OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
This is a great interview with Seth Godin, thought leader, marketing guru and prolific author.
It identifies some of the reasons why Publishing 2.0 is different to the old model. These are the ideas that you need to grasp in order to
- Authors care about ideas spreading, that is why most of them write. It is about sharing what you are passionate about, or creating new worlds for people to leap into. The internet is an idea sharing forum. Ideas leap between continents and brilliance catapults people to the top (or stupidity, or funny, or gross…whatever catches the imagination and gets passed on). What idea do you want to spread with your book?
- Free stuff is critical in the new model. The internet is full of free information and models of sharing knowledge that don't cost a thing. The internet audience doesn't care if you make money or not. The key attitude should be “what can I do for this market?”. If you serve your market, then they will be happy to pay for the information. You can use this model to build your audience. Give away your information for free, and the paradox is that people want more of it that way (Get your free workbook on writing your book here!).
- Digital books will not kill the writing business. It just changes the model. Digital music has meant that MORE music is made, not less. Digital books should mean the same thing. But the power moves to the producers of the product, not just the sellers.
One of the keys to digital publishing and selling on the internet is sorting out search engines and understanding how people can find you. Here is a video on Search Engine Optimisation for publishers.