The end of the Book World as we know it … or not
Many have bemoaned the end of the Washington Post’s stand-alone book section, and as a book publicist, my initial reaction was angst suitable for the approaching apocalypse. Bloggers, not surprisingly, reacted with rather more equanimity. Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind’s Sarah Weinman pointed out that the book section will continue to exist online (as well as split between the Outlook and Style sections in the print edition) with a large complement of editors, writers and freelancers. Terry Teachout of About Last Night said the lack of a print edition is insignificant since he reads all newspapers online anyway.
Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation declared that the future of book reviewing is on the web, and indeed, several book sections / book editors / former book editors maintain book blogs including Jerome Weeks (formerly of The Dallas Morning News), Frank Wilson (formerly of The Philadelphia Inquirer), The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Washington Post itself.
So then I came to my senses. Is this really the end of book reviewing or is it the start of something new? After all, virtually all online book reviews boast buy links for books — forget about having to remember or look up an author’s name or a book title. It’s true that listenership dropped for radio stations when the television was invented, but entertainment endured (as did radio stations, for that matter). Likewise, while the format of reviews (and books) may change, reading — and writing – will continue. Gutenberg was an innovator 500 years ago — we need to continue his tradition. Those professing sentimentality for their book pages trudging around with reviews clipped from book sections will lose out. The rest of us don’t have to miss this boat.
How to get involved in online book promotion
Today, Buzz, Balls & Hype bemoans diminishing marketing budgets and suggests authors and publishing houses work together closely to maximize their efforts.
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One area that is particularly conducive to a publicity novice jumping right in is the online arena — blogs, discussion groups, wikis, etc. Although all publicity and marketing departments maintain increasingly large lists of bloggers, there are so many blogs that change so frequently, it’s impossible to keep track of all of them. This is where the author comes in.
Did you write a book about the Civil War? Or knitting? Or pets who are heroes? Look up blogs and discussion groups about those topics. Use a site like Alexa or Technorati to determine which of those blogs get the most traffic. Check the blogroll (the blogger’s list of favorite blogs) to find other related sites. Blogs that appear on a lot of blogrolls are obviously more popular than those that do not.
While finding a handful of blogs might take an afternoon, becoming a part of an online community can take weeks or months. Bookmark the blogs. Better yet, add them to your RSS reader. Read the posts regularly. Comment when you have something wise or funny to say. Get to know what a blogger likes to cover, their tone, how frequently they post. Get to know other commenters.
Right about now, you’re asking whether it’s worth spending the time to do this. First, if you had the wherewithal to write a book about knitting, please tell me you at least have some interest — book promotion aside — about what’s rocking the boat in the knitting community. And second, blogs and websites link. They link to small sites, which link to medium-sized sites which link to larger sites. Freelancers who write about knitting visit these sites. Print reporters who cover crafting visit these sites. So yes, it’s worth taking the time to do this.
