How to use this Page

Seth Godin has some reservations about HarperCollins new Author Assist program that allows their authors to build their own websites through HC, and thinks he should use his new “people-powered who’s who of the web” (aka Squidwho) to build author sites (or fan sites for your favorite author).

Anyone used (or plan to use) either of these programs?

What are your thoughts?



P.S. This interruption of radio silence will hopefully continue if a.) I can get my computer to stay on longer than ten minutes when I'm trying to do something of any importance on it; b.) I can get a new computer; or c.) I give up on my vow to avoid blogging at work (which is technically being bent and mangled even as I type.

Let’s face it, blogging takes time out of your day that you could spend writing your next manuscript. For some it is a stressor as they try to think up something witty to write about, and for others it’s a nagging task required by the publisher and the apathy that the writer feels comes through in the content.

We’ve all seen it, and some of you have even been in that position, so allow me to say something that might sound radical and totally contradictory to what I’ve previously stated here on Bookseller Chick:

You don’t have to blog.

You don’t have to do it daily.

You don’t have to do it weekly.

You don’t have to blog at all, at least not in the same way everyone else is doing it.

I’m a big fan of author blogging mostly because I’m a big fan of blogging software* that makes it possible for even the more techno-phobic author to update their fans without waiting for their webmaster to update their site. By importing blogging software into the website design or incorporating it under the news link, the author can control how the blogging software is perceived.

Instead of using it as a place to record what you feel you have to, you can use it to update readers about book news, post excerpts and answer reader questions. By enabling RSS feed, your readers can keep up on your updates without having to consistently visit your site.

If you decide to blog, I’m a big fan (but not exactly a practitioner) of the idea that your blog have sort of mission or plan: What do you plan to use this space (to cover book news, life news, writing advice, all of the above)? What do you not want to cover in this space (politics, religion, fights with friends and family, or the current state of your bathroom)? How often do you plan to update?

If you’re a planner this can help make the whole blogging experience less stressful as well as help outline what to post next. If you created your blog specifically to help promote your book as well as to let your readers know who else to check out, then write about books you like, who influences your writing, what little quirks you notice in your writing process, and your research. Think about interviewing other authors (you can use the same general set of questions if you want), or guest blogging at other sites (while never forgetting to link from your own).

Your blog is a marketing tool to sell your book to readers and to sell yourself as an author. That doesn’t mean that it has to be so blatant that “buy my book” appears in each post. Buyers are savvy people and they don’t like to feel like they’re being played. Give them something for their time and energy. Don’t be afraid to let them read excerpts before the book is released.

Do a quick survey of author blogs that you like, or blogs by authors whose books you buy, and see what they are doing. What works and what doesn’t? What could you borrow, bend, or meld into something you can use at your own blog?

Whether or not you blog, you do need a web presence to help direct your readers to where they can buy your books, and inform new readers who you are and what you right.

A good website is key, a great blog is just a bonus.

*I don’t mean just Blogger when I talk about blogging software; Livejournal, Wordpress, Typepad and others provide a great opportunity for an author looking to update quickly.

Kevin Radthorne emailed me the other day to suggest we discuss the topic of blogging, specifically whether or not blogging authors out there have developed readers through their blogs. In his email he asked:

“for authors, are they able to see any measurable sales results from having started blogging? I ask this because blogging is the hot topic of the moment, and everybody's jumping on that bandwagon. However, most of the authors I've talked to about it primarily cite the connections to other authors' blogs. That, to me, does not seem to be their target audience, which should be readers. I don't get much sense that readers are spending a lot of time at writer's blogs.”

To me this topic covers a lot of different sub-topics that relate to why an author should even have a website and some sort of forum (be it a blog or a message board or a newsletter) to discuss their work and writing process at all. As this is something I want to discuss in depth, I’ll open up the discussion to your first and work from our comments.

How many of you—as authors—have noticed measurable sales results from your blog? Do you believe that this information is quantifiable (so you see hits through your Amazon link, etc)?

How many of you—as readers—have bought books by authors you have discovered through their blogs? What made you decide to pick up their book?

Given that the onus is on authors these days to do as much promotion as they can, and that most blog programs provide a free format that allows for easy updates without waiting for your webmaster do it for you, have you found blogging to be a worthwhile experience in the promotion of your books?

I want to get as many opinions on this as possible, so please ask your author friends and neighbors. The results of marketing and publicity, and the impact they actually have on book sales, can be hard to quantify especially in the online realm. While reader (and author) testimonials can’t stand for facts, they can highlight why people read blogs and what drives them to buy.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

You might already be enjoying the information gathering capabilities of Google Analytics, but if you’re not, let me give you a heads up.

