bringing sexy back: the book party in the digital age

Bringing Sexy Back:The Book Party in the Digital Age

Business Reasons to do a

Create community:  

Create conversation, connection, engagement  

Create and maintain relationships 

Reach influencers, press, tastemakers. 

Engender a feeling of exclusivity and closeness with the author and the author's mission of getting the word out about his or her book. 

Book Party

Book Party

CONSCOSTThey cost several thousand dollars  

GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITSThey occur in one place at one time 

TIME LIMITSThere’s a 2-3 hour window to have an effect  

LIMITED REACHOnly so many taste-makers and press can fit into a room 

RESULTSWho knows?

What’s a digital

Book Party?

IT’S NOT LIMITED BY TIMEIt can happen before, during, and after the official release of a book

IT CAN BE ASYNCHRONOUSYou can have a book party occur in many time zones at once, starting/endingat different times 

IT’S NOT LIMITED BY GEOGRAPHYIt can be anywhere 

IT’S BIGGERIt reaches larger numbers of people

IT’S SMALLERIt reaches a targeted audience

What’s a digital

Book Party?

IT’S AUTHENTICYour message is spread by word-of-mouth

IT’S MEASURABLEResults are trackable

IT’S FOREVER SEARCHABLEBecause a digital record leaves a trail, you can always look up a digital book party

IT’S COMMUNITY BUILDINGIt’s not just about the author. It’s about the audience, too. The audience wants to interact with the author, but they also want to interact with like-minded souls, just as they would at a traditional book party. And those relationships people have reflect back in positive ways onto the author, onto the book, onto the publisher who brought them together. It’s a beautiful and virtuous circle.

(continued)

This is the Culture of

Community

Digital tools enable you to create a Culture of Community around:

•Your authors

• Your books

• Your publishing house

….so the connection to readers becomes deep and ongoing

Taking Book Talk to New Levels

Twitter:

JE TWEET, DONC J’EXISTE

Twitter allows you to reach more of your readers, more directly, more personally and more consistently over time than ever before. It’s like having a CONSTANT conversation.

It’s like tapping in to a list of pre-qualified people who can buy your book – and can talk it up for you. 

And when people talk up your book on Twitter, it helps create a multiplier effect.

Twitter Tips: Bringing the Paparazzi to Your

Online Book Party

1) BOOK SUBJECT 2) BOOK GENRE3) AUTHOR NAME (IF WELL-KNOWN)4) FRIENDS OF AUTHOR (GET LIST FROM HER)5) PRESS/JOURNOS6) REVIEWERS WHO TWITTER7) BLOGGERS WHO REVIEW8) ANYTHING LITERARY OR BOOK-RELATED9) ANYTHING WRITER- OR WRITING-RELATED

Search terms:

Follow twitter.com/mediabistroWe point you to people, tactics + best practices

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Face to Face

Online Parties…

Tweetups Can Be Both

inauguration

journchat

• live streaming radio (or listen later)

BlogTalkRadio (BTR) brings the old-school author radio tour to the Web,

with the potential to reach many more people all at once. BTR launched in 1996, has broadcast 200k+ episodes, hosted by tens of thousands of individuals,companies and organizations.

• Books have their own category on BTR

Ustream.TVa live, streaming, book party (or watch later)

Gary’s been called “the first wine guru of the YouTube era.” “He’s more hyper than Emeril, more cheerful than Racheal Ray, more street than Bobby Flay and cockier than all of them combined,” from TIME magazine.

Meetups:Where Digital Book Parties Get Physical

Meetup was founded in 2002. It has 2.5 million members.

Meetup was founded in 2002. It has 2.5 million members.

Meetup.com

“Meet up provides a platform for people anywhere to

set up a meeting, and organize others with similar

interests. Chess Players, Working Mothers,

Computer Geeks and Book Clubs all use [Meetup] to

gather, share and accomplish things that can only be

done in groups.” –Huffington Post

Ways to use

Meetup

Reach out to existing Book Groups

Reach out to existing Interest Groups

  Advertise on Meetup

Sponsor a Group’s events

Create Your Own Events 

Brooklyn

Facebook, etc.

Social Networks:

It’s not Just About Throwing Sheep

Put more in and get more out

Create personal pages for authors

Change content, pictures, updates regularly 

Connect Twitter to Facebook for easy updates 

Use FB to send invites out to your digital events, as

well as news, reviews and press mentions 

Host discussions, upload video, cross-link to author blog

Engage your fans and friends – don’t just push

Facebook

DIY Book CommunitiesThe Thing About Ning

Never End...

Search for like-minded people

Reach out – to influencers and multipliers

Engage – get the conversation going

Keep engaging your new friends

Think of yourself as a community organizer

Online Book Parties