Considering the current economic climate, it has never been a better time for publishers and authors to turn their focus to lower cost, high impact Internet marketing. Amazon Connect is one new vehicle for our Internet marketing efforts, which has great potential to drive sales.

Amazon Connect now makes it easier for publishers and authors to connect with consumers, while promoting their books and blogs. This free program allows publishers and authors to post messages directly to their readers. These messages appear on the consumer’s Amazon home page, on the author’s detailed book page, and profile page. Authors are also able to create their own profile page with personalized information. All you need is a blog that has the ability for people to subscribe to it through their RSS newsreader feed.

Authors and publishers are now more in control of the content on their books’ Amazon pages than ever before. There has never been a better time to start blogging!

Green book production is a vital next step in reversing global warming. We can all do our part at home recycling bottles and paper, but the next step is to get whole industries involved in being more eco-friendly. Eco-Libris is trying to do just that by getting the publishing industry to go green with their program to plant one tree for every book printed.

So far Eco-Libris has planted more than 60,000 trees. Eco-Libris offers publishers who partner with them more than the opportunity to do something good for the earth, but also a strategy for green book marketing. They provide “One tree planted for this book” stickers (printed on recycled paper) to use as promotional items, and assist with online marketing efforts by presenting your titles on their website and in online social networks. This could create buzz around your books targeting the green market.

The trees planted from this program are in high sustainable areas of Latin America and Africa, where the communities can benefit from them and deforestation is a critical problem. Take the lead in green book production, while gaining a marketing edge, and addressing readers concerns about the environment.