Here's a round-up of the more intriguing or helpful articles I've been reading on author marketing, promotion, and publicity.

What Social Media Does Best (Chris Brogan)
Chris Brogan's blog is probably my favorite new read; he tackles questions of marketing/promotion in relation to social media in a fresh and useful way. This post helps give you a grounding of the principles.

Use LinkedIn to Promote (The Publicity Hound)
LinkedIn is a social networking tool for professionals that comes in handy for job searches and business opportunities. I'd never really considered it as a book promotion tool, but this post gives a vague idea of how it might work. (Unfortunately, rather than deliver the real goods, the post promotes a teleseminar on the topic.)

Tips on Working With Publicists (GalleyCat)
Here you'll find links to the latest advice on how authors can work effectively with their publishers' publicity departments (or lack thereof) or independent publicists. Invaluable. Read. Bookmark. Save.

Starting and Writing an Effective Blog
One of the most frequently asked questions at conferences is how to start and run a blog that really makes a noticeable difference to an aspiring or published author's career or visibility. Here are a variety of resources I've found that offer genuine tools:

• Blogging: How to Get Started (Sling Words). A step-by-step primer on the logistics. (What service do you choose, how do you set it up, etc.)
• A Sample Blogging Workflow (Chris Brogan). Shows you how to keep your blog populated consistently with good content without expending all your energy on it.
• 10 Secrets to Better Blogging (Chris Brogan). He must know what he's doing, because this is my third link to his site in this post.