If you are a publisher, see
BookPromoInfo. This page is for what authors need to know.
JavaRanch/
CodeRanch book promotions are different than your average book promo. We do the usual and advertise the book/promotion to all our readers and our many visitors via Google of course. The big difference is that we've learned that people are more likely to buy a book or recommend it to a co-worker if they have interacted with the author. Our promotions focus one of our forums on your book for a week. We ask you to spend 30 minutes a day in the forum answering questions about the book/topic. It doesn't have to be consecutive time. Our timeline:
At least a week before your promotion
Register for an account at coderanch.com if you don't already have one. (If you had one in the past and don't remember the information or aren't sure if you have one, feel free to ask us.[listMake at least one post. You can either do so in a technical forum or in the
introductions forum (ex: hi, i'm looking forward to my promo coming up). Note that if the author is an active user, any post within the last three months is sufficient[/list]
Optional: Under "my profile", expand general info and enter a signature to advertise the book and provide a link to more information/Amazon/your publisher's site, etc. For example [http://www.....]My Book[/url]] . You are welcome to link to your blog/website as well. The book is important so people see the link every time you post.Email a link to your post to bookpromotion at javaranch dot com or your publisher contact.We will grant you a special author tag and confirm your promo.
Monday evening/Tuesday morning (United States time)
We will send out the promo materials, including starting a "Welcome" thread in the forum for the promotion. There will also be a header up top directing people to your forum. (If your book spans multiple topics and you would like to know which forum it will be in before the promo starts, see BookPromotionsSchedule.
Each day from Tuesday through Friday
Post at least 30 minutes a day in that forum. It doesn't need to be consecutive time. Feel free to post during breaks from work/playing with the kids/etc. You will be answering questions/participating in discussions about the topic of your book.
Friday evening/Saturday
We will take down the promotion material.We will start a thread with the winner info and thank you for your participation.
