Bringing Sexy Back The Book Party in the Digital Ag
Mar 26, 2015
Bringing Sexy Back:The Book Party in the Digital Age
Business Reasons to do a
Create community:
Create conversation, connection, engagement
Create and maintain relationships
Reach influencers, press, tastemakers.
Engender a feeling of exclusivity and closeness with the author and the author's mission of getting the word out about his or her book.
Book Party
Book Party
CONSCOSTThey cost several thousand dollars
GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITSThey occur in one place at one time
TIME LIMITSThere’s a 2-3 hour window to have an effect
LIMITED REACHOnly so many taste-makers and press can fit into a room
RESULTSWho knows?
What’s a digital
Book Party?
IT’S NOT LIMITED BY TIMEIt can happen before, during, and after the official release of a book
IT CAN BE ASYNCHRONOUSYou can have a book party occur in many time zones at once, starting/endingat different times
IT’S NOT LIMITED BY GEOGRAPHYIt can be anywhere
IT’S BIGGERIt reaches larger numbers of people
IT’S SMALLERIt reaches a targeted audience
What’s a digital
Book Party?
IT’S AUTHENTICYour message is spread by word-of-mouth
IT’S MEASURABLEResults are trackable
IT’S FOREVER SEARCHABLEBecause a digital record leaves a trail, you can always look up a digital book party
IT’S COMMUNITY BUILDINGIt’s not just about the author. It’s about the audience, too. The audience wants to interact with the author, but they also want to interact with like-minded souls, just as they would at a traditional book party. And those relationships people have reflect back in positive ways onto the author, onto the book, onto the publisher who brought them together. It’s a beautiful and virtuous circle.
(continued)
This is the Culture of
Community
Digital tools enable you to create a Culture of Community around:
•Your authors
• Your books
• Your publishing house
….so the connection to readers becomes deep and ongoing
Taking Book Talk to New Levels
Twitter:
JE TWEET, DONC J’EXISTE
Twitter allows you to reach more of your readers, more directly, more personally and more consistently over time than ever before. It’s like having a CONSTANT conversation.
It’s like tapping in to a list of pre-qualified people who can buy your book – and can talk it up for you.
And when people talk up your book on Twitter, it helps create a multiplier effect.
Twitter Tips: Bringing the Paparazzi to Your
Online Book Party
1) BOOK SUBJECT 2) BOOK GENRE3) AUTHOR NAME (IF WELL-KNOWN)4) FRIENDS OF AUTHOR (GET LIST FROM HER)5) PRESS/JOURNOS6) REVIEWERS WHO TWITTER7) BLOGGERS WHO REVIEW8) ANYTHING LITERARY OR BOOK-RELATED9) ANYTHING WRITER- OR WRITING-RELATED
Search terms:
Follow twitter.com/mediabistroWe point you to people, tactics + best practices
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Face to Face
Online Parties…
Tweetups Can Be Both
inauguration
journchat
• live streaming radio (or listen later)
BlogTalkRadio (BTR) brings the old-school author radio tour to the Web,
with the potential to reach many more people all at once. BTR launched in 1996, has broadcast 200k+ episodes, hosted by tens of thousands of individuals,companies and organizations.
• Books have their own category on BTR
Ustream.TVa live, streaming, book party (or watch later)
Gary’s been called “the first wine guru of the YouTube era.” “He’s more hyper than Emeril, more cheerful than Racheal Ray, more street than Bobby Flay and cockier than all of them combined,” from TIME magazine.
Meetups:Where Digital Book Parties Get Physical
Meetup was founded in 2002. It has 2.5 million members.
Meetup was founded in 2002. It has 2.5 million members.
Meetup.com
“Meet up provides a platform for people anywhere to
set up a meeting, and organize others with similar
interests. Chess Players, Working Mothers,
Computer Geeks and Book Clubs all use [Meetup] to
gather, share and accomplish things that can only be
done in groups.” –Huffington Post
Ways to use
Meetup
Reach out to existing Book Groups
Reach out to existing Interest Groups
Advertise on Meetup
Sponsor a Group’s events
Create Your Own Events
Brooklyn
Facebook, etc.
Social Networks:
It’s not Just About Throwing Sheep
Put more in and get more out
Create personal pages for authors
Change content, pictures, updates regularly
Connect Twitter to Facebook for easy updates
Use FB to send invites out to your digital events, as
well as news, reviews and press mentions
Host discussions, upload video, cross-link to author blog
Engage your fans and friends – don’t just push
DIY Book CommunitiesThe Thing About Ning
Never End...
Search for like-minded people
Reach out – to influencers and multipliers
Engage – get the conversation going
Keep engaging your new friends
Think of yourself as a community organizer
Online Book Parties