1. Understand your vertical world on the web, and participate in it.
2. Blog. And build a following for your blog.
3. If you have finished book material, and it is not already in the hands of a capable agent managing the process of selling it to publishers, self-publish it in ebook form at least and promote it the best you can.
4. Join PublishersMarketplace for at least one month and use the deal database to find the agents that handle material like yours. Reach out to those agents and listen carefully to their feedback.
5. If you have a book with an ISBN, self-published or not, take advantage of your free web site at Filedby.com to promote yourself. (I am a proud co-Founder and shareholder of Filedby.)
6. Google yourself and find and fix your presence anywhere on the web where you can influence it, particularly bookish sites like GoodReads, Red Room, Shelfari, LibraryThing, and, of course, BN.com and Amazon.
7. When you talk to agents, try to discern how aware and conversant they are of ways an author can promote his or her own career. Can they coach you on using social networking and blog touring and your own posts to promote yourself? If they can’t, they might be a great 20th century agent and not right for you in 2009.
8. Link, link, link.
In Vorbereitung auf seinen Vortrag bei der Writers Digest Conference im September in New York beantwortet Mike Shatzkin die Frage: What advice do you give a writer?
Auch Adam Westbrook befasst sich mit der Frage und gibt Journalisten sechs Tipps, wie sie sich im Web präsentieren sollen, um sich als eigene Marke zu positionieren:
1) Own your name
2) Define your niche
3) Have a good great website and blog
4) Have a fresh CV and showreel
5) Keep your networks consistent
6) Get business cards
