I started a forum for my wife (who is an avid reader), and we recently switched from being generally about books to concentrating on promoting new authors. They each get their own thread with info about themselves, a Q&A, reviews, links... good content and very personalized. We are also working on some more ideas. We have a MySpace with over 400 members, many of which are authors. She sends out bulletins and messages and tries to add as many readers as possible. She also submits reviews with a link to all the major book sites; and is active on other forums with signature links. I am working on the SEO part (which doesn't seem to be so easy with phpbb3). But I am struggling to come up with more ideas to get the word out. I was thinking about a press release, but don't know where to submit it. Any ideas and suggestions are very much appreciated.
Silly question, perhaps, but have you asked these 400 to tell others about your board? How many do you think have gone there to sign up? You should also consider putting in a short "send toa friend" form inbetween some of the posts in some of the threads, in addition to one next to the board itself. What is your board's url? Advertise on as many sites writers hang out at as you can. Type in the keywords to find such sites. Write articles and or quick "how to" quick tips and submit them to such sites. Put your board's url in it. Put an ad in the Arts and book section in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and smaller papers. Costly, but it may be worth it in the long run. Try to think of more places wanna-be writers like to go for more info. Go to online bookstores and send them an e-mail. I use to be on an online store where readers could send authors e-mail. I got a few here and there. I have long since quit that site, but it is worth a shot to find such stores. Here are a few more tips you might find helpful... http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=651670 Like all sites, I'm afraid the bottom line is if you want a lot of members, you are going to have to pry open your wallet and advertise. Advertising and word of mouth are really the only two ways to do it.
Well, in my case traffic is more important than members. I want to give the authors exposure, and active members are not vital to this goal. Yes, we are constantly asking everyone to spread the word. I guess we are on the right track, but just need to do more of what we are already doing. I know it takes time; and we will be persistent. Board's url is in the sig. Thank you for your help.
Look into paid advertizing on AbsoluteWrite.com. It's one of the biggest and most popular writing forums with a lot of newly published or soon-to-be published authors. The thing to remember with any advertizing but I think especially with print classified ads; you have to run them a while before seeing significant results because a large part of their efficacy is determined by familiarity - if someone just sees your ad once they're liable to forget it. If they see it every week they'll make a mental note and eventually remember to go check you out. Internet ads are a bit different since it's pretty easy to click on a banner or text link MY favorite way to get the word out is sticking a business card (or two or ten) up on the bulletin board at the local grocery stores, wherever I go. Find a list of literary agents or publicists and spam them (politely, of course) I think you have a great idea. Keep going with it.