Friday, March 14, 2008

Using Google Alerts to Track Book Coverage

Are you signed up to receive Google Alerts for your book’s title? It’s a great way to stay on top of where your book is mentioned and to see what kind of coverage you are getting on the internet.

For example, Playing with the Enemy author Gary Moore came across a mention of his book in Publishers Weekly here. He probably would not have come across this if not for Google Alerts. Moore constantly stays on top of where his book appears on the web so he can then post a “thank you” on the blogs of people who mention his book, find new reviews of his book posted on Amazon and forums, and find book blurbs and articles as well. It also comes in handy when trying to track sales patterns. If you see a spike on Amazon or sales on your book’s website, you might be able to trace it back to an article in a local newspaper or review on a popular book blog.

You can choose how often you want to receive updates (instantly, daily, etc.), change what phrases you include (the book’s main title, or the main title and the subtitle together), and monitor multiple titles.

Have a great weekend!

2 comments:

Foz the Hook said...

Great idea, Sarah. I signed up for alerts on Virtual Book Signing. We will see how it works.

Google Maps Street View said...

Thanks for sharing your great idea with us. We can also use Google map views as a great tool for marketing. Our customers can easily locate us if we use this idea for marketing.