There’s a very common practice I’ve noticed nowadays where if someone is looking for a book to read, their first instinct is to turn to Facebook and post a status that reads along the lines of, “I’m looking for something new to read. What do you recommend?” Social media has not just become a way of connecting people, but brain storming as well. This is helping to boost readership, not just among children, but people across the board. How can this be? According to an article in The Bookseller, Dan Martin states, “many having acted--and spent money--as a result of recommendations made across the social networks. One crucial factor is that social media is a communications mechanism in which you can have a constructive dialogue with people” (Martin, 2010) .
The website GoodReads took this aspect of social media one step further. With over five million members, the website specializes in everything book-related, from recommendations, personal reviews, queues and bibliographies, to even author bios, interviews, and blogs (Mulvihill, 2011) . By making the website a center for literature, it becomes a promotion for reading in all aspects. One does not even have to ask the question, “What are you reading?” A member can click on a friend’s profile and see what they have read, what they thought of it, and if there are any other books by that specific author.
Writers have also started using social media to promote their work in a marketing aspect. From My Space to Facebook, authors are getting their work out to the public (and I would be a liar if I said I didn’t use this practice myself). Robert Patterson took this opportunity by starting a campaign to get children to read and spread the word on the interactive website for CNN. Within a day his campaign’s launch, it had over 23,000 supporters on the site alone (Donahue, 2011) .
While social media may be keeping children (and people in general) on the computer longer, it has become a great tool for helping to promote a classic, and sometimes rare, type of recreation.
GoodReads, as well as other social media sites, have opened up a whole new world when it comes to promoting reading. I was very excited when I heard about GoodReads. How amazing is it that I could make a list of all the books I've read, that I want to read, and that I am in the process of reading. Prior to joining GoodReads, I'd always just kept track of the books I'd read with pen and paper.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I love pen and paper. I'm a writer and just about everything I write starts out with pen and paper. But GoodReads made it easier to keep track. For a while, I also belonged to a few readers groups on Facebook. I enjoyed being able to share book reviews and recommendations with people who love to read as much as I do.
I went to a used book sale this morning. I started chatting with a fellow reader and mentioned GoodReads. She was very excited to be able to take advantage of this social media opportunity.
As a writer and a reader, I started a blog of my own, Pages & Pages (srpages.blogspot.com), to review books and offer recommendations. But, like you mentioned, I use my Facebook account to promote my blog, which in turn promotes reading.
You're right that social media sites do keep people on the computer much more. But, perhaps it can be used to offer children, and adults, good reasons to shut off the computer and pick up a book (or an ereader). There's a lot of potential for libraries to use social media.
Pen and paper vs. computer, Goodreads is simply just a great way to organize. The honest to God only reason I don't use it myself is if something can't keep me interested, I won't finish it. Therefore, anything I rate will be 3 stars or better and it would be pretty useless.
DeleteI think you're entirely right about social media keeping people in front of their screens longer, but that there are also benefits to these connections we are making. Something that seems to be happening now is that these types of sites have really opened the door for self-publishers. Unknown authors are gaining exposure for their work through sites like Facebook and Twitter, and sites like Kickstarter are also making some publishing dreams a reality. These "crowdfunded" sites are beginning to grow more popular. Rick Burlew, a webcomic creator, was able to raise enough money through a series of small donations to publish his book.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lulu.com/blog/2012/03/kickstarter-crowdfunding/
Why should something I've written not get out to the general public just because some editor thinks it sucks? I love the fact that self publishing has become an option for writers, whether or not they want to pursue true stardom or not.
DeleteRelated to what Tanner discussed, another method social media has increased connections and encouraged self-publication is the National Novel Writing Month.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nanowrimo.org/
This organization offers connections through Facebook, Twitter, and its own forums to offer tips and encouragement to largely unpublished starting authors, ultimately with the goal that each member write a novel in the month of November, to then be edited through the rest of the year. It also has a tracking feature to encourage accountability among participants, ensuring that participants keep up to their word-count goals.
Ultimately, this is just another social media tool that can be used to encourage authors to keep writing.
-Matt Sherman
Oh, you are talking to the NaNoWriMo queen here. I've won three of the last six years and I'm going with number four this year despite grad school as well. I hit the 7,000 word mark this afternoon.
DeleteIt is a great tool just to motivate some people sometimes. You have no idea how many people just stare at me bewildered when I tell them I participate in this event every year. When they ask me why I would do that, my answer is simply, "Why not?"
I think it’s great social media is being used to promote children’s reading, but in regard to marketing, social media is not always the most effective option. It can be helpful in addition to other marketing strategies, but I do not think it is a reliable method of generating sales for most authors. An article written by Ewan Morgan (2012) for The Guardian, elaborates on this argument. This article discusses several aspects of using social networking to promote book sales, particularly for e-books and self-published works. One of the topics he touches on is the fact that on Facebook, for example, users only see status updates from the last two dozen people they’ve been in contact with. Therefore, not only are authors not reaching the masses with Facebook marketing, but the people authors are reaching are likely friends and family. A different method the article discusses is buying Facebook advertising. Facebook recommends a bid of .33 cents per click, and users have suggested that it is possible to get 51,000 clicks for $650. However, the article adds that 51,000 clicks do not translate into 51,000 sales. A simple click is not the same as someone “liking” your advertisement, and even if someone does “like” it, you are not guaranteed a book sale from that person. Social networking sites merely build weak connections, they are impersonal and people feel free to “like” statuses or say they will attend events but do not actually make any commitment to do so. Another point raised by Morgan is that there are so many self-published authors now, all trying to reach out to social networking sites for marketing, that authors simply get swallowed up into a sea of other authors all going after the same thing. Morgan also adds his perception that the e-book market is now very similar to the print book market in that a few authors make a lot of money, leaving a huge number of authors who make very little (if anything). Morgan concludes with the argument that the only thing social media is actually proven to produce is more social media. Again, I think marketing through social networking is a great option to use in addition to more formal marketing strategies, but for most authors it is not very effective.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Morgan, E. (2012, July 30). Why social media isn’t the magic bullet for self-epublished authors. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/30/tweet-about-cats-just-write
A very interesting point. I think my biggest issue with social media vs. other marketing is the financial aspect. As a beginning writer who is starting to promote herself, I don't have a lot in the line of funds. So any way to get the word out that I have something to offer is something I'm going to pursue. Also, it's something I know how to use and do myself. Some writers are very anxious to let someone else market and manipulate their wears (ugh, editors). To have that control, although very much a newbie move, may seem like a comfort to those slowly stepping into the position.
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