As a publisher or an author, it is never too early for you to begin your viral marketing program. Instead of waiting until your title has been placed on the shelves of Barnes & Noble or Borders Books (in which there is no guarantee) I strongly encourage you to become proactive in helping introduce your ideas, i.e. book to the users of the World Wide Web.
First, at Midpoint we encourage all of our publishing clients to have a substantive brainstorming session with their authors. I would suggest this to happen at the manuscript stage. The first discussion point should be about the author’s platform. Is the author an expert in his/her field? Does the author have published works, lecture, consult, blog, and/or give speeches? Who does the author know? Next, who are the author’s readers? Who cares as deeply about the subject as the author does?
Let’s say that the book is Predicting Technology, We know by anecdotal research that the passionate technology reader is most likely to be male, early to late 20’s, a gamer, an entrepreneur, someone who is computer, IPod and, MP3 savvy, college educated, and with northwest and east coast sensibilities (areas in which the majority of tech jobs congregate). These basic generalities about “your reader” can set you up for the next stage of your outreach to them.
Once you have established who “your reader” is, continue with your research by asking more questions. Where are these young men hanging out virally? What magazines or books are they reading, watching on TV, downloading from iTunes or seeing at the movies? What are their favorite websites and blogs? Do they have a profile on MySpace or Facebook and who are their friends on these sites? (Most likely, they will be likeminded guys.)
Finally, how do you form an online relationship with these folks? How do you share your passion for technology and the future of technology with these core readers? What are some effective ways to reach out to them? I will begin to answer this shortly.
This brainstorming meeting between an author and a publisher could take a few hours or up to several weeks as you explore and develop a sophisticated profile of your reader.
Once you have a detailed report on your readers and think you know them well, you will be ready to start forming relationships with them. As they get to know you, they will begin seeking you out for information and will feel comfortable sharing ideas with you. These viral relationships will begin to grow. In real life social situations I know it takes many “bowling nights” to befriend even one or two new acquaintances. As we all know, relationship-building is an ever-evolving process. Your job as an author is essentially to start a club, invite members, and give them a reason to keep coming to your meetings, share your expertise, plant ideas and nurture these new relationships one by one. As importantly, you must participate in their meetings, post comments on their blog or website. Become an active part of their group.
Your efforts in outreach should never be about a monetary transaction (i.e. a sale of your book). Savvy consumers know when they are being sold and they are turned off by the overture. Selling is not your primary objective. The goal of your “branding efforts” is to establish yourself as one of the experts in your field. You must believe that your ideas and solutions are unique, different, and important to share. Your book is the “souvenir” of your knowledge, the compilation of all of your expertise and passion. Folks will want to have this more detailed, researched “souvenir” whether it is packaged as a hardcover or paperback book, an eBook, a weekly podcast, a blog or a downloadable audio version. As an aside, it is important to repurpose your intellectual property into all of these different formats so that all readers, regardless of their preferred reading or listening method, will be able to have access to your knowledge.
Your next step is to set up domain names that best describe what you are trying to share. I would suggest setting up a minimum of two domain names. The first should be the title of the book, and the second, your name. I recommend purchasing your domain names at www.godaddy.com. The purchase price and yearly charge is minimal, and setting up a domain name is an easy, straightforward process. I also recommend that you buy only the “dot com” extension. It is not necessary to buy “dot net” or “dot org” extensions, as they are not as popular among web users. Choosing good domain names is vital to the success of your efforts. You may not be knowledgeable about websites and domains just yet, but try not to let this hold you back! Owning your own web “real estate” in the form of a domain name will insure that your book and your name will be reserved especially for you. No one else can use your domain name once you have made the purchase The domain name is yours to keep forever (as long as you pay the yearly fee!) and it can evolve into your most powerful branding tool as you explore how to monetize your knowledge, ideas, expertise and lastly, the “souvenir”.
In conclusion, two key components for successful viral marketing efforts should happen in the manuscript stage of the publishing process – asking good questions to discern who your reader is and choosing and purchasing domain names for your website. You will then be two steps closer towards reaching the goals you have set for yourself and your book!
How to develop your website for maximum “relationship” building will be in a future post.
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