Like many of you, I use Twitter. (@chriswebb) I use it for a variety of reasons, both personal and professional but have always thought of it as a very ‘personal’ tool. By that I mean it’s an ecosystem of *people* that despite the distance and in some cases, anonymity, relate to each other. It is a social tool – I mean it is called “social media” for a reason.

But I am seeing a trend among several users who are opting for an automated response to everyone who follows them. For example, today I got the following warm-hearted response from someone I followed:

“Thanks for following me! Find GREAT Real Estate deals w/my E-Book (link omitted)”

Wow, how…personal.

So, do I respond personally to everyone who follows me on Twitter? No. But I also don’t send some impersonal canned response either. Instead, I’ll choose to actually engage you in conversation at some point using the tool. That’s the point, isn’t it? Just using Twitter and other tools like it as just another channel to send the same spammy messages one might use in other media is completely missing the point.

The same goes for Authors who use social tools as part of their personal platforms to help support their books. I encourage you to use tools like Twitter – in fact it is becoming more important that you do just that. But use the tools in the way they were meant to be used.

Why not just tweet a simple welcome to new followers?  Maybe 5 or so at a time?  At least then people know you are actually doing it and not relegating it to some cold, automated script. If you can’t manage that for some reason, then just skip it.  I’d rather see nothing than an autoreply.

Do you use an automated, canned response for your Twitter followers?

I am a Vayniac.

Seriously, Wine TV is great, but trust me – the real gold is on Gary Vaynerchuk’s blog. If you don’t already read it, start. I have found that Gary’s approach to business and social media in particular is applicable to whatever field in which you happen to be.

For example, with more than 200,000 400,000 books published each year, word of mouth marketing can make or break you. Below is Gary on how he cuts through all the noise of the social web, and why word of mouth is critical. Sure, he is speaking from his own experiences with Wine TV, but it absolutely applies to book authors as well.

Books sold to most resellers – stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders for example – are returnable.  That is, if the book stores don’t sell them all, they can send them back to the publisher for credit.  Publishers don’t always know when (or if ) these returns will occur.

Because the publisher credits authors with these sales as they leave the warehouse and head to the store, it is possible that some of the books we have paid an author for will eventually come back to us.  To account for this fact, publishers often hold back a percentage of payments due to an author to account for the possibility of returns.  In the case of my publishing program that amount is 20% and is listed on the royalty statement as Reserve for Returns.

If the books don’t come back the reserved amounts are released to the author.

Here are 9 tips for writing a book proposal that will get attention.

1. The Sell Before the Sale
2. Writing a Good Book Proposal: Introduction
3. Pitching Your Book
   
4. Knowing Your Competition
5. Manuscript Details
6. Writing Great Author Biographies
7. Writing Great Book Outlines
8. Understanding Your Book’s Audience
9. 5 (Sarcastic) Ways to Get Me to Reject Your Book Proposal

(Photo credit jm3)

There also seems to be a general consensus that publishers want to shut authors out of the marketing process, and I could not disagree more with this perspective. While the publisher certainly controls the budget and ultimately the marketing plan, I absolutely want the author involved in the marketing process, and I certainly want their input of the types of things we can do to promote the book to readers.

One way we get authors involved in the process is through the use of a questionnaire, and I thought I would share a few of the questions we ask, so you can consider them for your own books or perhaps other products. The Author’s Questionnaire helps you help us sell your book. It is used by Sales and Marketing to position the book in the marketplace and to create the book’s promotions. While we are marketing professionals, we probably don’t have the knowledge that you as the expert in this subject area bring to the table. What you write in the questionnaire is very important and definitely influences how we market and sell your book.

This is not the complete list, but these hit some of the highlights. If your publisher does not involve you in this part of the process ask them why.

• What are the top 10 Blogs we need to tell about your book? Be sure to include a contact and an email address or phone number where possible, and a brief description of who the Blog author is and why it’s important for your book. Don’t forget the blogs of the software development team, or product managers where applicable. (If you come up with more than 10 strong candidates list them all, but try to rank them for priority.)
• What search terms would readers use at Amazon.com to find your book? We may be able to include these keywords when Amazon.com indexes your book. Please be specific and separate terms by commas.
• If you could advertise your book on 10 websites, blogs, or podcasts/video podcasts which ones would they be (ranked in order of importance?) Try to stay focused on the highest impact sites for potential readers – the answer is probably not Yahoo!, The New York Times, or Oprah Winfrey.
• We are always interested in new and interesting ways to market and promote our books. In this section, we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas for sites like Facebook, and You Tube, contests or other unique angles to promote your book.
• “It would be great if so-and-so reviewed the book and talked about it.” Here’s your chance to get your book into the hands of other influencers not listed above. These can be journalists, professors, company executives or anyone else who you feel can have a direct impact on your book’s sales by influencing others to buy it.

