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Archive for February, 2012

Goodreads Report: How Users Discover New Books

For authors: Goodreads recently released a presentation of data about how its users discover new books. I've pasted the link below. Here are two actionable quotes about how you can make better use of the site:

"So authors, if you know of a strong comparable title to your book and you are able to market your book to those readers—and they respond by adding your book to their Goodreads account—our recommendation engine will notice this correlation and be even more likely to suggest your book to the right readers."

"Our best advice is to work hard to establish your core fan base. The more momentum on Goodreads you get, the more it will build. Encourage your readers to rate and review your book on Goodreads. This will not only help generate word-of-mouth buzz, which is essential for a sustained promotion, but also help get your books onto the appropriate book lists and onto the Goodreads Recommendation engine. Our Listopia lists are a great source of discovery for our members, including lots of mid-list titles. They tend to be specific, such as World War II Fiction or Pacific Northwest Books, so having your book on the right list can make a huge difference."

http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/343-how-do-books-get-discovered-a-guide-for-publishers-and-authors-who-want?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=blog_post

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Blog Post: How do books get discovered? A guide for publishers and authors who want their books to find an audience
We've all fallen under the spell of a truly great book. But where did we originally hear about it? How did we come to choose that particular book from among…

Google+: Reshared 2 times

Pinterest Is All the Rage, But Is it Right for You?

The blog post below, from Copyblogger.com, provides a comprehensive list of ways you can make shrewder use of this hot new social network. What it doesn't do, exactly, is answer the question, "Should I be using Pinterest at all?"

Pinterest is a social network for the very visual: a cross-breed between a Tumblr/scrapbooking site and the social bookmarking site StumbleUpon. People use it to collect images of or links to items that inspire them. They organize these images and links in boards, and they then share these boards with others. At its most basic, Pinterest is a way of making lists without having to do much writing; it's the digital version of pinning pictures and postcards to a "vision board" in your office or workshop.

If your business or book is visually-oriented, you can use Pinterest in the traditional way, as a content collector or curator. If you're a photographer or a style blogger, Pinterest is an ideal match–you're already in the business of collecting images. If you're writing a book about management, you may find you have to be more clever in interpreting what you do and translating it for the visual design crowd. (Or maybe you'll decide Pinterest just isn't the place for you.)

My hunch is the best ways to use it may be the creative, "out of the box" applications that call for engagement and the mutual exchange of ideas. For example, a friend of mine is using Pinterest to crowd source an urban design project she's working on. She's asked her friends to help her collect images of pocket parks from major cities. These images will serve as inspiration to help her and the urban designers she's working with to develop a plan for an urban pocket park in Los Angeles.

In her case, she's using Pinterest as a polling tool. How could you use it to make meaningful, useful contact with your audience?

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Reshared post from +Brad Thompson

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56 Ways to Market Your Business on Pinterest | Copyblogger
Don't let all the hearts and flowers floating around on Pinterest fool you. Behind all that beauty, Pinterest is fast becoming a heavy hitting marketing tool.

Google+: Reshared 3 times

Stars of PR, February 9 Radio Show

For anyone who missed my appearance this week on "Stars of PR" with Cindy Rakowitz, below is a link to the archived show on VoiceAmerica.com. You can also download the .mp3 and listen to it as a podcast. Cindy and I talked about the basics of internet publicity–a great intro for beginners who don't know where to start in promoting themselves online (particularly authors).

http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/59403/internet-publicity-expert-kristen-havens

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INTERNET PUBLICITY EXPERT KRISTEN HAVENS | VoiceAmerica™

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