Google Analytics (from this point on to be referred to as GA), like many other site tracking programs, allows you to track visitors to your website. The free service also tracks where your visitors come from, how they arrived (referral or direct), and what keywords they may have used to visit your site. You can compare data and track trends as well as integrate Analytics with any AdWords you may have purchased from Google to see how they drive traffic to your site.

You can also waste a lot of time playing with the map function and figuring out where your readers come from. I, for example, have a group of lovely readers from Australia who visit the site regularly (It takes all my willpower to refrain from a wince-worthy “G’day” at this moment), the number of which remained unknown to me until I installed GA on my site.

I know I sound like a commercial, but I’ve had GA on Bookseller Chick for several weeks now and the data I’ve collected is very interesting. The free Bravenet counter you can see at the bottom of the links in the right hand column is something I’ve had since a few months after I started Bookseller Chick, and it only tells me the last ten people to visit, providing very little information beyond that point. GA allows me to see what keywords people have used to visit, how many people are return visitors and how long visitors stay on my site. Andrew Beierle’s guest column has a number of incoming links that continues to bring in traffic and I’ve received many visitors using the keywords “Stephanie Gayle” and “My Summer of Southern Discomfort” (more so than people searching for the keywords “Bookseller Chick”). I can even track how many people have linked to “Online Publicity Kits: Do You Have One?” or have stopped by to visit it. (By the way, if you’re one of those people and you haven’t gone back and read La Gringa’s additional recommendations in the comments, then you should.)

What does this tell me? It lets me know where you are coming from and why. It makes me think that maybe I should invite Stephanie and Andrew back for another round of guest blogging as they seem to be popular.

Finally I can judge interest in different topics without relying on whether or not people comment or ask questions (although please don’t see that as a reason to not comment or ask questions because a girl could always use a little more guidance).

Over the next few weeks I want to focus on ways that you as an established author (or one who has yet to be published) can drive traffic to your site and increase your authority in the eyes of the Google algorithm. Google Analytics and other information gathering programs can help you track this information and see if it is actually affecting your audience’s size.

If you have an alternate program that you like better than GA that is also cost effective (free is very, very nice), let me know and I’ll add the link here along with a description of how to install and what it does. With GA all I had to have was a gmail account and know how to drop a line of code into the Blogger template.

As a promoter of your books, it is important to know what your audience is interested in. Do they keep coming to your site looking for a family tree of your characters that you don’t have? Maybe you should build one. Did you see an increase in traffic due to an interview at website X? Maybe you should make a note to visit them again when the next book is ready to drop.

Knowing your audience allows you to focus your book advertising and marketing that much more. Using an information tracking program like GA allows you to decode the mystery of that process.

First things first, for the person who came to this site with the search phrase “i want to read tales of the otori for free” I have an answer for you, it’s called the library. You can find the Tales of the Otori series and many other fine, fabulous books for absolutely no money down…unless you have library fines. That I can’t help you with.

Secondly, I want this book, however I will probably have to follow the library advice I gave above for currently the funds are lacking. Ms. Kate Rothwell, add this one to your suggestions list.

Now on to the real business. On the “Online Publicity Kits: Do You Have One?” column Lynda Hilburn asked, “I have a question about the press kit. Everything you talked about is on my website, but I don't have a specific button called "press kit." Is it enough that all my materials are accessible?”

You do not need a specific button called press kit, no. Your site is laid out in such a way that if you wanted to create a downloadable PDF file on your bio page you could, but it is not necessary. Instead you should have all this information saved on your computer in a Word or PDF document that you can copy (the text and the hotlinks) into an email or just attach the document along with the pictures to your email. Save the jpegs for when you know you will be hosted on the other site so as to avoid getting sent directly to the trash folder. If you wanted your trailer included in a guest column or interview, you would send that link along with anything else you thought the writer might need. Given that most bloggers I know don’t reside in basements, but actually work full time jobs as well as blog, anything you can provide to make their job easier the better. So keep a file on hand on your desk top just in case.

Lynda’s question and my own column got me thinking about the role of Press Releases/Publicity Statements on the internet. For me they often seem to lose their impact when all I get from a subject line is “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.” That’s good to know, but what is for immediate release? Why should I care?

The impact of the title line is lost because I’m not even tempted to open the email.

Of course, I’m an odd duck, so I want to hear your opinion. Have any of you received emailed Press Release/Publicity Statements that worked? How’d they do it? Have any of you written one that has received a good response?

As always, interested in what you have to say.

The speakers at the Denver Publishing Institute ranged over a wide variety of topics from copy-editing to magazine publishing to college publishing to marketing and more(all of which I hope to touch on in the next few weeks), but today I’m going to focus on the world of publicity. Our faculty member for this presentation was Scott Manning (of Scott Manning & Associates) who gave a wonderful presentation complete with examples of publicity work he’s done in the past.*

While Scott had a lot to say on the state of publicity**—the who you know aspect, the importance of targeting your audience, and using the combination of new media and old to find success for your book—I’m going to focus on something that occurred to me during his presentation: getting inside the head of journalists.

