Seth Godin wants you to harness the power of the net (using his Squidwho)

Seth Godin has some reservations about HarperCollins new Author Assist program that allows their authors to build their own websites through HC, and thinks he should use his new “people-powered who’s who of the web” (aka Squidwho) to build author sites (or fan sites for your favorite author).

Anyone used (or plan to use) either of these programs?

What are your thoughts?



P.S. This interruption of radio silence will hopefully continue if a.) I can get my computer to stay on longer than ten minutes when I'm trying to do something of any importance on it; b.) I can get a new computer; or c.) I give up on my vow to avoid blogging at work (which is technically being bent and mangled even as I type.

TV People: Crazier than Book People

In my apparent never-ending (subconscious) decision to work jobs that sound much more exciting than they actually are, I’m temping as a receptionist at a local TV station. Reception work, for those of you who’ve never done it, is basically comprised of long periods of boredom relieved only by a sudden incoming rush of calls and the occasional visitor.

Overall nothing hard to handle, but then you get that extra dash of crazy to spice it up.

I mean, I know this job is going to be interesting after one of the higher ups starts a conversation (post recent visitor interaction) with, “I just want you to know that you’re sitting behind bullet proof glass. Not that anyone has ever brought a gun in here that we know of.”

And ends it with: “You know, ever single person I’ve ever interviewed in prison has claimed to be innocent too.”

That’s right, people, Television has brought about an extra special level of crazy (not the people who work in it necessarily, but those who watch it above all us). I thought book people were bad—given to random unanswerable queries and bizarre requests—but TV people have upped the ante.

And I think I’ve figured out why. You see, give a book person a book and they’re occupied. It is hard to read and do something else (it can be done, sure, but it takes talent). Television, on the other hand, allows you to do other things while viewing…like start an email campaign against the Carl’s Jr. “I Like Flat Buns” commercials, and flood your local station’s email box with letters ranting about how it is racist.

Here I thought the problem with the commercial had to do with the sexy teacher. Who knew?

One thing I have learned that will benefit the authors out there is this: keep your pitch to the news desk concise.

If you’re angling to land a feature/entertainment piece on your local station, don’t ramble. Just hit them with your elevator pitch and why you and your book are relevant enough to make it on the news.

Oh, and don’t ramble to the receptionist. As the gatekeeper, s/he just might send you straight to voicemail if s/he thinks you’re wasting the station’s time.

RIP: Robert Jordan

And the SciFi/Fantasy community suffers another loss not long after the death of Madeline L'Engle.

Robert Jordan died Sunday afternoon. While I never read his books, his fans stand out in my mind as some of the most dedicated, obsessive and entertaining people to ever walk into my store. I'm saddened for his family, friends and the Fantasy community as a whole. He will be missed.

Feel free to share your thoughts on his books, or any interactions you may have had with him below.

How do you keep them coming back for more?

I’ve been doing a lot of research on Web 2.0 marketing techniques and how to drive blog traffic recently, and the one subject that keeps coming up is the retention of readership.

For those of you who have experience blog traffic tsunamis or even more gentle waves, what have you done to try to retain those readers?

What did you do to get them in the first place?

The Bathing Suit Has Been Compromised (and other dangers inherent to reading on the beach*)

In the grand tradition of true Portlanders the Druggie and I went to Sauvie Island last weekend to soak in the sun. We were both paler than we wished—the Druggie due to the fact that she’d spent the last six weeks in a Muslim country working with Aids orphans, and I due to the far less noble reason that I’d spent July in a classroom and August papering the world with cover letters and resume—and we wanted to wear the glow of one good Summer day before Fall stole the warmth away.

Besides it was the perfect weather for drinking beer, reading a book, and courting skin cancer. We’d chosen our day well.

Or so we’d thought.

At five to eleven the Druggie pulled up in front of my building in the lovely Pepe la Subaru, and off we went to grocery store to buy snacks to fill my cooler. One more stop at the local Bugerville for lunch and then we were on our way to Sauvie’s sandy shores. Having never actually been to Sauvie’s beaches (what a bad Portlander I’m admitting to being!) we were being guided by the vague directions of a friend that involved gravel roads and mile post markers being used as landmarks.

