S J Miller Communications

Book Promotion and Book Publicity for Authors and Publishers

Book publicity via Twitter

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By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com

Can Twitter be part of your book marketing and book publicity campaign? It can, according to what this book publicist has seen and what novelist Helen Clark has experience (see her excellent Huffington Post blog, “Making Twitter Work for Your Book“).

Twitter, like blogging, can connect authors with their target readership quickly, and can be instantly gratifying. Book marketing means making those connections, and using those connections to build your brand, and Twitter can be an important part of the platform that you use to sell your books and your expertise. In other words, yes, Twitter can be part of your book marketing and book publicity campaign.

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Social Networking for Book Publicity

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By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
bookpromotion@gmail.com

How is your social network shaping up? Have you begun to put all of your social networking accounts in order so they can help you build your author platform? Book promotion is more than just reaching out to the media. Book publicity also means connecting with readers through blogging, via the social networks that were built specifically for book lovers (such as GoodReads and Shelfari), and the basic social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, et al.) that also serve as highly effective SEO tools for authors. Is your book publicist ready to step in and take your social networking efforts to the next level? Or is your book publicist still doing all of the same things she was doing 20 years ago to the exclusion of tapping into the potential of social networking for book publicity?

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Book promotion campaigns include Twitter

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These days, most successful book promotion campaigns include social networking. Even those authors and publishers who don’t have legions of fans, followers, or online friends usually have relatives and former classmates who are willing to brag that someone they know and love has a new book out — and word can spread pretty quickly through cyberspace. It’s not exactly the viral marketing campaign that, say, turned us all onto Jib and Jab — but, in fact, letting your followers at Twitter and your friends at Facebook, and so forth, know about your current or upcoming work is just a smart, core component of a comprehensive book promotion campaign.

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Look who’s tweeting and blogging.

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So you think you don’t have time for online book promotion? According to Quill & Quire, Margaret Atwood does. In fact, Atwood may be one of the few novelists in North America who doesn’t have to worry about book promotion opportunities — and here she is, taking the time and making the effort to engage her readers online, anyway. Good for her.

If Margaret Atwood is tweeting and blogging, and you haven’t yet begun, then what are you waiting for? You need benefits of online book promotion more than she does!

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How to use Twitter for book promotion.

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Just came across an excellent article in Publishing Trends that talks about how publishers are using Twitter for book promotion — and to win friends, allies, fans, and potential readers down the road. Although the article doesn’t extend the advice to authors, it’s clear that authors should follow the same Twitter techniques that are working for publishers.

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Follow me, where I go….

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Didn’t a famous singer once ask us to follow him all around, to the Rocky Mountains and back, and so forth? Well, yes…but would we have followed John Denver on more than one social network? I’m not sure about that.

Scribd.com is putting us in the position of having to choose how much we admire authors and publishers, and other publishing professionals. According to a Wall Street Journal blog, Sribd.com has created a Twitter-like social network with tweeters (or whatever Scribd is calling them) and followers. Presumably, Scribd.com is enabling the sharing of digital books with a community of people who are interested in the same digital books.

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Is Twitter worth the trouble for book promotion campaigns?

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Is Twitter worth the time, energy, and aggravation if what you’re using it for is to expand your book promotion capabilities? This book publicist’s vote: I’m not sure, but I’m growing increasingly frustrated with Twitter.

When I logged onto Twitter this morning, I found about six new followers for my account. Among them were two purveyors of porn, one person who sells a teeth-whitening product, and another individual who sells wallpaper downloads. I suppose I didn’t have to “block” them, but I did (and blocking these critters wasn’t quick and easy, either — when Twitter gets cranking, and thousands of users are logged onto its server at the same time, what should take a nanosecond to do can take minutes longer while you’re waiting for pages to load).

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Back to book promotion

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It’s the Monday after the Fourth of July weekend. That means it’s back to book promotion. This book publicist is back in full force, and I’m trusting the media decision makers will be back at their desks, too, and gearing up for new pitches.

Here’s one promotion opportunity I wouldn’t wish on anyone: finding greatly exaggerated rumors of your death on one of the social networks and then refuting those rumors. It happened, according to a recent article on CNN, to actor Jeff Goldblum who, in a promotional coup, was given the opportunity to read his own obituary on “The Colbert Report.”

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A book publicist takes the Twitter plunge — for real!

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I’ve finally done it. I was sending an email to a client and, for the first time, I added my Twitter handle (@bookpr) to my signature.

I’ve been tweeting for awhile, and I’m pleased to count bookstores, libraries, reporters, reviewers, literary agents, authors, and producers among my followers. And I’m getting into a rhythm of letting fellow tweeters know about my clients’ bookings and bylined article placements — all of which, I imagine, will have to add to their online book buzz.

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Follow me on Twitter!

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I’m starting to get my other foot wet on Twitter. I got my first foot wet when I set up a Twitter account. Now that I’m actually following other Tweeters, it’s starting to get interesting and worthwhile. I’m beginning to see how Twitter really can be part of a successful book promotion campaign. For anyone who wants to follow me on Twitter, I’m @bookpr. See you on Twitter!

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