Again, this is far from the whole list, but I hope it gives you a feel for the kind of input we want from our authors. What other ways can you help your publisher promote your book?

(Image Credit: drachmann)

If your blog is only relevant to a few close friends, and your website is only a big advertisement for your writing, why should strangers bother visiting either, let alone link to you? Your main goal, if you want people to discover you, is to entertain and inform them. Your Internet presence isn’t about what you have to sell. It’s what you have to offer, usually for free.

What are you offering? What on your website will make a surfer stay for longer than ten minutes? What on your blog will make it relevant in five years? Just being a published writer isn’t enough. Nobody cares that you’re published. Nobody cares that you have a book for sale.

Knorath makes the point that writing a book is only the first of many steps to success, and goes on to give some very practical advice on promoting yourself as a brand, and building the increasingly important absolutely critical Author Platform we publishers keep talking about.

Guess what? Your three sample chapters and two paragraph author bio aren’t enough to keep the average surfer interested for more than a few minutes, if they even find your site.

The article wraps with great advice on spreading your brand online and in real life.  This is a recommended read for current writers and aspiring authors.

Photo credit Xave Ignacio

I assumed it was a much needed break from writing to take in a few of the recently published bestsellers, or maybe to do some research for an upcoming book project.  I was wrong.

Mr. Petzold is taking a week off to consume the more than 1,500 pages that is Clarissa – one of the longest novels in the English language which was originally published in 7 volumes between 1747 and 1748.

I am going to read Clarissa in seven consecutive days. I will begin on the morning of Sunday, July 15, 2007 and (if all goes well) finish sometime in the late afternoon or early evening of Saturday, July 21.

That’s 11-12 hours per day!

Clarissa has no chapters. It is an epistolary novel—a novel composed entirely of letters (epistles)—and there are over 500 of them written during one calendar year. The first letter (to the title character from her best friend, Anna Howe) begins:

I am extremely concerned, my dearest friend, for the disturbances that have happened in your family. I know how it must hurt you to become the subject of the public talk; and yet upon an occasion so generally known it is impossible but that whatever relates to a young lady, whose distinguished merits have made her the public care, should engage everybody’s attention. I long to have the particulars from yourself, and of the usage I am told you receive upon an accident you could not help and in which, as far as I can learn, the sufferer was the aggressor.

Good luck Charles.  You are a brave man.

But even though big sites adding many social features at a time draws lots of attention, there is one site that is way ahead of everyone else, offering a myriad of social features that eclipses the field, hands down. That site is Amazon.com.

As Brian Oberkirch points out, if you factor the social networking features with the awesomeness that is Amazon Web Services, S3, and their affiliate programs, Amazon should really be stealing the all the press from Google and Yahoo!

For authors, the rich social features at Amazon.com are perfect for getting the word out about your book, and you really need to be a part of the conversation.  Check out my earlier posting on 10 Simple Ways Authors Can Increase Sales at Amazon.com, and get in there and be… social.

1. Agents can help take the anxiety out of contract negotiation – Does the idea of reading and understanding a Publishing Agreement give you angina? Seriously, they are not that bad, although some are easier to understand than others. But if you are the type of person who just does not enter into any sort of contract before you have had your resident expert review it, then an Agent makes sense. Some authors have their Attorney review their Publishing Agreement which is ok with me, but unless he or she has previous experience with publishing contracts in particular I suggest an agent instead.
2. Agents can help you find more projects – Are you looking at a one-time project, side work or a longer-term gig? Every author has a first book – is yours an experiment to see if its something you like, or have you “always wanted to write?” Regardless, a good agent should work for you to try an find new projects that fit your interests and skills.
3. Sometimes an agent is required – this is not generally the case in the type of publishing I do, but if you are writing fiction or some other types of literature you may need to have an agent to have your submission reviewed for publication.

If you do decide to use an agent, a bit of advice:

1. References – an agent should be able to point to several published books in your genre, or work for an agency that can do the same. Am I ruling out beginning, independent agents? Not necessarily, but if they can not provide this type of reference, what other experience do they have as an editor, publisher, or author that makes them a good choice as an agent?
2. Upfront fees -I do not recommend an agent who charges an upfront or “reading fee.”
3. Make ‘em earn it - ask what you are getting for your agent’s commission. Having an agent should be a partnership, so be sure they are holding up their end of the relationship. A good agent not only knows where to send your submission, but is an active part of the proposal development process.
4. What have you done for me lately? -a good agent is a hunter, not just a gatherer. Your agent should be actively looking for new projects for you, not just waiting for offers to come in. They should be finding opportunities you would not come across yourself. The agents I tend to work with the most are the ones who ping me every so often to see what I am looking for.
5. Help me! – a good agent knows when you need help, and where to get it. This one is a bit selfish on my part, but if you miss a deadline I’m going to ask how we are going to get back on track. Agents can often help find contributors or co-authors to help keep a book on target. For me it is one additional person looking for help, and for you it is better than losing your book deal.

