Book Marketing Toolbox - Dropbox

Welcome to the Book Marketing Toolbox, a new feature on the Savvy Book Marketing Blog. Each week I'll be sharing resources and tools to help you publish and promote your books.

One of my favorite new tools is a file storage and sharing service called Dropbox. This service stores your computer files "in the cloud" (on their servers) so that they are accessible from anywhere.

How I'm Using Dropbox

• I saved some of my current projects, like books that I'm working on, to Dropbox so that I can work on them from either my desktop and laptop computer. No more emailing files to myself so I can work on multiple computers! (Hint: make sure you have closed the file on one computer before you modify it from another location, or you will end up with multiple versions.)

• I set up a "shared" folder for my virtual assistant and for each of my clients so that we can work on projects together without emailing documents back and forth and ending up with multiple versions.

• I also placed a PDF copy of each of my books on Dropbox so that I can access them from anywhere if I'm traveling and I need to email a book to someone.

• This service can also be used as an extra backup for your most important files. Make a copy of a file and save it to the Dropbox folder for storage on their servers.

To use this handy tool, just install the free Dropbox software on each computer that you want to use it on. Drag and drop files into the Dropbox folder that’s automatically created on your computer. (This moves the files to the Dropbox folder – if you want to keep a copy on your own hard drive, make a backup copy with a different name.)

Files placed in the Dropbox folder are accessible from any other computer or device that you’ve installed Dropbox on, or by logging onto the DropBox.com website from anywhere. Whatever changes you make to a file are saved and immediately accessible from anywhere else you use Dropbox.

Dropbox offers a hefty 2 GB of storage space for free, or you can upgrade to a paid account to get more space.

 

Comments

[Dee for D.I. Telbat]

Hi Dana,
Thank you for this intro to this fantastic tool! It will be a great back up and access tool when on trips. Your step-by-step instructions are very helpful. I look forward to using it soon!
Have a great day,
Dee

[Alessa Adamo]

Hi Dana,
I've been using Dropbox for over a year and it has been a real life saver. One quibble with your post. The files in the Dropbox folder in your computer are already on your hard drive. Dropbox simply copies them to their servers. I don't think there is a need to make a duplicate backup file on your computer.
Thanks,
Alessa

[Dana Lynn Smith]

Thanks Alessa for clarify the issue of whether the files are actually on your hard drive. I have discovered that my backup system is backing up my Dropbox files, so that actually gives me two backups - one to my regular backup and one on the Dropbox server.