What he meant was, to get your book covered by the press you need to give the reporters everything they could possibly need. How does your book relate to news they are covering or what is going on today? How is it relevant? What do you need to provide for a story to be spun from the platform your book provides?

Once you know these answers, you build your publicity statement and kit accordingly.

I’m not telling you anything that you haven’t heard before. Obviously this is easier to do for nonfiction since not many fiction authors can claim to be an expert in the field of study they write about or one that can get them on the news, but that does not mean that you can’t take the concept and apply it to your own book.

Specifically I want to apply it to how you represent yourself and your book online.

Why online? The future of a successful will become more and more dependent on the successful mix of New and Old Media. With the shrinking of review sections, etc, New Media (the internet) allows the author and publicist to find other forums to better target their audience, and enough coverage can gain Old Media attention. In the reverse, massive Old Media attention often triggers New Media’s interest.

New and Old Media work on different schedules though. A successful Old Media campaign means having all reviews and mentions of the book coincide with the release date. If the review or interview drops too early, the people who go into the store and are told your book is not out yet will be just as likely to forget about it as they are to try again, something every publisher wishes to avoid.

Unlike with Old Media, you do not want to hold off until publication day to get people online talking about your book. A well-placed Amazon link means that a reader can easily add it to their wish list or pre-order the title. An early review can generate buzz with each person who comments mentioning how much they want this book, or how they’ve already pre-ordered (and you want this, you want this bad. Readers like reassurance they are spending their money on something they will love, and they get this by seeing others excited about the upcoming release).

Also, to successfully manipulate the Google algorithm you and your book need to have created some sort of backlog of information. You need to have a website that is coded correctly so that it comes up on the first page. You need to start getting your name out there pre-publication.

Which brings me to why you need an online publicity kit.

(Eventually I do get to my point.)

Say you see a call go up for guest bloggers here on Bookseller Chick. Knowing that I’m interested on the changes in the publishing industry, the bookseller/author relationship, the writing process, and the world of your book (and how you came up with it), you would ideally email me with something on one of these topics. Since we’re working in an ideal world here, let’s assume that I got back to you immediately with a date and time for column publication.

Excellent, but what do you want to go with your column? What does this blogger know about you?

I mean, we would all like to assume (me included) that I’m going to have enough time to do my homework on your background to come up with some sort of intro, but the truth is that I often get these posts ready in the morning when I don’t have a ton of time to go searching for links and definitive information.

Enter your online publicity kit.

When you send back your column you should also include:

• An author’s bio

• A (small) jpeg of your cover

• An author photo if you want one included

• A link to your website

• Links to any other places you’ll be doing interviews/columns (as well as dates if you are doing a virtual tour)

• Links to any reviews you may have received

• Links to your book on Amazon, B&N, Borders, Powells or any other place you want your readers to shop

• Jpegs of past book covers if you want those included

Seems like a lot, doesn’t it? Kinda feels like you are doing all the work for this other person (me), but the truth is that this is the only way you can guarantee that everything you want is included and shows up correctly. I automatically default to Amazon when I’m linking books, but maybe you would rather have people shop at Powells or your local Independent. I don’t always have the time to pull together all the information I want to on an author, and I don’t have any idea what you are doing or writing next.

You should also keep all this stuff fresh on your site. Doing an interview or guest blog does no good if you don’t link to it in a place where people can find it. Receiving an excellent online review means nothing if it gets mentioned once and disappears into the archives of your blog. These things need to be easy for your readers to find. With most newspapers making their articles accessible online, this gives you a chance to place New and Old Media side by side. People can read your book’s review in the LA Times online as well as check out what different readers had to say. People can check out articles and op-ed pieces you’ve written, and then check out your online interviews and opinion pieces.

The internet (and your standing on Technorati, Ice Rocket, and all the search engines) is based on how many people link back to you, so you need to get out there and you need to do it early. You need to become the online authority on you and your book so that when little ol’ me comes along, totally in love with your last novel and wanting to interview you (or ask you to write a column), I have all the information I need available directly from your site.

Questions? Thoughts?

I realize that I’ve rambled on, and I’m willing to focus in on any one point and expand if asked (or follow you off on an unrelated tangent).

Tell me what you think.

*(Scott gets double points because past publicity work meant getting Mark Bowden on the Colbert Report, and that meant we got to watch a clip.)

