Comments on: Beware the Social Media Kool-Aid

By: glecharles

glecharles — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:16:47 +0000

Thanks for stopping by, John! Keep up the good work.

By: John Wall

John Wall — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:52:36 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, we will continue to work as a kool-aide antidote!

By: glecharles

glecharles — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:16:47 +0000

Thanks for stopping by, John! Keep up the good work.

By: John Wall

John Wall — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:52:36 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, we will continue to work as a kool-aide antidote!

By: glecharles

glecharles — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:45:33 +0000

Whether it's publishers, authors or booksellers, connecting with a community is critical to their long-term success. Publishers especially need to break away from the notion that they're in the book business and instead, as Tor's Pablo Defendi noted at BEA, become idea advocates.

Imprints need to be about more than ego-mania, representing something clear and distinct, and the authors they publish need to accept equal responsibility for developing their platform by becoming valued contributors to the communities they're seeking to represent. Similarly, indie booksellers need to stop acting like they're entitled to their communities' business and add value to the book-buying experience, a la Amazon's virtual community engagement features.

By: Ann Kingman

Ann Kingman — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:03:25 +0000

Great post! I've been a fan of Marketing Over Coffee for a long time, and look forward to checking out some of the other people you mention that are new to me. In book publishing, which tends to be behind the curve in consumer marketing in many ways, there is an increased danger of looking for quick results because traditional methods are not providing the returns that they once did. Patience is key, as @chrispenn suggests, and that will only pay off if publishers avoid the “campaign” approach — short term bursts of social media attempting to go “viral” on a single book. Rather, I think the approach should be to listen to consumers, build relationships among readers and influencers, and work to connect authors with readers.