Since recently leaving broadcast news, and immersing myself in the emerging world of “social media”, I believe I have discovered a more powerful and effective way for authors to promote their books to readers who are passionately interested in what those authors have to offer.

The concept is simple. I conduct podcast interviews with authors, and then place links for those interviews in targeted interest groups in the various social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Lets say for example, you are an author of a book on “Green Living”. Because that is one subject area in which I specialize, I have already established memberships and a positive reputation in dozens of “Green Living” groups across multiple social networking sites, with memberships of more than 600,000 people who are passionately interested in “Green Living”.

So, once I produce your podcast interview, and then post links to that interview in the various groups with a “Green Living” focus, group members are motivated to click on those links to listen to the interview because they are supremely interested in the topic. And because I’m a professional and experienced broadcast journalist, the interview is conducted in such a way as to make it news-worthy, compelling and entertaining. The interview is not “hard-sell” and that is extremely important when posting in social networking environments.

I compare this new strategy of book promotion to traditional “media tours” and “satellite media tours” that many authors are still employing, for which they are paying big bucks. While these approaches can still be effective, I like to think the “social media book tour” is more effective for a number of reasons, including lower cost, and the interview can be done from the comfort of your own home.

By using podcasts and social networks, you can reach thousands of targeted prospects who really care about your subject.

Contact me at anchorreporter (at) yahoo.com