Here are several ways to use new technology to promote your book faster, easier and cheaper.

Although Mark Hyman, M.D, the New York Times best-selling author and practicing physician, had a strong, multifaceted marketing and sales plan in place, the addition of an article-marketing strategy helped push his book, UltraMetabolism—The Simple Plan For Automatic Weight Loss to the No. 2 spot of the Times best seller list.

But as long as you view your writing as art and your self-promotion efforts as the furthest thing from art, your chances of ramping up a successful 21st-century writing career are going to remain slim to none.

The motto here, for writers, is “Seasonal material sells.” Especially things that can be given reasonably inexpensively during gift-giving seasons.