information:

Related Articles

8 Easy Online Ways to Market Your Book For Free
Marketing your book whether you went the POD, e-book, or traditional route can be a daunting process. Figuring out what works and what doesn't can take time, energy, and if you're not careful a lot of money.
Top Ten Ways to Promote Your Books Through Flyers
A flyer is an excellent, inexpensive way to promote your book. What makes one flyer so much better than another? Use these top10 tips to make your flyer stand out from the crowd.
Top Ten Ways To Prepare for Your Online Book Marketing Success
Still marketing your book through press releases, networking groups, and talks to groups? If these methods have taken a great deal of effort and time and brought you only a few clients or product sales, you may now be ready for your virtual marketing machine, the Internet! To get ready to market your book Online use these ten tips: 1. Buy an up-to-date computer with a 56k modem or more and Internet capability.
How to Send Press Releases to Newspapers About Your New Book
There are over ten thousand daily, weekly and monthly newspapers in the United States and Canada. For the first time author they are a valuable source of free publicity.
FAQs about Book Signings
Since I self-published my first book, "101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly," in 1998 and began doing book signings shortly afterward, many people have asked:1. What do you get paid to do a book signing?It depends on where the book signing occurs.
How to Sell Your E-book - (or other information product) - Through Quickie Seminars
I've been selling my own self-published information products (mainly e-books) online for the past 3 years. Is it profitable? Definitely.
Sell Your Book with Pennies
Imagine you share a huge penny jar with each of your potential readers. Every interaction with a reader either adds or subtracts pennies from the jar.
Ready, Set, Go Sell Your Book In The Real World!
We hear a lot these days about more books actually being sold 'outside' the traditional bookstore. Think about it.
How to Get Your Book Reviewed
Imagine your book at the top of the Best Sellers List of the New York Times. Most authors do.
Publicity for Buzz Marketing for Authors
Congratulations, you've written a book and even gotten it published! Now, all you have to do is get people to buy it.Getting people to actually enter a bookstore with the purposeof buying your book is not easy because you're not a "brandname" yet.
How To Promote A Book
Nowadays it's no longer a matter of whether or not an author should promote his or her book, but how aggressively one should go about it. The sad truth is that publishers often fail to promote books, and if we, the authors, don't promote your own book then it may be destined to a lifespan between that of butter and yogurt, to paraphrase Calvin Trillan.
Dont Sell your Book, Share It
Most authors who aren't used to speaking before a group think, "I'd rather get a root canal than have to 'sell' my book." If you think about how great your book is, how you wrote it because you wanted to help or entertain your audience, you can change this fear to the idea of sharing your book.
Best Sellers Aren't Written - They're Made - It's All About Promotion
Writing a book is becoming more and more of a trend these days. In fact, an estimated 5,000 mystery books were published last year in the United States alone, and that number is expected to grow.
Sell More Books With Your Sparkling Introduction
Why write an introduction? Nobody reads it anyway. Up until now, this opinion has had clout.
Buzz-Based Book Marketing
Once upon a time, people went to bookstores when they wanted to buy a book. Or at least, that was the theory.
19 Ways to Secure Non-Returnable Book Sales and Sell More Books
Surprisingly, book stores are not always your greatest source of book sales. Most authors and publishers do want their books to be available in all of the book stores, and rightly so.
Interview with Book and Marketing Coach-Judy Cullins - Part 1
To know what to do at the right time in book writing, publishing, or Internet marketing, consult a coaching expert who has lived it all for 20 years--Judy Cullins. Q 1- Would you say there is a difference in marketing tactics for different genres? If so, what kind of promotion would you suggest for, say, authors of children's books, mystery/romance, or non-fiction? If there is no discernible difference, what do you see as the best method of book promotion? A 1- The best promotion is a natural promotion--that authors will actually do.
Why Writers Dont Do a Book Signing
Whenever someone suggests you do a book signing and you do not want to, here are five reasons you can give them:1) It's not worth the time; there's not enough money in it.2) Speaking is where the money is.
Titles (and Subtitles) Sell Books!
Does a title really sell a book? The short answer is, yes. If a book does not attract a reader initially, it will be overlooked and not purchased.
Is There a Book Hiding Inside You?
Have you always wanted to write?Are there ideas churning in your mind waiting for just the right time to get them down on paper? Do you have a unique perspective on a subject or problem facing many people? Do you read a book or article and think, "I could write better than that?" Have you ever said "someday, when I have time, I am going to write a book?"Perhaps now is the moment for you to put your excuses in the garbage and your fingers on the keys. You will never 'find' time; you simply have to 'make' time to write.