Hello there lovely Permies people! I know a lot of you are authors, reviewers, entrepreneurs, and product-pushers, so I wanted to create a central
thread to show you how best to showcase your stuff here on Permies.
You can read more about the kind of stuff we like to see promoted
here.
We're all about you promoting your labor of love here, so long as it's something that pertains to our community's interests, so go crazy with it! To be the most successful with your product or book thread, here are a few tips to get you going:
- Break up text with media. It's all fine and good to talk about your product, but visuals can really help to sell folks on your idea. Book covers, diagrams, product photos - even goofy candids of you and your pride and joy - can really help to spice up a thread. See this thread on how to insert photos into your post.
- Make pertinent information easily accessible. Yep, another attention span related tip. For skimmers, make the information they want (at least at the end of your post) easily accessible - pricing, where to get your product, title, subject, etc.
Creating a Book Thread
We like to try to follow a specific format for book threads here at Permies, to make information easily accessible, and things fit in nicely over at
our book review grid. Here's what the typical layout looks like:
Cover Image
source of image (if needed)
Summary
Where to Get It
Related Websites
Related Threads
Related Podcasts
Related Videos
Photos from the Book
The stuff in red is required, the rest of it, it just kind of depends on your book - maybe you have more photos to share, maybe you know of some of Paul Wheaton's podcasts that are relevant to the material, but maybe you don't. If you don't have stuff to put in those sections, you can just leave them out.
To give you an idea of what these threads look like, here are a few good-lookin' examples:
Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway
The $50 and Up Underground House Book by Mike Oehler
Dairy Farming, the Beautiful Way - by Adam Klaus
Insert a Book Sample!
Have a sample of your book to share? You can totally embed that in your post. See this cool little button here at the top of your new post window?
Just click on that button, and insert your book's ISBN to embed a snippet of the book into your post. Pretty cool, huh?
Creating a Product Thread
Product threads don't really follow a particular format around here, but generally we stick to the tips above in terms of breaking up the information for potential customers. Make sure you include lots of photos to show off what you're selling, and make the link to buy very visible.
Here are a few examples of product threads:
Permaculture Playing Cards
Better Wood Heat: DIY Rocket Mass Heaters 4 DVD Set
Emergency Home Power DVD
If you're just getting started on Permies, and need to know how to set up an account, create a post, etc., this link will take you to a bunch of valuable threads that can help you get started.
If you're thinking to yourself,
By George, I'm a busy entrepreneur, I don't have time for this nonsense!, then we have a deal for you, my friend. Just cough up a little cash to get a carefully cultivated thread just for your products, and we'll give it all of the love and attention it needs to attract potential customers.
Click here to learn more about outsourcing this task to Permies.
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