Skip to main content

On Promoting Books Online.

In the comments section of this post, Lydia Teh asks how one would market a book online. I really can't say, because I have no experience on such matters. Perhaps Anthony Thornton, author of the book, "The Libertines: Bound Together" can shed us some light on the matter.

The book is about the band, The Libertines, and they were pioneers among other musicians in the age of internet, releasing versions of their songs on the web and embraced communicating with their fans through email. In an article at the Times, Thornton tells us that he decided to market the book with this spirit in mind, and he started with the website of the book:
Sure, other books have had webpages but often they are perfunctory. And as a former editor of the music website nme.com, I knew I had to do something different. Bound Together would have its own site: pages from the book showing Roger Sargent’s intimate photographs of the band; quotes that served as previews; and a countdown to its publication — days, hours, minutes and seconds. It made the book’s appearance an event.
But things really took off when he registered the book on MySpace:
I imagined that interest would be minimal — after all, the book wasn’t due out for two months and no one knew it was coming. In the course of the first week a handful of people “made friends” with the book: close mates, hardcore Libertines fans and those who stumbled on it by mistake (some looking for De Sade sites). I sent a message to each one thanking them: it was a simple courtesy. Suddenly, it mushroomed: first there were five people a day, then 10, then 15 then 25 people wanting to be “friends” with the book. Some asked questions: each received a reply. All my spare hours were spent talking to people who seemed almost as excited about the publication as I was.

Two weeks before publication, the book hit Amazon’s Top Ten bestselling pre-orders.
So his secret was a cool website and generating buzz in an online community portal? Man, how does he make it sound so easy?
Labels:

Comments

  1. Lydia Teh4/7/06 3:03 pm

    Ted, thanks for putting this up. I read in Intech last week about MySpace being used by some other authors as a promo tool. Mmmm, might be worth exploring.

    Would't you say that naming-the-book contest was also generating some online buzz :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted Mahsun4/7/06 3:21 pm

    I think the naming-the-book contest thing was a great idea, Lydia! But it could have only worked for someone who has a good following online, like you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. bibliobibuli4/7/06 11:48 pm

    to be honest, i think it's the way forward ... a cool website or a blog that people love!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5/7/06 12:49 am

    Hi Ted,
    I think it's all about the interactivity of a blog/website which creates the buzz. Also a fantastic personality helps. As you can see, going to MySpace or any other community-minded place online helps because people tell other people and this automatically gives the said person lots of credibility (plus the fact that one can email or feedback immediately makes it real and 'live'). The linkages between people in MySpace is also another reason for high visibility. Just like how I found your blog... by reading comments on Lydia's blog. MayaKirana.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ted Mahsun5/7/06 9:38 am

    Sharon: Yup! But I think a cool website could get quite expensive to make, so a blog is a good alternative. Plus, the interactivity would make people come back (assuming the blog author takes part in discussions, of course).

    Maya: Hi Maya, thanks for dropping by!

    You're right. Word-of-mouth marketing is usually the best marketing for an author. People love getting immediate feedback, and the interactivity provided by Myspace aids a lot.

    But I think the key thing to remember here is not to just log on to Myspace and create an account then point a link to your website or blog or whatever. There has to be something unique to that website--a gimmick of sorts--that will make people want to come back again and again, and I think that will be quite hard to achieve... especially if an author isn't tech-savvy (and they usually aren't).

    Anyway, do drop by again!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...
5 comments
Read more

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...
5 comments
Read more

REVIEW: Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami.

UPDATE: My Wind/Pinball review can be found here . ISBN: n/a Publisher: n/a Paperback: 160 pages In Murakami fan circles, simply owning a copy of Pinball, 1973 is a mark of hardcore-ness. Like Hear the Wind Sing before it, Haruki Murakami does not allow English translations of Pinball, 1973 to be published outside of Japan. Back in the 80s, Alfred Birnbaum translated it into English and Kodansha published it as a novel for Japanese students who wanted to improve their English. While the English edition of Hear the Wind Sing continues to be reprinted and sold in Japan (and available for a moderate sum via eBay, see my review ), Kodansha stopped its reprint runs of the English edition of Pinball, 1973 and has now become a collector's item, fetching vast amounts of money on auction sites and reseller stores. Last time I checked, the cheapest copy went for USD$2500. Of course, Murakami addicts or the curious can always download a less than legal PDF of the book, painst...
18 comments
Read more