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is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date.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
It is a new world of book marketing out there, and it is brilliant to see how authors are embracing it!
Here is a little story of what happened to me this week that I thought I would share, so you can learn from it and also tips on what you can do to replicate this kind of connection success.
Last week I went to a fantastic business bookstore in Brisbane called McGills. I love to browse there in my lunch times at the day job. It gives me a break and I like to see what latest books are out.
A new book caught my eye, The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media
Now I have my International Kindle, I searched whilst still in the shop and found it was available in Kindle format. So I bought it right then and within minutes it was on my Kindle. I had lunch reading it in the Brisbane sunshine (review to come in a separate post).
Since I enjoy sharing these things, I went onto Twitter on my iPhone (Tweetie app) and tweeted:
“Just found a book I wanted in McGills bookshop. Found it $31 cheaper on my Kindle. Aussie retailers won't be able to match these prices.”
[A follower of mine @angee asked what I bought.]
“@angee Just bought Digital Handshake Paul Chaney. Re social media business. I'm reading around this topic currently!”
Within about 30 mins I got this tweet:
From @pchaney: “@thecreativepenn – Joanna, thank you for purchasing my book. Let me know what you think; so far, so good in terms of feedback.”
“@pchaney. very impressive! Connecting as per your book. Love it. Will be deserving of a blog post. I'll let you know thoughts. Thanks.”
From @pchaney: “@thecreativepenn – I watch mentions of my book & my name very closely ; will lk forward to see what you have to say. And thanks again.”
Paul further showed his interest by friending me on Facebook with a personal message, which I really appreciated.
How can you learn from this and action lessons learned now?
- If you are a US author/publisher, put your books and backlist onto the Kindle. Now it is international, there will soon be hundreds of thousands, if not millions new buyers. You can publish at dtp.amazon.com. If you are not in the US, keep an eye out for when Amazon opens up to international publishers. I had an email from them saying it was in progress. I would not have bought this book in print.
- Set up a Twitter Alert for your name, your book name or your company name (or all of them), plus any keywords you might be interested in. You'll get an email with where these are mentioned on Twitter.
- Set up a Google Alert for the same topics and you'll get another email.
- If someone mentions these topics, connect in some way. It might be an email response, or a tweet or a message on Facebook. Acknowledge the person and also say something personal. Paul used my name in the tweet above which showed it was not just some automated message.
- From the reader perspective, if you are enjoying a book, tweet/blog/Facebook about it and you might be surprised at the response you get from the author!
This is a perfect example of the kind of business model people are starting to move to. It revolves around trust, networks and connections rather than advertising. Authors have to be business people in order to sell books, so I will be blogging more about this in the next few weeks.
I will also be reviewing the following excellent books that I have been recently reading on a similar theme: Crush It!
In the course of reading these books and tweeting about them I have also had brief tweet conversations with @chrisbrogan and @equalman so these guys are living what they are preaching. More to come on these social media lessons!
Such good points, Joanna. I’m saving this for when my book comes out!
I just want to thank you for opening up the concept of world wide marketing for me. I had often thought that the book “Requiem for a Redneck” would go over really well in Australia. Now, you have told me how to get there. By the way, your blog is listed in my favorites as “magnificent blog” I find your writing interesting, informative, and to the point. Thanks again
john
Joanna,
Thank you for making me sound so smart! 🙂 I love connecting on a personal level with readers of the book. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I hope you enjoy reading it. And thank you for this post too. I echo Alexis in saying very good points.
Paul
Hi John, I think Requiem for a Redneck would go down extremely well here! I’m so glad you have got ideas for marketing it now!
Paul – fantastic example – thanks again!
Joanna,
Nice post, and a great story. Web 2.0 is all about connectivity but it must have been quite a surprise how fast we can now connect worldwide. It’s a new day for real.
It does make you wonder how long the McGill’s of the world will survive though.
Terrific post, Joanna. You clearly identified the reasons why social media is so invaluable to writers and authors. I’ve recommended your blog to my friends!
Hi Joel – I think the bookstores just need to reinvent themselves and be more community focussed. People buy more books when they feel connected!
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Thanks for your recommendation Doreen!
I don’t think that I was really talking as much about the marketing of the book as the logistics. I am a small self publisher and even though I produced the books cheaply enough by printing in quantity I don’t see how the shipping costs can be absorbed overseas. Lightning Source has a plant in England, but to get a book to Australia would be difficult. I would be happy for the McGill’s of the world to figure out how they could be a part of this. One of your earlier posts mentioned the Espresso printing outfit. Maybe that’s a viable option.
Joanna: Thanks for the great article. Keep up the great work – your wisdom and insight is making the world a better place. If you have any suggestions on how to improve my writing I’m all ears. Paul Chaney is great and he really practices what he preaches…as does Chris Brogan as you mention as well.
Best, Erik Qualman
Author of Socialnomics
You work hard, Joanna! Your diligence is appreciated. I read your stuff via RSS everyday. Keep it up. It matters. 🙂
You’re right, this is so important. I serialise my own short stories on my blog and always twitter/facebook share the links, and the spike in stats always amazes me, especially when people pass it on.
I can’t wait for the day when I have a happy reader giving me feedback 🙂 This development in new networking and technology is just brilliant – a great time to be a writer, non?