Ever since my new novel was released, I’ve been researching marketing/promotion ideas.  One of the newest tools is the social media release (SMR) which has transformed the 100-year-old text-centric press release for the Web era.  What I’m talking about is converting a press release into a blog post, with all of the relevant functionality: an ability to add multimedia, to aggregate external conversations, to host a dialogue with consumers in an appropriate forum (i.e., your own site vs. a newswire site), and to boost search engine visibility. 

Done well, the SMR (in a social media newsroom) allows authors to significantly augment (or even bypass) the hidebound and limited promotional practices of their publishers. In addition to being the author of your book, you become the host of a conversation about your work.  Quite an interesting concept.  Take a look at this sample.

 http://www.shiftcomm.com/Web20Releases/5232006.html.)

For authors with limited technology skills (like me), there are resources that can help create and distribute these media relations tools cost-effectively.

Check out  Pitchengine.com or PRXBuilder.com