I am a big proponent of online marketing. While you may not see a glorious, adrenaline boost to sales, it goes a long way to branding yourself and your books or series of books.
There is a fantastic article about the bad side of online book promotions at Backspace. This author – who remained anonymous – had the same problems some other authors did when it comes to online promotions. It simply didn't work.
Book Marketing Buzz, however, offers an excellent counterpoint to this article.
My take: Online marketing is GREAT. It doesn't work for every author in every genre, but the majority do see an increase in hits at Amazon and their blogs and Web sites.
However, when you are building an audience, you are not going to hit it big with your first effort. That is a one-in-a-million shot that doesn't happen for everyone. Building a strong online presence not only brands yourself and your work, it also lays the groundwork to build a supportive, attentive fan base that buys your books, blogs about them and recommends to others. Ultimately, that leads to more sales.
Don't expect miracles with your online campaign. Be prepared to dig in for the long haul and reap the rewards further down the road.
Other articles on this topic at Market My Novel:
I'm not rich yet, but people seem to know who I am, so that's good.
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com