Publishing

Have you ever read a long article, scanning the page and then all of a sudden one sentence just pops out at you? Then you sit on that sentence; your speed reading over and your mind racing at the implications?

I had one of those moments recently. In the blog Make it Great, by Phil Gerbyshak (from Milwaukee, where I lived for 25-years or so), he did an interview with Penelope Trunk promoting her book the Brazen Careerist. Here was the exchange that got me:

Phil: I love your advice for getting a six-figure book deal from your blog, and it’s so cool that you were willing to share what many would keep to themselves. What’s the best advice anyone gave you that you couldn’t learn on your own about publishing?

Penelope: Almost everyone who gave me advice told me that you can’t just be a book author, you have to be a book publicist. That is very true. Today publishers are distribution channels for people who have significant marketing capabilities of their own. (Italics mine)

There are still a lot of writers out there who think that all they need to do is get published and all is well in the world. It’s not true.

Penelope casually (to her, since it is a fact) notes that publishers are really just distribution channels. Channels that need to make money, of course, but the marketing work that will help them and ourselves make money is done by…us.

The marketing is done in many ways, of course. But your online presence, combined with more traditional marketing, has become a new channel to market your work. Whether it is through your writing on a blog, “virtual” book tours like the interview Penelope did with Phil, or being interviewed for a podcast, technology can offer you new ways to market your writing.

And the good news — you can do it while still being at home. The Internet is geography independent, allowing you to market your work across town or across the globe. It’s all about readers and reach. Technology helps in both areas.

Scot

Yesterday, I posted a nice little snarky thing about how Harry Potter Ruined My Marriage. Of course, it was a way to tell you all about my weekend and the fact that I really liked the movie and want to read the book.

It was the writer expressing some fun thing in the writer’s life; writing for the fun of writing.

Today, I’m doing my normal Internet research and checking out new blogs and I read a post where I couldn’t figure out the point. So I went searching for what the blog was about, in contrast to the article, thinking if I found out what the blog was about I could figure out the point of the article.

But, no tag line to the blog (like “Technology for Writers”). No “About” page for the purpose of the blog to relate the article (like “About Ten Keyboards“).

So I left the blog. Don’t have the time. Felt a little smug about it, knowing I had stuff like that on my blog.

Then I looked at my latest article on Harry Potter and promptly critiqued myself for failing to follow my own rules when it comes to posting: you write on topic for your blog.

Harry Potter is fun — but most people have taken the Harry Potter theme and applied it to the purpose of their blog. What Harry Potter taught them about business. How Harry Potter applies to office politics.

But not a straight, fun personal ride like I posted.

You see, the statistics on your blog will tell you the percentage of visitors coming to your site who are new. Mine, and perhaps most, blogs have the majority of their visitors visiting for the very first time.

And what is the very first article they see?

Yup, the one at the top. The one that you just posted that was off your blog’s topic. The one that is not about your personal brand.

Whether you are writing a book or an article or using the technology of the blog to market your work, the rule is the same: you write on topic.

I forgot in the fun of the moment and the first impression I left to new readers was something off topic.

(But it was still a great movie and I still can’t wait to read the book…).

Scot

eBooks, for a very long time (in Internet time), were viewed as a way to bypass traditional publishing and provide value to a reader through simply giving the reader the ability to download your book.

For writers, eBooks were the self-publishing alternative to traditional publishing.

They had their time.

Liz Strauss contends that eBooks have passed their prime. In a thought-provoking article, she provides us 7 Reasons eBooks Are Losing Readers. The most interesting point to me was this one:

As a delivery system, an eBook is unconstructed, low design packaging that benefits the author/publisher, more than the customer/reader. It’s not Web 2.0. It’s less choice than fast-food, usually with less quality control.

With what time I have to read, I read things I want to keep. An eBook is a pile of paper from my printer. It is not made to deliver reading ease or pleasure.

Yup.

As always, good content makes a difference. Focus on the reader, not on the author, makes a difference. Good quality in the eBook makes a difference. Would you download a 200-page anything from the Internet? Me either.

But, I wouldn’t throw out the eSomething baby with the eBook bath water just yet. While eBooks might be too long, too hard, and not have the Internet as the right venue, written articles for download have a place in the writer’s mix of technology to help market their work.

Focused articles in the 10-50 page range can make a large impact on your audience, community, and help validate your credentials as a writer. This page size is easier to handle from a printing and binding perspective.

But, the old saying of “garbage in, garbage out” still applies. A poor quality ten-page article is just as bad as a poor quality 200-page eBook.

Just not as long.

When thinking about the strategy for your blog, determine how some of these shorter articles, made available for your readers as a download, could help you in marketing your work.

Scot

There are hundreds of different opinions as to what makes a good blog post as compared to a not so good blog post.

I have a few ideas on this, of course.

However, Blogging Expertise has a very good article on What Makes a Good Blog Post — including some examples that are about writers and writing.

Check it out.

Scot