**For those of you who might be unclear on the subject, publicity differs from marketing in that it is the act of getting something for “nothing.” “Nothing” gets quotations marks because really what you are trading on connects and information instead of money, unlike with marketing where you are spending funds on tchochkes and advertising and co-op space.

In case you haven't heard, graphic novels are somewhat popular.

This past weekend, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the top grossing movie at the box office. 300, another movie based on a "comic book" has held that spot for some previous weeks. My recent sojourn at the local high school saw a steady and heavy circulation of graphic novels. A few years ago when I started adding them to my elementary library, the selection was more limited but publishers are finally understanding the demand and bringing elementary school friendly talent to the market.



Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matt Holm - Sublime, divine! Brilliant writing, visual humor and it is PINK! If you do not have this series in your collection add it now. The books are available in library bindings. This series has achieved "classic" status and is a "gotta have it."

Babymouse website

----------------



Mail Order Ninja by Joshua Elder, vol. 1-2, 2006
This elementary-friendly series has humor and the manga look which kids love.

Timothy James McAllister is the victim of school bullies. Felicity Dominique Huffington, the Versacci/Armaani clad rich girl at L. Frank Baum Elementary rules the social order until Timothy wins "exclusive exploitation rights" to legendary ninja Yoshida Jiro for one year. Now protected from school thugs and popular because of his ninja body guard, Timothy wins the election for student body president. Volume 1 ends with Felicity vowing revenge and acquiring the services of a ninja of her own, Jiro's deadly enemy, Hakuryuu Nobunaga.

In volume 2, Felicity takes over the school and the town when Nobunaga defeats and captures Jiro. Promoting herself to Queen, Felicity is a typical evil overlord who controls the adults through Mind Controlling Nutrient Paste breakfast cereal. Unlike the previous book, where Timmy's success is totally due to his ninja protector, this time the kids and citizens of Cherry Creek have to save themselves.

The storyline and Erich Owen's artwork should make this a hit with kids. The story is well drawn and Owen's design showcases the action. Jiro and Nobunaga's back story is revealed through flashbacks and a "newpaper article" included at the end of Book 1. I think graphic novels support readers who do not see the "movie" in their imagination as they read. These books do that wonderfully.

Elder's sense of humor will resonate with all ages. I like his use of music and alternative lyrics: "Everybody loves Ninja Fighting" (to the tune "Kung Fu Fighting") and Jiro's turn as John Travolta in "Ninja Guy" (to the tune of Stayin' Alive) at the school dance.

There are literary devices aplenty, (in case your library must justify a graphic novel collection.) Onomatopoeia clangs, whams, ka-chings and booms. Literary and visual allusions abound. Street signs at one intersection read "Orwell" and "Huxley" while banners with Queen Felicity's picture proclaim "Big Sister is Watching You!"

Mail Order Ninja website

Also reviewed at Big A little a

----------------



The Adventures of Commander Zack Proton series by Brian Anderson
The Adventures of Commander Zack Proton and the Red Giant, 2006
The Adventures of Commander Zack Proton and the Warlords of Nibblecheese, 2006

Hand Zack Proton to your Captain Underpants kids, please, your readers need to find these books!

In book 1, Zack Proton finds himself adrift in space when he opens the wrong door while looking for the restroom. Omega Chimp rescues him and they go on to battle the red giant, Big Large. Book 2 begins when the pair respond to a Class two-B distress signal which means a school bus of second graders is in danger. They rescue a group of captured teachers, defeat some warlording mice and get a parking ticket for leaving their spaceship in a no-floating zone.

Anderson's writing is fast paced and full of humor. Effie(FE-203), the malfunctioning droid sings "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true" and Zack remembers an incident at the Klaatu Memorial Test Facility. Mouse warriors are led by General Algernon who bears a striking resemblance to The Brain and threatens to "cut off their tails with a carving knife"

I really like Doug Holgate's book design as it moves the reader between traditional text and comic book format. The story is also interspersed with helpful tips for young space heroes, a quiz "Is that really your teacher? Don't Be Too Sure" and a maze, shades of Highlights magazine. Along with the allusions and onomatopoeia, there are alliterations and metaphors ("You are space toast!")

This is entirely light hearted and entertaining reading. To become better readers, kids need to practice reading and Zack Proton will keep the text flowing under their eyes.

Commander Zack Proton website

----------------



City of Light, City of Dark by, Avi, illustrated by Brian Floca 1993

I read this book several years ago but was unable to purchase it for my collection because it was out of print. I see Scholastic has now reprinted the title.

Avi and Floca were ahead of their time when they created this story as a graphic novel in 1993. Carlos and Sarah and a magic subway token have until winter solistice to save NY City from a deep freeze. Much of the dialog is English and Spanish.

I have some more elementary titles to review but I think I will post these quickly in case I have another "blogger" moment.