You knew this was coming… we had to examine the prospect of social networking in terms of authors and publishers in today’s landscape.
As you know, we have dedicated an independent page to social-networking sites which are author-specific. Unfortunately, we find that authors tend to sign on to sites where people who are already familiar with their work are also signed. In addition, trying to get an author to buy another author’s work is like pulling teeth… you can try…
There are varied classifications of author-specific social networking sites. Some will showcase biographies and book covers with corresponding amazon-dotcom sales links. Some are for posted interviews, tour schedule posting and reservation management. Some are for reader interaction with virtual bookshelves of books to review and discuss. Some sites are for niche markets and some allow book video trailer uploads. Again, most of these sites are hybrids of feature sets.
As for publishers, the way is not so pre-ordained, as it were. They want catalog engagement, brand engagement and increased readership – but other than outright media buys – where to aim? Should they build a back-end network to their own website for the benefit of readership they already have? Should they troll through endless bookmarking networks (i.e. mixx, stumbleupon) to bookmark their catalog?
We did see one major House use social networking as a tool for streamlining their new author discovery process. An author joins the network, (s)he loads individual chapters of their book to the service; then gets critiqued by fellow authors. As their book’s popularity(rank) increases, the author has a chance of being read and considered for publishing by the House. This is an interesting concept; except that trying to find a gem with mass appeal in a sea of elitist authors who all want their own book to be on top is not as simple as it sounds. This does, however,show the innovation of further adaptation of the social web interface to distribution and consumption of books.
We notice that many authors and Houses are on twitter. Are they tweeting with regularity? To whom are they tweeting? The trade? Potential consumers? People who have already befriended them on five million other networks? How many of the new wiki apps for these networks have to be downloaded in order to take full advantage of their services? Almost every service has a toolbar, a mobile app and a multi-account login wiki to download. Does writing or publishing a book now require an excel chart for social logins?
If Shakespeare was on twitter, for example, what would he tweet?
Alas, I weep – for ’twas foretold that the very villainous web would usurp my sweet utterances and companion markings
There are an increasing number of video and podcasting options for authors and publishers to explore, as well. For smaller Houses, the question is: what is the video strategy for the catalog? Is there a video budget for each book? Is youtube the end of the uploading strategy?
Above and beyond – how many hours can an active author or publishing House expect to dedicate to execution of a complete social-networking agenda?
We believe that as options expand, the case for success in the social networking environment for authors and publishers will expand, in kind. We believe that the key to that success will be the degree to which the author, or the House, examines why they have chosen one service or the other to exploit – rather than connecting to everything in sight – with logins and passwords flailing in the air akin to the arms of an octopus.
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