A bit too vague, it turned out, but no matter. We knew we would find the beach eventually and with the windows down and the radio playing we were secure in our belief that we would find the beach eventually.

And we did. Loading up with bags of blankets, books (a girl should always carry more than one, just in case), and foodstuffs, we hiked up the concrete stairs on the side of the hill to find a vast area of hot white followed by cool blue water.

After quick squinty-eyed check of our surroundings revealed that we hadn’t accidentally found our way to the nudist beach, we set out our blankets, stripped down to our bikinis and proceeded to put on sun tan lotion. Sure, we were planning on courting skin cancer, but it would only be done with a degree of fifteen or higher acting as a barrier.

With all unprotected areas slathered in lotion, we sat back to read our books. The plan for the day was as followed:

Get sun and read.

Get sun and snack.

Be joined by the Druggie’s sister and the friend she’d just picked up from the airport.

Lay out blankets we’d provided for sister and sister’s friend.

As a group, partake in the sun, snacking and reading until someone started to feel crispy or the sun went down.

A reasonable plan, or so it seemed in those first bliss-filled minutes lying upon our blankets. I was finally getting to read a book that I’d been crazy about earlier in the summer, but kept getting interrupted every time I picked up. Nothing was going to stop me from finally getting past the first chapter. There were no cover letters to write or interviews to schedule. It was Sunday, the day of rest, and I was going to do just that. The sun was high, the water cold, and there was just enough of a breeze to keep the temperature pleasant.

Heaven…until Heaven got Old Testament.

Suddenly our breeze transformed, growing strong and stronger as it blew off the water. It caught at the loose white sand, flinging it against our left sides, coating our newly lotioned bodies. It was relentless, collecting in cracks and crevices, filling our ears and pinging against our sun glasses.

At first we thought it was a momentary thing, it would die down soon. But ten minutes passed… then twenty. We used our tank tops to try knock the collect sand off our sticky backs. We shook out our towels to rid them of the collecting sand dunes only to have the wind snap at them and try to rip the fabric from our grasps.

Soldiering on, I tried to ignore it. Just in enjoy my book, but it slowly became heavier and heavier. Was I growing weak? Was the weather zapping me of my strength? No. I realized it was the sand, collecting in the well every time I turned the page. Not that I was turning that many, squinting as I was to keep the sand out of my contacts ruined with my ability to clearly see the words.

We’d already given the sister directions, she was on her way. As far as we knew she’d already bought a parking pass and was looking for the turnoff. We couldn’t just leave, they’d be here any minute.

In desperation—forty minutes had now gone by—we moved closer to the water, taking the spot of another couple that had given up. The amount of sand pelting us was immediately reduced by half, but the wind continued to blow, catching what sand grains it could to exfoliate away the top layer of our skin.

“We’re tough,” the Druggie and I told each other, “We can do this.”

Forgetting, of course, that the last time we’d made this vow we’d walked over ten miles in bad shoes to transverse the Golden Gate Bridge and hike down a curvy-little-no-shoulder road into Sausalito.

Or maybe subconsciously we hadn’t because as another blast attempted to roll us up hill we modified, vowing to do this “at least until the girls get here.”

But the girls did not arrive and the wind did not die down.

As we waited the couples around us began leaving, abandoning their towel flattened sand to the ruffling of the wind. The only groups that remained were mothers with large flocks of children. The children ran up and down the shore in the water, unaffected by the wind, while the mother huddled in their folding chairs at the shoreline and warned them to “keep in sight, there’s a bad current out there.” We gave up on reading, lying back to just grit our teeth, close our eyes, and enjoy what we could of the sun as sand continued to collect in our ears.

For awhile I considered that perhaps I would never finish my book, that it wasn’t meant to be, but more important matters took over my thoughts. What would happen if sand breached my eardrum and got into my brain?

Would it itch? Was it possible? Wouldn’t that make a quirky CSI episode: Woman with Sand on her Mind?

