The first and most important tool you will need is a web site. If you have a published novel, this is a MUST! Go to NameSecure.com, GoDaddy.com or any other domain registry service and register a domain name. For authors, you should select your name or pen name. Choose .com or .ca over other domain extensions. Next, you need a host, a place to store your web site. You can purchase web-hosting packages from a variety of sources, or you can use free web spaces that may come with existing internet accounts. If you use a free space, then you will definitely need to buy a domain name. With NameSecure.com, you can then forward the domain name to the free web space. It keeps things looking professional. You’ll have www.yoursitename.com versus a clunky looking http://members.shaw.ca/yoursitename.

Once you have a web site, then comes the job of submitting it to search engines. There are a variety of tools and downloads that will assist you in submitting your site, such as Web CEO, or you can submit manually. I recommend that you submit once every three months in the beginning, to make sure you get listed. Don’t do this too often or SE's may consider it Spam. To submit manually, go to a search engine’s site and look for "Add URL" or "Submit your site" on their home page. Keep in mind that it can take months before your site shows up, and then most likely it will be many pages in. To increase ranking, make sure you swap links with other authors or add yours to sites that pertain to writing. Add a Resources page with links you've researched, links that other authors will find valuable. Get a Google AdSense account and place their ads at the top of your web pages. Remember, content is key on any web site!

One of the best ways to establish a web presence is by writing Press Releases. A press release is a news article or announcement, usually averaging 400 words, that should be sent out two and a half weeks to one month prior to any event as it takes time for the release to be picked up by other media sources. Press releases can be written by professional companies or by the writer themselves, and you can send one out weekly. Releases should be sent to local media sources (fax them to TV, radio, newspapers and magazines), and to PR feeds online. I highly recommend 24-7PressRelease.com. This is the company I use almost exclusively. Their rates are affordable, they have a more personal approach and they are extremely generous in cases of emergency. 24-7PressRelease.com has even sponsored some of my projects over the years. With their high attention to customer satisfaction and great customer service, they are the crème de la crème of online PR services. There are also a number of free press release services that you can submit your news release to. Press-World.com, Free-Press-Release.com, TheOpenPress.com and more. Your releases will get picked up by hundreds of RSS feeds and distributed internationally.

You will also want to find places you can advertise your books. I highly recommend that you apply for a membership at BookAdz.com. The rates are very affordable and you can promote your books through BookAdz without having to give up a percentage of sales. Sales can be directed to any outlet, your publisher or yourself. With a GoldAdz membership you can advertise an unlimited amount of book titles. You can also advertise through AuthorsDen.com and many more membership sites.