A to Z Challenge - Day 11: K is for Key Terrain!

I'm participating the this crazy challenge on 2 of my blogs. This one and Paranormal Lounge. The A to Z Challenge is a blogging event that takes place every April. The challenge is to write a post for each letter of the alphabet and post nearly every day during April, omitting Sundays.

My theme for this challenge is: Marketing is like war. I'm going to try to stick to that theme as much as possible, but I may have to deviate. K is for Key Terrain.

In the military, key terrain is an area of land which gives you the advantage. In marketing key terrain is something that will enable you to be discovered.

We touched on the subject lightly yesterday, but I want to go a little more in depth today about the importance of lists. Lists are very important to be on.

The more lists you are on, the more likely your book will be discovered. There are lists on Goodreads. Amazon has Listmania. Heck, if you can get on a best seller list, that rocks! Any list helps really.

Some bloggers like to publish their own lists either each month or each year or for a certain occasion. You must always be on the look out for ways to get on a list. Start your own lists too. If people see their books on your lists, they will be more likely to add yours to theirs.

Why are lists so important? Because people LOVE lists. They just love them. It's an easy way to scroll through books that already have a seal of approval from some one else. It saves time by putting a large quantity of titles in one place so the reader doesn't have to search amazon themselves.

Another way to gain key terrain, is to start your own blog event. Many bloggers who participate in blog events will put in a thank you to the host at the beginning or the end of the post. It's a good way to get your name out there and become an active member of your author community.

The next way to gain key terrain is to show off your own work. By putting your cover with a link to amazon on the side panels of your blog and website, you are making it easily accessible to anyone who visits. Key terrain is all about making sure you can easily be discovered by readers.

How would you gain key terrain?