Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing

Greetings, Earthlings,

Wordbot here, and today I’m visiting AuthorTreeHouse, the book marketing company blog upgrade by AuthorTree. For those of you newcomers who haven’t updated your data logs or RSS feeds, here’s some input about AuthorTree, an organization designed specifically to help authors promote their publications.

Got AuthorTree?
Growing from a conceptual seed for the past three year, AuthorTree has become an innovative marketing tool for authors of all walks. Now, with AuthorTree, you can register at no cost and build your free author Web site, where you can upload images, post relevant publishing blogs, showcase interesting reviews about your book, announce your upcoming signing or reading events and maximize your search engine optimization (SEO) by populating your site with thematic keywords.

Got AuthorTreeHouse?
AuthorTreeHouse is the skyward hangout for authors who have questions or general curiosities about online book marketing as well as the traditional methods of promoting titles. Employing a team of publicity professionals, including an elderly owl name Professor Willard Wisely and a skeptical woodpecker named Doubting Thomas, AuthorTreeHouse has answers for devoted authors and readers alike.

In addition to the upcoming articles on topics ranging from search engine optimization (SEO) to book trailers to syndicated radio interviews, their marketing bloggers manage a marketing forum called AuthorNest, where anyone can post questions about book promotion strategies and techniques. They also manage “spolight contests” for authors to showcase their AuthorTree Web sites. Plus, every week, on the AuthorTreeHouse tree trunk (the blog sidebar), the bloggers post basic marketing tips about blogging, images, social networking, hyperlinks, book reviews, placing advertisements, all which can be employed on any author’s free AuthorTree Web page.

But that’s not all. Every month, you can submit marketing resources of your own, which AuthorTreeHouse will link from the trunk. You can also enter your personal AuthorTree author site in the spotlight competition, which can earn you a presence on the blog for more than a month.

What is AuthorTreeHouse, really?
Being a robot and an artificial life form, my central processor skipped a few beats as I climbed the ladder leading to AuthorTreeHouse, where I assumed the promotion gurus and native marketing birds would shun me immediately.Instead, however, I was welcomed with hearty handshakes and smiles. Professor Willard Wisely (an elderly owl) even took me under his wing and ushered me to the dining nook, where Doubting Thomas (a skeptical woodpecker) quickly brought me a cup of coffee.

Not long after a riveting tale about the lightning that brought about my spontaneous arrival at Wordclay, this robot and his two new bird friends were joined by ASI’s Tasheena Moore and none other than Wordclay’s blogger Justin Dimos, who, turns out, is moonlighting as a marketing voice at AuthorTreeHouse. After a couple of anecdotes about Author Solutions, the air cleared, and the AuthorTreeHouse gang started discussing the purpose of their emerging blog.

“It’s fairly straightforward,” Justin began. “We’re just trying to make the book publishing and promotional process easier on writers. We’re here, researching social networks, uncovering writing blogs, logging book review sites for authors to tap when they’re ready for the next step. We needed a place where everyone could view this marketing info easily, without reservation. Hence, AuthorTreeHouse was born. It seemed natural, especially for me. Now, I can discuss publishing at Wordclay’s blog, and book marketing trends at AuthorTreeHouse.”

Soon, Tasheena joined in the conversation. “We powwowed about the blog layout, the marketing forum and the author spotlight competitions for what seemed like months before we could all agree on a single vision for the site. Thomas, really, was the hardest to convince.”

The woodpecker Doubting Thomas, whose arms were crossed and whose narrow-eyed expression suggested a suspicion of everything, raised a finger when his name was mentioned and started, “Of course I was skeptical. Anyone with half a brain is distrustful of companies that are offering free marketing advice and promotion tools. I didn’t want everyone to think AuthorTree and AuthorTreeHouse were trying to pull a fast one on new authors. Of course we want to spread the word about what we believe are great publishing opportunities like Wordclay and AuthorTree, but we also want to create a resourceful community of book marketing minds, one that you can actually trust. So sue me if I wanted to figure out the best way to make sure nobody gets the shaft.”

“He’s right,” Professor Wisely chimed, getting the last intellectual word. “Thomas made sure all our ducks were in a row, and the blog is the better because of him. Truth is we weren’t sure that we could pull this kind of Internet feat off, but it looks like we finally have. Now, all we need are new authors and emerging writers who are curious about what happens after publishing a manuscript. So we encourage the frequenters of the Wordclay blog to stop over at AuthorTreeHouse, check out the AuthorNest forum, post marketing questions, however offbeat, and submit your free author Web site from AuthorTree to our Spotlight competition. Like all great things, it’ll take some time to bring authors to our marketing haven, but we’re a patient bunch, and spreading the word about poignant books and interesting titles is at the heart of our mission.”

Eventually, the conversation turned away from business, and we all laughed about a birdbath Thomas once shared with a famous penguin before I took my leave, batteries low. But overall, this robot for one was quite impressed with AuthorTreeHouse, its resources, contests and marketing bloggers. My processor began shooting sparks of what humans call “excitement” as I read the spotlight competition guidelines posted to the tree trunk.

Remember, though, I’m just one robot who loves books, so set aside 15 minutes, visit AuthorTreeHouse, and see for yourself.

Wordbot upload complete. Transmission ended.