Finally a (hopefully) not too panicked phone call revealed that the girls were still at the Druggie’s sister’s house. Maybe they could meet us at the park near the Druggie’s apartment?

“Sure,” we replied, trying not to sound relieved. “We’ll pack up.”

As we hauled our (much heavier) sand-filled bags back up to the stairs, we passed a couple who’d commandeered our original spot.

“Fine,” the reclining woman told her standing boyfriend. “We can leave. I can barely breathe anyway.”

The breeze at the park, when we finally reached it, was just that a breeze. So slight that at times you didn’t even notice it. We snacked on chips and salsa, bagels and cream cheese and chatted with Druggie’s sister and her friend.

“You were lucky,” we told them, shaking sand from our blankets.

“The wind was crazy,” we continued, pouring sand from the bags.

“There’s even sand in the cooler,” we exclaimed, “despite the fact that we’d never opened it!”

The sister and friend were nice enough to never imply that they thought we were exaggerating, and we enjoyed a nice, gust-free afternoon in the park before retiring to our own apartments.

It was getting ready for my shower that I discovered my swimsuit had been compromised and there was sand where no sand should be. It coated my back, even under the straps, and collected both top and bottom. Uncomfortable and gritty, it drove home my belief that nude sunbathing—if this is what happened fully covered—would never be for me.

But the Druggie’s…poor Druggie. She went home to clean her apartment, and why bother changing clothes if she was just going to continue to get sweaty and gross? So in her bathing suit and shorts she washed dishes, organized her desk, dusted and then swept. Cleaning her floor to a shine.

As she bent over to put her cleaning supplies away, she noticed some sand clinging to her bikini top, the skin beneath seemed sandy as well. Making sure that she was far enough away from her windows, she thought, “What the hell,” and popped the suit cups out to check for damage…

Only to pour microscopic, practically invisible sand all over her nice clean floors.

So much for a fun, relaxing day reading on the beach.**

*For the record, when most Oregonians say beach, they mean the sandy shores of one of our rivers. We refer to the Oregon Coast, with its own obvious sandiness, as simply the Coast. Usually the temperature at the Coast will be several degrees below that of the beach, making the beach inherently friendlier to Oregonians seeking to leave behind the nine months of pale they’d developed during the rainy season.

**Although in its defense, the wind and sand combo did manage to exfoliate away all our dry skin. I haven’t skin that felt this nice in years!

Elsewhere

Hey,

I'm over at Romancing the Blog today talking about the importance of being fluent in Bookseller. Feel free to stop on by.

But Do You Have to Blog?

Let’s face it, blogging takes time out of your day that you could spend writing your next manuscript. For some it is a stressor as they try to think up something witty to write about, and for others it’s a nagging task required by the publisher and the apathy that the writer feels comes through in the content.

We’ve all seen it, and some of you have even been in that position, so allow me to say something that might sound radical and totally contradictory to what I’ve previously stated here on Bookseller Chick:

You don’t have to blog.

You don’t have to do it daily.

You don’t have to do it weekly.

You don’t have to blog at all, at least not in the same way everyone else is doing it.

I’m a big fan of author blogging mostly because I’m a big fan of blogging software* that makes it possible for even the more techno-phobic author to update their fans without waiting for their webmaster to update their site. By importing blogging software into the website design or incorporating it under the news link, the author can control how the blogging software is perceived.

Instead of using it as a place to record what you feel you have to, you can use it to update readers about book news, post excerpts and answer reader questions. By enabling RSS feed, your readers can keep up on your updates without having to consistently visit your site.

If you decide to blog, I’m a big fan (but not exactly a practitioner) of the idea that your blog have sort of mission or plan: What do you plan to use this space (to cover book news, life news, writing advice, all of the above)? What do you not want to cover in this space (politics, religion, fights with friends and family, or the current state of your bathroom)? How often do you plan to update?

If you’re a planner this can help make the whole blogging experience less stressful as well as help outline what to post next. If you created your blog specifically to help promote your book as well as to let your readers know who else to check out, then write about books you like, who influences your writing, what little quirks you notice in your writing process, and your research. Think about interviewing other authors (you can use the same general set of questions if you want), or guest blogging at other sites (while never forgetting to link from your own).

