Ghost social networking — to do or not to do?
In publishing, we’re all familiar with ghost writing. But what about ghost blogging? And ghost tweeting? The other week, I met up with a team from a popular book and author website; one person mentioned she’s seen more and more publishing houses boasting of “Twitter campaigns,” but didn’t quite understand how a house could tweet in an author’s stead. (This is where I make the analogy of someone wanting a baby but having a surrogate carry the baby and a nanny raise it.)
Yesterday, Dave Fleet posted about the issue of “ghost blogging,” explaining why it’s a bad idea and suggesting some alternatives. For example, he suggests having multiple people blog under their own names rather than having them blog under the guise of one person.
Social networking is about making connections. If an author isn’t willing or able to do that his/herself, I think it’s best to channel the marketing efforts elsewhere. Twitter may be the buzz word of the day — and used properly it can sell a lot of books — but a heck of a lot of books are also sold without it. Think about it this way — if an author isn’t willing to speak about a book at an event, would you hold the event with the editor or publicist instead? Granted, some bookstores have had success with authorless events, and certain panel events do work well with people involved with a book who are not the author, but the vast majority of author events depend on, well, the author.
Years ago, back when Friendster was still alive, I created and maintained a profile for an author. But that was the first and only. Logistically, it simply takes too much time to maintain a profile that’s not my own. And sometimes, it takes too much time to maintain my own. Every so often I’m asked by colleagues about whether it’s a good idea to start author profiles on sites like Facebook. (Now I can just forward this link!) Would you as a book publicist create and maintain an author profile on a social networking site or would you leave that task to the author? As an author, how do you feel about having someone network for you?
The book publicity timeline
I spent a goodly amount of time the other day copying 200 press releases and folding them because I’d missed my department’s deadline for sending the releases to the printing house to be copied. The book is a paperback reprint we’re publishing in April, but in publishing we work so far ahead of time that three months early can be late.
Although timing will differ slightly from house to house, here are some common deadlines. (This is the 30-second — actually, make that the 10-second – version of book publicity, since I don’t want to write a book now and you don’t want to read one. At least not here and now, at any rate.) If you do want to read an actual tome about publicity you can try books like Publicize Your Book, The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Publicity or Publicity: 7 Steps to Publicize Just About Anything – none of which I’ve read, by the way, but I like the titles.
Four-six months before publication:
Publicists: Mail galleys to long-lead media outlets (including monthly magazines and trade publications).
If you’re not a publicist: Make sure to share your thoughts about the book’s promotion with the publicity department. For example, what do you think are the book’s key points? What would attract readers’ attention? (And the attention of journalists?) What’s the target demographic? (Is there a demographic we should be pitching that is not immediately obvious?) What ideas do you have to market and promote the book? In what media outlets would you like to see the book covered? (Yes, we’ve heard of Oprah. And The Today Show.)
If you would like galleys sent to your personal media contacts (some authors will have more than others depending on their profession), you should let the publicist know earlier rather than later. Although it may make sense to wait to send the finished book to certain people (rather than the galley), if the publicist has the names early, then s/he can make that determination. FYI, you cannot approach the same person to blurb and review the book for reasons that should be becoming obvious to you right now — if they didn’t already occur to you.
Also, a book’s web presence (website, blog and / or social networking profile) should be established so that journalists can find information online when they receive galleys.
Publicists: Schedule bookstore events (if an event is appropriate for the book).
If you’re not a publicist: Make sure the publicist knows about any significant markets and / or bookstores. Make sure your schedule is clear around the time of the book’s publication (and if it’s not because, say, you’ve won a trip to the moon, let the publicist know). Bookstores need time to organize and promote events (both online as well as in print newsletters) and they often won’t schedule events with less than two months notice. If friends have promised to organize events, get in touch with them and keep the publicist apprised of what’s going on — keep in mind that most bookstores don’t have the staff to sell books at offsite events (like your friends’ parties) if fewer than about 100 people attend.
Four-six weeks before publication:
Publicists: Mail finished books to the media.
If you’re not a publicist: Publishing houses receive finished books (called “bound books” four-six weeks before the publication date of the book). This gives us a head start to get finished books to the media before they appear on shelves. Basically, everything you should have done before *really* needs to be completed now.
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And that’s my 10-second spiel. Which can pretty much be summarized as: it’s never too early.
