Project Alice

If after reading that title you thought of this, then I'm SO happy you follow my blog (RE is a favorite of mine, though they should've stopped after #2):


However, the Project Alice I'm talking about involves BOOKS.

And can be found about 1/3 of the way into this video (it's 5 minutes -- if you let it buffer and skip to the 3:00 mark, it's the Alice portion).

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.



This video offers a sneak peek into IDEO's* vision of books of the future. I'm not entirely excited / impressed by Nelson (though I see it having a huge impact on non-fiction), Coupland is a fabulous concept that I can see as a Library-Bookstore hybrid (seems like an oxymoron, right? But watch the video and see what I mean), but for the children's realm specifically, Project Alice holds a LOT of promise (and, um, hello Cassie Clare shoutout!).

Next week I'll be touching base on how I think we should be looking at enhanced eBooks as more than just the book equivelent of a DVD with extra features.


Are you Team Nelson, Team Coupland, Team Alice, or Team I-Hate-eBooks-Why-Are-Things-Headed-In-This-Direction?!

~KO

*IDEO is a Design and Innovation Consulting firm -- what's that? It's a company that comes up with really cool ideas....for other companies (i.e. they don't execute said ideas themselves) to help them innovate and grow.

SMW Pt 2 -- Social Books

So I went to a panel on Thursday entitled "Social Books: How Media is Changing the Writing, Reading and Promotion of Books."

(to get a range of Tweets, quotes and clips from the panel, look up #socialbooks on Twitter)

When I signed up for the panel, the description essentially indicated that the panelists would be discussing how using tweets, apps, videos, blogs, wikis, mash-ups and fanpages help an author reach far beyond the book's binding.

What actually happened:
Author 1: I have a heckuva lot of followers because of people saying FOLLOW HIM! And now when I Tweet, I lose like 100, because they aren't interested in my feed.
Author 2: I have a blog and many followers. But I turn off the comment section. My blog is a dictatorship, not a democracy.
Author 3: I read @ replies, but there's no point in replying to people.


Ok, so there was more conversation than that, but to be honest, I left about 25 minutes into the one-hour panel. It got to a point where the panelists were essentially saying that publishing is 'ever-changing' and there are 'no hard rules' and I just shook my head and jumped shipped.

The key point I think the panelists, and moderator, were really missing, is the importance of the social aspect of social media. Always remember this key factor:


Social > Media

The social aspect of Social Media is what makes it important and, more importantly, interactive. One of the panelists did have a good point: "All forms of reading, with the exception of books, are social: journalism (newspaper web sites allow readers to leave comments), blogs (comments), videos and movies (YouTube), etc." 

And it's true -- at the moment, books themselves aren't social. eBooks are starting to lean in that direction, with the help of eReaders allowing comments and then sharing such comments with friends. But how do you make books social and help spread the word, outside of Twitter, blogs and Facebook?

Good question. That's why I went to the panel. That's not what I got out of it.


It's not the quantity. It's the quality.
What I did get out of it (though clearly not the point they intended to send) is that it doesn't matter how many followers you have (one author has 1.4 million followers), it doesn't mean you automatically know how to reach your audience efficiently nor does it mean you give them exactly what they're seeking as a follower (note, same author is the one who said "Now when I Tweet, I lose like 100 at a time because they don't care about my feed.")

This sort of links back to what I was talking about earlier this week, and what my main point is when I give my social media talks at conference: Social Media isn't about 10 million followers. It's about generating a following who are going to come together as a community because of you or your product. It's about people coming together because of a common interest and then knowing they can always return to this community for updates, discussions or, the best part, bonus material, relating to said product/person. (bonus material can include sneak peeks, fan art, video clips and more).

I also think it's the point the panelists completely missed, since they bragged about numbers and pointed out the face they would even bar people from commenting, the number of people unfollowing them, and so forth.


Look at your Twitter feed. Do you see anyone you tend to sort of graze over and never really focus on their Tweets? If so, why are you following them?

Look at your blog feed. Do you see any you haven't read since 10 posts ago? Why do you subscribe to them?

~K



(in other news, check out MerBear's post on Social Revolution)

SMW Pt. 1 - Beyond Blogging

So I went to a panel today at lunch titled, "Beyond Blogspot: New Venues and Opportunities for Authors to Get the Word Out"


What I had hoped to learn:

  • What can authors do to make their book and themselves stand out among a saturation of 1 billion + blogs
  • Does it make a difference if an author uses Blogspot, WordPress or Tumblr?
  • What should authors blog about?

What I learned:
  • A blog is ___.
  • Twitter is ___.
  • We can haz book trailers!
  • kld;lk3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

That last bullet point was courtesy of my falling asleep during the panel.*


Seriously, though, I think it's a completely reasonable and intriguing question:

What the heck should an author blog about to make themselves stand out?

Should writers blog about writing?
Should you blog about books you read? Give reviews?
Should you blog about your personal life?
Should you blog about topics relating only to your genre?


That's entirely up to you.

If all you want to do is generate a following of fellow writers, and not necessarily readers, then blog about writing.

If you just want people to come to you as a source for book reviews, then review books.

If you just want people who are nosy and want a peek into your life on a daily basis, then make a Facebook page and make it public -- with pictures.


Your blog should be comprised of information that will define your platform. One of the panelists stated, "If you can't think of anything to blog about, just talk about other authors and books." Great idea. Until you start doing that on a regular basis. Then guess what? Like *almost* any other topic, there are thousands of other blogs that do that and, no offense, probably do it better.

Give your audience a reason to follow you and read your posts.

Then, the most important part, analyze your audience's involvement. If you have 1,000 blog followers but you average maybe three comments per post, then you're not doing your job as a blogger to engage your audience. I think if you average at least 10% of your followers worth of comments per post (i.e. 400 followers and 40 comments), you're doing above and beyond what the average blogger does for their audience -- at least try to aim for 5%.


Three of my favorite bloggers:
Maureen Johnson -- YA author -- her blog has a little bit of everything and 110% of her personality
Ink in All Forms -- by Laura Fitzgerald -- Publishing from a marketing perspective
Strangest Situation -- by Sarah Fine -- Where Psychology and YA Literature Collide


I follow about 20 different blogs, but these are definitely in my top three. Are there other good examples? Absolutely -- but these definitely strike me as unique yet informative and totally for their audience.

Take a look at the blogs you've subscribed to-- do you read them all? Do you find yourself skipping over a bunch of them in your blog roll? Why? What do the blogs YOU read do to keep you engaged?

~KO


*Ok, not really. But you get the point.
**This is the second post in my SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK blog series. If you've not yet taken my ereader poll, please do so here.

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