In order to leverage your authorship into a ton of free publicity, here are a few tips and tricks that can help you succeed faster, smarter and won't break your bank. Remember, you are in it for the long haul, and your book should mainly be thought of as a tool to enhance and further your business, and to help give you more credibility as an expert in your chosen field. Okay, here we go:

1) Get a Business Card with Your Book Cover on It

You can get these made up very inexpensively, such as through Vistaprint. Use them as book marks. Give them out to friends, colleagues, potential contacts. Leave them at the bagel store, and post them on the bulletin board at your local library. Be sure to have your website/contact info on the back as well. You never know who's going to check it out!

2. Get a website with your book's URL

Hopefully most of you will have done this. But here's the difference between successful authors and those that just sell a few books: get a contact form and offer your visitors an ethical bribe such as, "Sign up for Sally's weekly newsletter, and instantly have access to download the first chapter of her book, for FREE!" 

?Or offer them a top 10 list, or eReport. You get the idea. The main thing is to start capturing the email addresses of your adoring fans whom you can then keep in touch with and market to as you grow as an author.

3. Work on an "Elevator Pitch"

The media is busy, and they will know within 10-15 seconds weather they want to hear more or not. Having an elevator pitch that is short, succinct and to the point is an invaluable tool for pitching the media. Here are the three steps in a nutshell:

a) Your name, the name of your book, and if you can, make up a cute little name for yourself like so:

Hi, I'm Sally Shields, "The In-Law Expert" and I've written a book called, "The Daughter-in-Law Rules!"

b) then, tell them what your vision is, like so:

My vision is to create more harmony among mothers and daughters in law by teaching brides and wives the art of making friends with their husband's mother.

c) Finally, tell them what problem you can solve for them, or what information you can reveal, like this:

I will reveal the top 3 things that every wife can do to create a lifetime of peace with their husband, and the OTHER woman in his life-his MOM!

4. Make sure to be signed up for HARO and look for opportunities to provide your expertise

There is nothing more powerful out there today for us authors and experts than joining HARO. National media outlets such as Fox News and Woman's Day are all searching for that perfect expert to quote in their next segment or bi-line. Go there and get a free account today!

5. Prepare short 300-500 word articles, and submit them to EzineArticles.

This is a fantastic way to get your name out there on the web. An account is free. Using keywords is invaluable, but most important is the title of the article itself. Media outlets all over the web will be sending out spiders looking for content and you never know where your article might be re-posted. Make sure to sign all your articles with your name, website and contact info.

6. Go to Google and sign up for a Google Alert

Make sure to put in all the keywords that pertain to your book and expertise. You will get daily alerts on stories that are being written and talked about. Then, you can be prepared to pitch the media and let them know you are the go-to person and perhaps they will use you as a source. Begin to develop a media contact database.

7. Get a BLOG for FREE!

It doesn't have to be pretty, but go to blogger.com and set up an account, for free. Folks, if I can do it you can too! But if it seems complicated, grab your 10 year old kid and they can help you :-) 

?The great thing about blogs is that the keywords that you use at the bottom of each post act like an internet magnet. Anyone that googles a certain word or idea or concept that you indicate in your keyword search bar, has a very good chance of having your blog come up in the search engine. Blog alot. Blog often.

8. Set up a Facebook FanPage and make sure to have a Twitter Account

Many of you are already doing this. If you haven't, it's a good time to start. Twitter is great because you can share information that you think is cool. It's not about tooting your own horn, but rather about sharing information and being a valuable source. The more you give and share, the more followers and the more traffic you'll attract to your website. Make sure you have a good catchy profile and pic and if you can get an application for twitter on your cell phone, you'll have a lot of fun.

9. Prepare letters/emails and shoot to get at least 5-10 testimonials

... from either celebrities, or other authors that you respect and admire. If you do want to go for a celebrity endorsement, you can get a 7 day trial for $1 at whorepresents.com where you will find contact info for almost any celebrity you can think of. The secrets is to prepare 3-5 quotes in advance, and send them either the book or a chapter. Make it very easy for them to put their name to something you've already written. One trick is, if you are supporting a charity for example, try to find a celeb who also endorses the same non-profit by aligning yourself with their cause.

10. Create a media-ready release with a goal of getting on 5 radio shows in the next 60 days

You'll need a great hook (a timely topic is the quickest way to get publicity), some statistics, and 3-5 message points that you can talk about on the air that will help the listeners solve a problem, and keep the audience entertained. This would also be a great time to consider getting media trained, which is an invaluable investment in yourself and well-worth the money.