I met Jim Kukral at his Affiliate Summit East 2010 book signing
I’m not an author (yet?), nor do I play one on TV, but when frequent #SMchat contributor TCG Agency suggested publishing and book marketing as a topic for this week’s Twitter chat, I knew several authors to contact. I met Jim Kukral at Affiliate Summit East 2010 (see picture, left). Jim was the emcee and had a book signing during the event, and just a few weeks ago I read a blog post about how he followed up his “traditional” book publishing experience with “crowd funding” a new book series. I also contacted Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules with C. C. Chapman. Since I’m officially “a friend of Ann” (photo proof on my content marketing strategy blog post), I know she would have a lot to contribute, but unfortunately for #SMchat participants she’ll be on a webcast for the AMA at the same time. I’m hoping that other authors and publishers (for both non-fiction and fiction books) will be there to ask and answer questions on publishing and book marketing.
Here are my questions about publishing and marketing a book:
Q1 What is the difference between “traditional” and “crowd-funded” book publishing? Advantages to each?
Q2 Everyone’s an author these days, is it getting easier to get a book deal or is self-published the way to go?
Q3 Do formats matter? Is it better (or more-effective) to publish an e-book before you try a printed version?
Q4 You’ve written a book-now what? Do you need special book marketing skills? What role does social media play?
Q5 Videos, TV spots, print and online display ads – what’s the most inventive way you’ve seen a book marketed?
What questions do you have about book marketing and publishing? Please leave them in the comments below and/or join us on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 1PM ET for the #SMchat Twitter chat – hope to see you there!
#SMCHAT 
AK Stout (@akstout18)
September 20, 2011
Can’t wait for the chat tomorrow! Here are some of the questions I hope to have answered:
How soon should you begin promoting your book before it is finished and is it possible to promote “too early”?
Is there a risk in letting people know about your book idea before it is finished?
Is CreateSpace the best platform for self publishing?
If self publishing, are there any aspects that really would be better if you enlisted the services of a professional?
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sharonmostyn
September 21, 2011
Great questions, AK! I look forward to seeing you during #smchat to get the answers.
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sourcepov
September 21, 2011
Great frame, Sharon, so glad you and Alex (@tcgagency) connected on this. You put a ton of research into potential contributors, too – hope some of them respond.
Should be a great conversation, in any case – hope to see you there!
Chris
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sharonmostyn
September 21, 2011
Looking over my Tweets from last night, I hope I don’t get marked as spam! There were so many interesting people that I wanted to gather insights from: authors/writers, publishers, editors, agents and publicists, etc.! I love to read and I’m thrilled that Alex (@tcgagency) suggested the topic so I can combine work (marketing) with pleasure (reading books).
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Emlyn Chand
September 21, 2011
Hi, Sharon. You pinged my site on this article – the one connected to “self-published.” I’m actually a book marketer whose business model and efforts is solely based on social media. My company, Novel Publicity (www.novelpublicity.com), sprung up earlier this year and has taken off faster than I can manage it!
Would you like to have me along as an “expert” on this chat? I have 9,000 Twitter followers, 1,900 Facebook fans, 2,500 Google+ circlees, and 500+ daily blog readers who are all interested in indie publishing and social media marketing. Plus our newsletter goes out today at noon, so it would be the perfect timing to snag as many as possible.
Just let me know,
Emlyn
President
Novel Publicity, LLC
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sharonmostyn
September 21, 2011
Nice to “meet” you Emlyn! I saw your article on the #publishing hashtag and thought it would be a great addition to the #SMchat topic on book publishing and marketing. I would LOVE to have you as an expert on the topic – it certainly sounds as if you’ll be able to provide some great perspectives (and case studies?) on the book marketing world! Thanks for joining us and we’ll see you on #SMchat at 1P ET today!
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Emlyn Chand
September 21, 2011
Hi Sharon. Sorry for joining late. I signed up for notifications of new comments on this article but didn’t receive one when you replied. Bummer! Well, I’m there now.
I also blog exclusively on this topic over at http://www.novelpublicity.com/blog – I cover how to set-up accounts on multiple sites, step-by-step as well as some advanced usage techniques.
This is a fun chat – we’re in it now actually ;-)
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sourcepov
September 23, 2011
Really hate that I missed this conversation. Going to pull the transcript now. Thanks so much for facilitating this Sharon. Might be a topic we circle back to.
Emlyn – welcome to #SMCHAT :)
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sharonmostyn
September 21, 2011
What a great chat – thanks all for participating! You can check out the “transcript” at http://t.co/hJJesuIm and I’ll do my best to post a recap article in the next few days! There was so much great info shared, I hope I don’t miss anything. In the meantime, please feel free to leave additional comments below and we’ll try to get them answered.
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sharonmostyn
October 9, 2011
The recap took me a while because I had so much great info that I had to write TWO posts! I split the chat into Publishing and Marketing so it was easier to focus on what you found most interesting – or you could read both.
Book Publishing: http://sharonmostyn.com/2011/10/10/book-marketing-recap-part-1-publishing/
Book Marketing: http://sharonmostyn.com/2011/10/10/book-marketing-recap-part-2-marketing-methods/
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