Forum / how creative is your publisher?

Marcus Speh
Dec 06, 05:16pm

ask them. use this <a href="http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9bf6688d862fa3f207663b22d&id=9a9a751127&e=758069b58e">cool lit stunt by melville house</a> as a yardstick. re-tweets are used to lower the price of an ebook.

(for the record: i've got nothing to do with melville house & i don't know the book in question, i just like to keep publishing people on their toes for the future.)

Gloria Mindock
Dec 06, 05:22pm

Very creative stunt. Not sure how I feel about it. I'm sure it brings people to their site. Hmmm... Still not sure... feel like it is a gimmick. Does this hurt the book or not? Does it help it? To each his/her own.

Marcus Speh
Dec 07, 12:42pm

gloria, it definitely smells like a gimmick in the age of the gimmick...i'm intrigued by your question: "does this hurt the book or not?" — can you explain how it might?

19th century, newspaper-first-based publication, serialization, radio, TV...throughout printing history, publishers have had to adapt to a changing environment. seeing how much is possible seems alright.

looking at this book in particular: it's a classic children's tale possibly freshly translated (not sure about that), a book that otherwise, not being in the canon, would have a very hard time getting noticed at all, i suppose. a situation that ought to sound familiar for many small presses.

hence my motivation to post it here as an idea. having said that i could imagine other ways to employ social media to boost sales, drive readers to your store etc...but you'd have to pay (or publish) me to tell ya ;-))

Gloria Mindock
Dec 07, 04:43pm

Hi Marcus-

Sometimes people get turned off by a "gimmick" and could turn away from the book even if it is a good book. It good stab you in the back. It is a risk. Sometimes, it could get the book noticed. So who knows. I don't know what the answer is. Now days, it is difficult. I guess it depends what it is.
Some things just turn me off that are done, some do not. Just depends...

Gloria Mindock
Dec 07, 04:47pm

Added note Marcus-
Hey maybe I am behind the times and as a publisher, maybe I should "get with it"
Should I start to do these things to boost my sales? I don't know.
Maybe my press needs to get noticed more and I should start doing wild and crazy things-Ha-ha! Hey, I can be wild and crazy and lord knows, I got ideas. Tee-Hee!

Marcus Speh
Dec 07, 06:42pm

thanks gloria, this makes sense...of course nobody knows. no hard rule for all books unless this is what you want to get known for as a publisher (<a href="http://safetythirdenterprises.wordpress.com/">safety third enterprises</a> instantly come to mind...appealing to people who like THIS type of books presented the way safetyfirst presents them...handwoven as it were)...

i suppose if you ask me should YOU start "these things" (ie. social media stunts): ask your readers but more importantly ask your writers. if i were in your stable, i'd like that. but my stuff is read by the people who read <a href="http://altlitgossip.tumblr.com">this</a> and <a http://kaffeinkatmandu.tumblr.com">that</a>.

i would however, if your business already runs and is successful, expand into this area to test the waters rather than change my style. but that is simply good business sense. most importantly i wouldn't try to do it alone.

something about "the times". i'm off to teach a course with my second life avatar (<a href="http://vimeo.com/19063767">this is me</a>) to 40 graduate students spread out over 5 time zones. i'm not saying that you need to turn into an avatar (though there's nothing like virtual reality to make you feel younger again...) but it's astonishing how these young readers (yes, they do read) not only find their way around social media but, increasingly, expect it.

having said that, quality is still the key. and the baby boomers won't die out for another twenty-five years at least. (but even they push into new media as a way of keeping young it appears).

Marcus Speh
Dec 07, 06:43pm

[reposting because the above was malformatted]

thanks gloria, this makes sense...of course nobody knows. no hard rule for all books unless this is what you want to get known for as a publisher (<a href="http://safetythirdenterprises.wordpress.com/">safety third enterprises</a> instantly come to mind...appealing to people who like THIS type of books presented the way safetyfirst presents them...handwoven as it were)...

i suppose if you ask me should YOU start "these things" (ie. social media stunts): ask your readers but more importantly ask your writers. if i were in your stable, i'd like that. but my stuff is read by the people who read <a href="http://altlitgossip.tumblr.com">this</a> and <a href="http://kaffeinkatmandu.tumblr.com">that</a>.

i would however, if your business already runs and is successful, expand into this area to test the waters rather than change my style. but that is simply good business sense. most importantly i wouldn't try to do it alone.

something about "the times". i'm off to teach a course with my second life avatar (<a href="http://vimeo.com/19063767">this is me</a>) to 40 graduate students spread out over 5 time zones. i'm not saying that you need to turn into an avatar (though there's nothing like virtual reality to make you feel younger again...) but it's astonishing how these young readers (yes, they do read) not only find their way around social media but, increasingly, expect it.

having said that, quality is still the key. and the baby boomers won't die out for another twenty-five years at least. (but even they push into new media as a way of keeping young it appears).

Marcus Speh
Dec 07, 08:55pm

...a little more specific: I met a London literary agent a few weeks ago who was impressed by the breadth of online promotion I do & the readers I get (several thousands each month, but only as long as I prime the pump) and confessed that neither he, nor the publishers he knows, nor any other agents, have a clue or would be able to do anything like this—which is what thousands of writers do. The interaction didn't make me feel any better, however, about the amount of time I spend doing it (too much for what feels like too small a return), or about the capabilities of the so-called publishing industry and its services.

<a href="http://blog.marcusspeh.com/?p=4709">My fantasy</a> has always been that this is what publishers and agents should do & leave more time to me to do the writing. Alas, this seems to have been wishful thinking & at this point in time I remain unsure if there's any real return (other than readers and strokes, which is lovely, of course). But I've always been too impatient for my own good, and I should probably give it another couple years. Write more, blog and chat and comment and hobnob less.

[excerpt from a <a href="http://redlemona.de/richard-nash/blog/gadgets-and-programs-to-promote-your-book-online%E2%80%94what-do-you-use">discussion over at red lemonade</a> which is really very specific with regard to gadgets use around publication—mostly by writers, but as i said, that's what i'd like the publishers to do more of!

Gloria Mindock
Dec 08, 07:29pm

Hi Marcus-

I went and read the discussion over at Red Lemonade etc... I liked what some of people were doing.
I guess it depends what it is. What is the expression-whatever floats your boat!!!!

I personally still feel mixed...

I would think of doing something wild and fun if it was taken as a fun promotion and as an honest promotion. Something exciting to create a buzz. I guess it just depends what it is. Bad gimmicks though turn me off but good promotions and fun gimmicks I probably could deal with. I just did not like what Melville House did. That is just me though and maybe just my taste. No offense to them though. Maybe they did really well with it.
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