somersault

Blogger Paul Steinbrueck (@paulsteinbrueck) says social media are allowing writers to more easily connect with their readers and that authors must take advantage of this if they want to spread their word. Here’s an excerpt from Paul’s blog:  

Traditionally, it had seemed that the aptitudes needed for authoring books were vastly different from those needed to market them. Great writers had tended to be artistic, idealistic, philosophical, and perceptive commentators of society, while great marketers had tended to be pragmatic, street smart, action-oriented, and shrewd handlers of resources. (Both share the common ground of being astute observers of human nature.)

Yet it seems that to be successful in this post-technological Age of Recommendation, both gifted writers and gifted marketers need to overcome certain hurdles to function effectively in areas that may not their primary passion and strengths.

He suggests the roles for writers and marketers are blurring (writers need to sell and marketers need to write). Read the blog post in full.

  Online Media Daily commentary by Aaron Shapiro (@arnshap):

…as I sit in front of my Kindle…I can't help but think this all feels so quaint. I feel like I'm back in the third grade marveling at my amazingly cool Casio calculator watch. eBooks may become 50% of all book sales in five years, but I'd say it's just as likely that in five years, e-readers become as much a relic of 2010 hip as the Rubik's Cube is to 1980s style.

Read the commentary in full.

 Elizabeth Bluemle, co-owner of the Flying Pig bookstore in Shelburne, VT (@FlyingPigBooks) writes for Publishers Weekly’s bookselling blog, ShelfTalker. In today’s post, she whimsically reflects on the unique ability of “selling a book based on a single sentence uttered to a receptive ear. It’s a rare and delicious triumph of communication, a gift given by the booktalking muse, and it delights customers as much as it delights booksellers.” She writes with such engagement, you’ll enjoy reading it in full. Here’s an excerpt:  

Sometimes, a book provides you with that magical line—often its first sentence—and all one needs to do is read it aloud to a customer and the book is sold. For instance, Frances Marie Hendry’s marvelous Quest for a Maid begins with this stunner: “When I was nine years old, I hid under a table and heard my sister kill a king.” That’s all a kid needs to hear to want to read that book. The same is true of Avi’s True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, which starts thusly: “Not every thirteen-year-old-girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty.” The reader is hooked like a pike on a piece of year-old Velveeta.

Ms. Bluemle hits the very essence of good marketing: crafting an enlighteningly fast and distinctive communication device that grabs the consumer and doesn’t let him/her go.  

The key to the one-liner is that it has to lure the reader with something irresistible, something intriguing or powerful or magical or mysterious that invites a deeper relationship with the book. It also has to be sincere, enthusiastic, and heartfelt. I’m sure the expressions on our faces that sell books as much as the words we use. People can see it in your eyes when you’ve loved a book, lived it, want to share it with others. 

Every author should take this to heart and develop the perfect one-line descriptor of their book that forces the hearer to say, “I must know more!” 

 According to Shelf Awareness, on The Daily Beast, Ingram Content Group president and CEO Skip Prichard predicts a bright future for the book -- in a variety of forms. Because of its "portability, durability, and flexibility," the printed book will endure, he wrote.

Though massive print runs will decline, today's print technology allows a book to be manufactured and delivered within 24 hours of placing an order. I foresee a future when all of the electronic devices will have a button to press when you decide you really want that hardcover or paperback copy mailed to your home. Because no matter how exciting the world of enhanced media books becomes, I suspect there will be some like me who want it both ways. I may love my new iPad, but I still look forward to reading that relic of the past, the good old-fashioned, printed book.

In fact, the future is now, Prichard says. He calls this

the most exciting time to be involved in the book business. Not only are books receiving more media attention, the new technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity to engage readers. Audio and video enhancements offer authors the ability to reach a reader like never before. Social networks allow readers the chance to discover books they would never have found. Touch screens let children interact with books or play games related to the story. Educators find that reading assignments come alive as all learning modalities can be engaged. Three-dimensional graphics and spoken text transform plain words into dynamic new worlds. The book itself is being reinvented. The future is here.

Read the full article at The Daily Beast.

Flipboard is a new free iPad App “inspired by the beauty and ease of print media.” Flipboardʼs mission is to fundamentally improve how people discover, view, and share content across their social networks. This looks like a game-changer. Watch the video and see for yourself:

This commentary in The Washington Post describes a new study about the relationship between books at home and educational attainment around the world. Here’s an excerpt:

The study, "Scholarly Culture and Educational Success in 27 Nations," by four researchers in the United States and Australia, is worth reading by those in the Washington area, where the number of books varies so much from family to family, and not necessarily because some parents are well-educated and others aren't. The study, based on 20 years of research, suggests that children who have 500 or more books in the home get, on average, 3.2 years more schooling than children in bookless homes. Even just 20 books makes a difference. The availability of reading material has a strong impact on a child's education, even when controlling for the effects of parental education, father's occupation, gender, nationality, political system and gross national product.

Another reason why books are so important!

This TIME magazine article highlights another changing aspect of publishing. Here's an excerpt:

Will 2010 be the year of the ebook? With Apple's iPad, Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook and a host of other e-devices now on the market, readers have more alternatives to old-fashioned paper and ink than ever. And as a result, digital sales are soaring: the Association of American Publishers reports that ebook sales jumped 207% in the first five months of this year, and on July 19, Amazon announced that it now sells more Kindle e-books than it does hardcover volumes.

But don't bother looking for your favorite e-title on a bestsellers list: With the exception of USA Today, national print lists don't track e-books or include their revenues in sales figures. With these digital downloads now accounting for more than 8% of the total consumer book market, though, that's going to start changing soon. "We're certainly looking at it really closely, and will find some way, I think, to inform readers about ebook sales," says Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the influential New York Times Book Review. "But what kind of list it will be, at this point, is undecided."

This article in yesterday’s New York Times explores the trend of employers who, after cutting their employee count deeply during the recession, are aiming to keep profit margins high without rushing into hiring again.

This mentality -- keep corporate profits healthy by continuing to cut costs, rather than re-hiring as sales level off and then begin to increase -- will keep publishers looking for outside agencies (like Somersault) to do some of the work. We don't think we'll see publishers re-hiring their inhouse workforce any time soon.

This Digital Book World article is “a roundup of notable posts that focus on how publishers can navigate the digital transition that’s simultaneously disrupting established business models while creating amazing new opportunities for those willing to experiment, take calculated risks, and rethink where ‘the book’ fits in the digital era.” Devote 15 minutes to this interesting reading.

http://frankandernest.com/