Your blog is a marketing tool to sell your book to readers and to sell yourself as an author. That doesn’t mean that it has to be so blatant that “buy my book” appears in each post. Buyers are savvy people and they don’t like to feel like they’re being played. Give them something for their time and energy. Don’t be afraid to let them read excerpts before the book is released.

Do a quick survey of author blogs that you like, or blogs by authors whose books you buy, and see what they are doing. What works and what doesn’t? What could you borrow, bend, or meld into something you can use at your own blog?

Whether or not you blog, you do need a web presence to help direct your readers to where they can buy your books, and inform new readers who you are and what you right.

A good website is key, a great blog is just a bonus.

*I don’t mean just Blogger when I talk about blogging software; Livejournal, Wordpress, Typepad and others provide a great opportunity for an author looking to update quickly.

Blogging and You: Why Do It

Thank you all for your response to Kevin’s question. I’m going to break things down into a few different categories and we can take the discussion from there. In what will probably be a several post piece, let’s start with the basics:

Why Blog in the First Place?

“I think the primary benefit of my blog is for keeping the existing readers fired up to go spread word of mouth.” Shanna Swendson

You’ve written the book, made a contract with the publisher, and survived the editing process, but your job still isn’t done. To counteract the ever decreasing marketing budgets at the publishing houses, you’ve got a find a way to grow your readership and keep them coming back—whether it is for the next book in a series, or a new book all together. Blogs can create that direct sense of connection between writer and reader, and they cost nothing to create. Well, nothing except time, effort and creativity…but we’ll get to those in a minute.

First let’s focus on what a blog lets an author do:

• Connect with readers by sharing their thoughts on the book process, the characters and proving they’re just like everyone else (Authors! They’re just like us! A new feature to found in the writer’s version of US Weekly).**
• Create an up-to-date presence on the internet that with tagging can increase your presence to the Google algorithm (given that 60% of the population uses Google as their first choice search engine, this is a good thing).
• Offer up advance excerpts, answer reader questions, and let readers know when the next book is coming out without waiting for your webmaster to update a website. Just write and hit post.
• Talk about other books that are similar that the author like, or direct the readership to other authors of note.
• Connect with other authors, direct readers to advance reviews, and network, network, network!

A successful author blog creates a community led by the author that allows readers to connect and builds on the loyalty of the readers. As Kalika said, “it makes authors seem less like strangers and more like people I know, so I'm more likely to want to buy their books instead of borrowing them from a friend or the library.” This loyalty and excitement from the blog transfers to readers going out to the bookstore to find the book or jumping on one of the online sites to make their purchase. Then on their own blogs, or in conversations with store patrons or friends, this reader will spread the word about this author’s work. The sales might not be able to be traced directly back to the author’s blog, but it acts as a strong link in the chain that gets people to read your books.

Author as Essayist?

One of Kevin’s points with this question (which I didn’t include, but he thankfully reiterated in the comments section) is that not everyone has what it takes to be a successful blogger—one who “can take the mundane or the complicated and make it interesting, funny, and readable. But that in itself is a particular writing talent, and not every writer will be good at doing that as opposed to their normal mode of writing.”

Back in February, I asked why people read any blogs at all in “Writer as Blogger, Blogger as Writer.” The answers I received cited Voice and Content as the two biggest reasons for following a blog. These two things working alone and together accounted for the loyalty most readers felt towards the blogs they followed. In many cases people cited finding a blog looking for some sort of content, and sticking with it for the voice.

But how does this affect an author’s blog when taking into account Kevin’s definition of a successful blogger?

Voice

Just as the acquisitions editor must consider the voice of your manuscript when deciding whether or not to purchase it, so does the passing reader when they decide whether or not to make a commitment to your blog. This voice is especially important for the fiction (as opposed to nonfiction writers) writer as you can’t always rely on content to bring new readers to your blog. Links from other authors might drive people there, but it is the voice you bring to the blog that keeps new readers there and old readers coming back regularly.

