Creating and Promoting Online

Let me start this by stating though this post references book promotion online, this information is relevant for most products.

Lately, Amy Gahran of Contentious.com, has shared links to some interesting podcasts (see my post called The Art of Giving it away on my UniqueThink blog).

Today, Amy mentioned this podcast from BlogTalkRadio:
Inside Out: Creating and Promoting Books With Social Media/Web 2.0

Nettie Hartsock and Sybil Stershic join Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing to talk about using social media to create and promote books.

It’s a good listen. And I agreed with many of the things these women shared, except they didn’t share all that much about social media tools. There was some talk, and I even found a site I was unfamiliar with, so it is worth listening for that, alone, but most of the conversation was about blogs, specifically. Which is fine, was good info and does qualify as Web 2.0, it’s just that the more appropriate title might have been Promoting Books with Blogs.

They did speak a lot about etiquette of blogging and approaching bloggers – which I feel is a very important subject. The one thing that I feel gets lost in translation many times is this:

Traditionally, we would send Press Releases to news outlets (magazines, newspapers…) and a critic would write up a review.

Personally, I believe even if that review is not good, the exposure opportunity is more than worth it!

As my great Aunt Joan (a model, actress in the 40s) use to put it, “I don’t care what they write, as long as they spell my name correctly.”

After all, there are some reviewers that are known to pan everything, but everyone reads them, anyway. People know they will get enough insights to make up their own mind about whether it would interest them or not.

The disconnect I often see now, is that authors don’t recognize the value when a blogger writes a review.

Remember: You are still getting the ‘exposure opportunity.’

There are two great things about blogs (well, more than two, but we have to limit somethings):

1. Blog posts aren’t thrown out with the trash as traditional print reviews tends to be – so your review can live forever online. Someone else may find it a year, two years, three years and four months from now.
2. Blogs aren’t one sided. If the readers disagree with the blogger, they can voice their opinion and continue the conversation. Also, as these ladies mention in this podcast, you (the author) can also post a comment.

Now, I would suggest being gracious, instead of defensive, if you are responding to a negative review, but the nice thing is you can respond to it if you choose:

• Thank the blogger for their time reading the book and writing the post, as they did invest time into it
• Feel free to correct something, if you feel it is helpful to do so and you can do it diplomatically
• Check back, afterwards, to see if the blogger (or another reader) responded and how, because they may have a follow up question for you

Another idea, that I believe Nettie (on the podcast) suggested was to email the blogger directly and ask for a 20 min phone conversation. Picking up the phone may help to clarify things better – then at the end, ask if they will post an addendum, or let them know you will be commenting on their original post.

Whatever you do, always be gracious and remember my Aunt Joan’s outlook: be glad anyone is talking about you in the first place.

On that note, how long should people be talking about you?

This podcast also discussed this question in the form of how long one has to promote their book.

Though I found their advice insightful, my professional view was probably formed as a child, by my great aunt, who would have loved the idea that the conversation about her art could go on indefinitely.

However, just to be clear, let’s talk about the limitations first: If you are talking about how long you have to convince the retailers to continue to stock your book in brick and mortar stores, or the period of time you have to convince the publisher to print another large run of your book, you only have a short window of time.

Though, with the long-tail opportunities, it is never too late to promote your book.

What do I mean by long-tail? Well, that is a much overused word these days, but part of the original theory (as I understand it), by Chris Anderson – Editor in Chief, Wired Magazine and author of the New York Times bestselling book “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More,” was that the demand for products beyond the traditional bookstore setting continues to increase revenue in a way it has never done before, due to the Internet.

For example, a few years ago, I worked with an author who had the old-school mentality that his LA Best Seller book was dead in the water after only 90-days. Even with the best seller tag, it was not selling enough for the retailers (with limited shelf space) to continue to stock it in large quantities. My advice to him 3 years ago was to think unique: to continue his tour virtually (with an online webinar or teleseminar), to use alternative speaking engagements (instead of book stores only, to speak at conferences and to find organizations relevant to his material), to find appropriate blogs and sites online who would talk about his book…

Unfortunately, he had a personal loss during the end of the tour and even canceled traditional book store dates. Yet, with his halting of promotional activities, I still find people talking about his book online, even 3 years later.

In the book The Long Tail, Chris talks about how a book that had completely fallen off the radar got a resurgence of interest. In the example he uses, the reason for the resurgence was because a similar book came out and was well received. People were so interested in finding more books on the subject that they started sharing info online about other great books and this older title became the most recommended.

In a sense, that author could ride on the tail or be proactive and reinvest in promoting his book, years after it was originally published.

Thanks to online book retailers and auction sites, who have unlimited shelf-space, people can now find any book, if they want to.

So, as long as there are copies of your book to be bought there is no limits to promoting it, if you choose. There is only a limit on how much time, money and/or energy you want to put into it (as opposed to a new book).

The nice thing about the Internet is that if you don’t have the budget, but do have the time and energy to focus on creative ways to get the word out, your efforts can continue on for years.

Check out the podcast that inspired this post – because I only tapped into part of their insights here – and then post a comment below. It can be about the one thing you thought was most important or the thing you disagreed with… either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts!