Editor's note: there are a lot of advantages to publishing your book online: faster, lower costs, do not need anyone's permission, higher price, you keep more of the profits, you can market it yourself, you can take advantage of affiliate marketing to make sales.

From Viral Marketing To World Wide Rave

by Kevin D. Rolle

I think you would have had to been living under a rock to not be familiar with, (or to at least have heard) about the concept of viral marketing.

With those mega product launches online by the likes of Mike Filsaime (Butterfly Marketing), and Jeff Walker (Product Launch Formula), and Frank Kern (Mass Control), they all had elements of what appears to be a vital component of successful marketing online these days.

I've even tried my hand at such a promotional strategy when launching a membership site. But not nearly on such a grand scale, and it never caught on to what I would describe as a 'World Wide Rave'. If it had, I'd probably have been on CNN being interviewed by Larry King by now.

But just what is a World Wide Rave? And how do you make one happen for your product or service promotion?

Well, apparently David Meerman Scott knows the answer, as his new book of the same title "World Wide Rave" went live earlier this year. In an interview at www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3912.html he describes it as...

"A World Wide Rave is when masses of people around the world can’t stop talking about you, your company, and your products. Whether you’re located in San Francisco, Dubai, or Reykjavík, it’s when global communities eagerly link to your stuff on the Web. It’s when online buzz drives buyers to your virtual doorstep. And it’s when tons of fans visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there."

Now doesn't THAT sound like something we all want as internet marketers? Tell us more Mr. Scott...

"I became fascinated with how and why ideas spread online. And the more I studied what made things spreadable, the more I ran across the sleazy aspects of “viral marketing.” So I wanted to write a book that helps anybody create something that people WANT to share. A World Wide Rave is when people are talking about your company because they want to, not because they were coerced or tricked by “viral marketing.”

Viral campaigns developed by most ad agencies involve buying access to audiences in the same old ways, such as purchasing an email list to spam or launching a micro-site that hosts a print- or TV-style ad. Worse, some of the dodgiest agencies set up fake viral campaigns where people who are employed or in some way compensated by the agency create reviews, videos or blog posts purported to be from a customer. For example, several publicists reportedly have written gushing (and anonymous) reviews on The Internet Movie Database.

Going viral via a World Wide Rave is more authentic—and therefore vastly more effective--than going viral via gimmicks, silly contests and dishonest trickery."

Interesting.

So there is a dark and light side to this viral marketing thing. But what really made this article stand out to me, and also made it a necessity for me to share it with you guys is the following example they gave.....

"I love the story of how Lisa Genova used social media to turn a self-published book into a NY Times bestseller. She was rejected by the big publishers and ended up self-publishing and promoting via her blogs. She built a huge World Wide Rave. And she sold the rights to her book for over a half million dollars. When the new version of her book “Still Alice” came out, the first three weeks it was a NY Times bestseller."

Fantastic, isn't it.

I mean as someone getting ready to promote several books he's written, the idea of having to go through the traditional publishing route made my flesh crawl. But with such information and the power of the internet, those days are long gone. No longer are aspiring artists and writers doomed to the have their works dumped in the trash by some publishing house because THEY didn't see the potential. Or they thought it was too risky.

Simply place the book in front of the people, and let them make up their own minds. I love it.

By the way, if you want to read the rest of the article, the link is at the top.

Special note:- The link that I placed in this article is not an affiliate link. Which means that I don't make any money recommending this book to you. I did so because I felt that it contains such valuable insights to your success online, that I had to let you know about it.

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Mr. Kevin D. Rolle is the owner of the blog Site Traffic Overload Blog at www.sitetrafficoverload.com/blog, and the site Maintaining Money Momentum
www.maintainingmoneymomentum.com where you can get a free excerpt from his book, "Maintaining Money Momentum".