There are a number of ways you can use Google Alerts in your book promotion efforts.

One way is to use them to be alerted any time your name or the title of your book is mentioned on the Web.  Then you can follow up quickly when any promotional opportunities come up.

You can set up an alert by going to www.google.com/alerts.

You will have a few choices when setting it up. Here’s how it looks:

Search Terms: First, you will enter the search term of your choice.  You can set it up to alert you whenever your name appears or the title of your book or any other search term that you might want to be watching that will allow you to follow up on a specific topic.

Type: You will select one of the following:

Everything
News
Blogs
Updates
Video 
Discussions

I prefer “Everything,” but you may have a different preference based on the topic of your book and your target audience.

How Often: You will select one of the following:

As-it-happens
Once a day
Once a week

I prefer “Once a day,” so I can browse through all of the results within one email and follow up with any I choose all at the same time.

Email Length:  You will select up to 50 results or a smaller amount.  Again, just a personal preference depending on how many results you might to receive and how many you might want to follow-up with.

Then enter your email address and click to “Create Alert.”

Let the networking begin!
~ Kelly Schuknecht