Given that, unless you’re a major bestseller, your publisher’s marketing efforts are liable to be rather limited, most authors today need to have a pretty keen sense of how to get the word out without a budget or institutional support. Viral marketing essentially means making it as easy as possible for people to tell their friends, colleagues, and loved ones about how great your product is; on the web, it’s meant to use forums, email lists, social media sties, and other outlets to help foster a “buzz” around your product.

Most writers already know the value of word of mouth — the all-knowing independent bookstore owner who has a knack for putting the right book into your hands, the fan who sings the praises of their favorite authors high and low, the recommendation of a friend who just knows you’re going to love the book she just read. If you scan your own shelves, there are probably dozens of books you heard about through people you trusted and bought on their recommendation.

That’s viral marketing. The Internet gives us an opportunity to magnify that effect ten-fold, a hundred-fold, or even more. But it can be a dangerous prospect; done poorly, viral marketing comes off as sleazy self-promotion. Check out Viral Marketing Unleashed for some ideas about how to avoid that.

By the way, this post, and Wordpreneur’s offer, are great examples of viral marketing. I trust Wordpreneur, which makes me likely to trust the site’s recommendations. Then I turn around and recommend it (and Wordpreneur) to you. And you tell a friend, and they tell a friend, and…