Authors and Agents, what did I miss?

“On the Web, we let strangers tell us who to trust, what to read, and where to go. Which means your good name can be worth real money. And reputation hacking can be big business.”

In my world this is especially true of Amazon.com. Reader reviews can often make or break a book, so it’s important to pay attention to your book’s page and the activity there. I’m not suggesting that authors or publishers purposely try to game the Amazon.com reviewer system. However, there are several ways authors can participate to be sure that their voice is part of the conversation.

10 simple ways authors can help to increase sales at Amazon.com:

1. Add a link to your book at Amazon.com or other online retailer as part of your email signature, forum signatures – anywhere you leave your name.
2. Add a link to your book on your blog or website. Amazon.com offers an affiliate program which pays you when readers you refer purchase your book. Double dipping!
3. Amazon.com allows readers to share their own images, so get the ball rolling by sharing yours. Look for the “Share your own customer images” link under the book’s cover image and start uploading. Wrote a book on building a PC? Upload photos of the build process. Wrote a Florida travel book? Use those photos of your trip to Disney World.
4. There are 2 quick and simple ways you can help people find your book at Amazon.com. First look for the “Help others find this item” section near the bottom of the page and make valid suggestions for search terms or your book. Second, find the “Tag this product” section and add tags that are pertinent to your book.
5. Get involved in the discussion – many titles now include a beta feature called “Customer Discussions.” Be sure to find that link on your book’s page and monitor it so that you can answer any questions readers or potential readers may have. If there is no discussion started on your book – start one!
6. Be a part of Amazon Connect! Did you know that you can have a blog on your Amazon.com product page? It will list your last 3 posts on the page, with a “more” link over to all other posts. It requires your publisher to verify you as the author of your book via email, so be sure to discuss it with them first. You can learn more and sign up at the Amazon Connect website.
7. Write a Listmania! list. Anyone can create a list of up to 40 related items at Amazon.com. Why not create a list that is focused on the topic of your book and includes your book as well as other items? For instance, if you wrote a book on building a PC, you might create a list simply called Building a PC. The list would, of course, contain your book as one of the items, as well as your favorite hard drive, RAM, video card, motherboard and other parts available through Amazon.com. When you mix product lists like this (i.e. not just a list of books) you are effectively cross merchandizing your book into other sections of Amazon.com. In this example, customers looking for the hard drive or video card you selected may encounter your list and be exposed to your book. In fact, with Listmania! you can get pretty granular. In our example you could also build just a list for video cards with advice for particular cards, and include your book as a guide to building PCs that includes more detailed advice.
8. Write a short tutorial – the So You’d LikeTo…Guides. Similar to a Listmania!, these guides allow you to show off a little bit about what you know. They work very similarly to the Listmania! lists in that you can select a variety of products to include, and provide the same advantage of cross-merchandizing, but should be a bit more advice-driven and tutorial in nature. Check out this short example on hacking old Series 1 TiVos for ideas on how you might be able to leverage this feature.
9. Make sure you book is part of the Search Inside the Book program. This is controlled by your publisher and is a program they have to opt into. If they are not a part of the program, you might ask why they are not involved in such an important marketing vehicle at one of the world’s largest online retailers. If they are a part of the program then be sure your book will be included. As part of this program, Amazon.com indexes the books content and provides online customers a change to thumb through your book.
10. Reviews – I saved the best for last. All the items above were really about helping readers find your book, and participating in the conversation with readers once they have. However nothing helps or hurts sales at Amazon.com more than the Reviewer Ranking and reader reviews. So you should just make up some accounts and start posting 5-Star reviews, right? Of course not – but there are some things you can do to help:

• Write a good book. Obvious, I know – but no amount of promotion will help a book that simply does not meet reader expectations.
• Make sure your colleagues and members of your network get a copy of the book. These readers are more likely to help with favorable but honest reviews, but it’s very important to ask for a review at Amazon.com. Otherwise you may get a “thank you” for the book and nothing more.
• Provide your publisher with a list of influencers in your topical space and be sure they get a review copy.
• If you receive an email or a comment on your blog from someone who enjoyed our book or see a review posted online elsewhere – ask them to post that on Amazon.com. I have also seen authors who have asked for permission to repost favorable online reviews (with attribution) at Amazon.com
• Help Amazon.com weed out the illegitimate reviews. If you get a review that is not appropriate – one where it’s obvious the reviewer did not read the book, provided no basis for the review, or left a simple “This sucks” sort of review, ask Amazon.com to take a look. Each review has a “Report this” link next to it that flags the post for review by Amazon. If they feel the review is not valid they may remove it. Use this option sparingly – it’s not for legitimate negative reviews.

I’d be interested to hear from other editors, authors, markets or publishers on the topic. What have you seen help books at Amazon.com?

(Image credit: Guillermo Esteves)