Blogging, with all its informality and immediacy, creates a sense of closeness between author and reader that you can foster with the tone or voice that you use for each post. By assuming an approachable style, you invite the reader to put aside their shyness and interact. Narrative prose, however, often differs from how a writer might sound in a conversation. I write this blog in the same way I would converse with a friend in real life (to the point that back when I was anonymous a friend warned me that anyone who knew me and read Bookseller Chick would know the identity of the writer immediately). This blog voice shares little to no resemblance to any fiction writing I’ve done, which is fine as I’m not attempting to use this as a forum to promote myself as a writer of fiction.*

If the voice of your blog sounds nothing like your narrative writing, that’s fine. It’s you, the author, conversing with your readers, not your characters. There’s a hidden danger that comes from sounding too much like your prose. I’ve come across many a reader complaining that they can’t think of the character as their own entity because the voice they know from the author’s blog intrudes too much in the narrative. These people may represent a small portion of your readership, but it is something you should be aware of in your blogging and writing.

Although the reverse is also true, as Random Ranter states, “Blogs give me a chance to get to know a person's writing style before I plunk down my bucks.” Finding out that the author who writes humorous little essays about his/her cats, actually writes gore filled books with dark plots may throw a new reader off.

Given this “damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” how do you walk the fine line in between?

Well, that’s where content comes in.

Content

As an author, you have to decide what your blog is going to be to you. The best author blogs cover topics that both the author and the reader care about. As Lectitans states in her response to the “Writer as Blogger, Blogger as Writer” column, “The best blogs are conversations. I don't want to read a blog where the blogger writes only what she thinks her readers want without putting any of herself into it. That kind of writing is dishonest and uninteresting. Still, I don't care to read a lot of navel-gazing. A blogger should be aware of her audience and keep them in mind without giving herself over to them completely.”

When blogging, ask yourself: what are you blogging about? And why are you blogging about it? If the majority of your blogging is just to have a place for a personal diary with no relation to your writing, perhaps blogging isn’t the way to go. Same goes if you are just blogging by rote, and don’t really have any interest in the topics you’re covering. The content of your blog is strongest when it is a balance of what appeals to you and what appeals to your readers.

I draw a lot of people to this blog due to content. People searching for different authors, bookseller opinions, books, etc, stop by thanks to this search engine or that. Sometimes they like what they read and stay (or search more), and sometimes they move on, which fits with the nature of this blog and what it has become. The ongoing “mission” of this blog has changed multiple times over its lifetime, but one thing remains consistent: I write about topics that interest me and they are ones that I hope interest you as well.

As an author, you’ve got a built in hook with your blog readership as they want to find out about your books. Don’t be afraid to post excerpts and answer questions readers pose about this character or that. It may lead you to other areas of interest to write on and will also help you create content to reuse on your website (for example: questions from readers about certain characters can be collected and turned into a Q&A for their books).

Content Meets Voice and Produces Comment Babies

In my mind, the ideal mixing of content and voice happen when an author takes a general topic of interest and finds a way to approach it through an example from their own experience. Everyone may have outlined the publishing process, done a signing, gone to a con, worked with a writer’s group, or been called by their agent about a deal, but how an author tells their own story on this subject is what makes it unique. The factual content may remain the same, but the little details, the emotional journey, etc are what makes the author’s telling unique. It’s what makes your blog different from so-in-sos blog.

It’s what makes your book different from the others on the shelf.

Connecting content with voice makes a blog approachable and will bring people back. Balance those topics that seem more authorial navel-gazing with those directed straight at the reader, and your readers will let you get away with a little “me-time” introspection.

(Oh, and try to keep all of that shorter than this blog post has turned out.)

Your Thoughts

Agree? Disagree? Never made it to the end because the length made you fast forward to the end?

Bring on the discussion, and while you do so, keep these questions in mind as well:

How do you avoid only writing about the mundane? And can you get away with using your prose/character voice on your blog?

*Although the two people who visit this place who’ve actually read anything I’ve written can feel free to argue this point.

**In proving approachable via a blog, you are offering up validation to your readers. According to eight million websites I have found (who give no straight answer to where this information comes from), a 2005 survey found that 82% of Americans feel they should/could write a book. By appearing like a normal person you validate the idea that they too can write a book as well. I do believe that this correlates into more book sales.

