So you’ve published a book! Congratulations! Now here’s something you may not have realized when you sat at your desk polishing your baby: when you’re an author, you really have two full-time jobs. One is to write and the other is to promote your work. This is true even if you’re traditionally published.
Part of effectively promoting your work is to keep track of everywhere you’re mentioned and to have a “media room” on your website listing all your media mentions so that anyone who is interested in you can readily access it. (Click here to see mine).
But how do you keep track? It used to be that you could create a Google News alert for your name and the title of your book(s) and you’d get a nifty email letting you know every time you were mentioned in the press. But for the last year or so, authors have been noticing some problems with that system. It’s harder to access Google alerts. Also, they seem to be less reliable. They don’t send out notices the way they used to.
Enter Mention. Mention is a web-based service that offers real-time media monitoring. Sign up for a free account and your first keyword (your name, I would suggest) is free. Additional plans start at $29 a month. As an additional feature, it also tracks social media mentions, which can be invaluable. Click here to check them out.