Fun with Answers (and Links)

Keep the commentary coming on the “Blogging to Build Readership: Does It Work?” thread. I’m compiling my thoughts into something coherent that I’ll hopefully post later today or tomorrow. For those of you who’ve already shared your opinions, here’s a little something to keep you busy:

The Inkwell Bookstore Blog is looking for answers to the following questions:

As a bookstore employee/owner, what does your store do to attract a crowd?

And as a bookstore shopper, what sorts of things do you look for in the stores that you frequent?

Follow this link over and give them your answer. Maybe they’ll be able to co-op the idea into something that will work for their customer base. Go and spread your book-luvin’ knowledge.

Since the last link was to a blog, and we’re in the middle of discussing blogging in reference to how it affects an author’s readership, be sure to check out Coding Horror’s Thirteen Blog Clichés. I freely admit that I’m bad about the apologizing and a few other things on the list (and by few I mean several), but I defend my “excessive blog roll” as it is meant to be used by y’all to do more research on your field. At least that’s excuse I’m sticking with.

Thanks to one of my fellow DPI grads, I’ve started following Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog. Joe comments on a wide variety of areas that affect the industry and gives some great advice. I’m still mulling over his thoughts about e-subscriptions for magazines. PW allows subscribers to read the magazine online, but I only got a chance to play with one copy before my subscription ran out. Since I was reading it on the large (overly so, in my opinion) computer screen they provided us at the bookie job, reading wasn’t an issue, but with my laptop screen? I don’t know.

Through Joe I discovered Lori Cates Hand’s blog Publishing Careers, which is probably a bit more interesting to me than it is to you as it is billed as “An online "informational interview" for college students, new graduates, and career changers interested in knowing what a job in publishing is like and how they can get one.” Still, you can never learn enough about the industry you’re working in.

Awhile back when I was doing research on whether or not to move this blog, I ran across this breakdown of blogging software that I thought I should share. I don’t know how up-to-date it is given the changes different blogging sites have instituted, but it is a good resource if you’re thinking of trying something new.

In the realm of pure fun, go find a picture of you and your significant other (or significant something) and generate your own romance novel cover.

The cardboard Mr. Nelson pictured with me here was made possible by the good people at Fulcrum Publishing (and my DPI roommate who took the picture) who are responsible for Willie Nelson’s newest book On the Clean Road Again, which discusses Willie’s thoughts on Bio-diesel.

Blogging to Build Readership: Does It Work? Your Thoughts

Kevin Radthorne emailed me the other day to suggest we discuss the topic of blogging, specifically whether or not blogging authors out there have developed readers through their blogs. In his email he asked:

“for authors, are they able to see any measurable sales results from having started blogging? I ask this because blogging is the hot topic of the moment, and everybody's jumping on that bandwagon. However, most of the authors I've talked to about it primarily cite the connections to other authors' blogs. That, to me, does not seem to be their target audience, which should be readers. I don't get much sense that readers are spending a lot of time at writer's blogs.”

To me this topic covers a lot of different sub-topics that relate to why an author should even have a website and some sort of forum (be it a blog or a message board or a newsletter) to discuss their work and writing process at all. As this is something I want to discuss in depth, I’ll open up the discussion to your first and work from our comments.

How many of you—as authors—have noticed measurable sales results from your blog? Do you believe that this information is quantifiable (so you see hits through your Amazon link, etc)?

How many of you—as readers—have bought books by authors you have discovered through their blogs? What made you decide to pick up their book?

Given that the onus is on authors these days to do as much promotion as they can, and that most blog programs provide a free format that allows for easy updates without waiting for your webmaster do it for you, have you found blogging to be a worthwhile experience in the promotion of your books?

I want to get as many opinions on this as possible, so please ask your author friends and neighbors. The results of marketing and publicity, and the impact they actually have on book sales, can be hard to quantify especially in the online realm. While reader (and author) testimonials can’t stand for facts, they can highlight why people read blogs and what drives them to buy.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.