2012 SXSW Interactive Panel Picks

The SXSW Interactive PanelPicker catches me off-guard every year. Not only do you have to submit proposals by mid-summer, voting kicks off by mid-August.

Weren’t we just at the Iron Cactus for the Books & Bytes party with Cave Henricks Communications?

Regardless, it’s time to start thinking ahead to next year’s event. In the spirit of picking panels, I wanted to recommend some Cave Henricks Communications and Shelton Interactive client panels that I think are worth your attention.

(by the way, they wouldn’t be clients if they didn’t offer amazing, game-changing perspectives, so there’s no reason to take the recommendations below with a grain of salt)

1. Little Bigs: How Small Changes Ignite Innovation (Lisa Bodell, FutureThink)

About: According to IBM’s 2010 CEO Survey, the pace of change is accelerating and next-generation businesses must thoughtfully build and sustain the right corporate culture to remain relevant through turbulent times. Too often, our natural response to this accelerating pace of change is to try our hardest to dictate permanence. In doing so, we install risk-mitigating processes that trump culture. In fact, the very mechanisms we put in place to promote productivity are robbing us of the ability and time to be creative and add value. This experiential case study session is a call to arms: to hit the reset button on how we think and work. Instead of creating more one-size-fits-all change initiatives forced upon employees, you will learn how to change everyday things in small ways to create big ripple effects throughout your organization to reignite critical aptitudes like inquiry, curiosity, and innovation. Learn how a large financial services organization created a new breed of employee that helped to reset the corporate culture, not from the top down or bottom up, but from the middle out. Take away tangible and actionable steps to shake up your organization’s standard practices, from unproductive meetings to go-nowhere strategic planning, resulting in big change and a powerful boost to innovation. Find the little-bigs that will reinvent your organization—and awaken your ability to think, and ultimately, to take control of the future.

My two cents: You’re going to be hearing a lot more about Lisa in the coming year–find out why at this session.

#SXSWBooks

2. Start-Up Passion Smackdown (John Bradberry, Ready Founder Services)

About: While entrepreneurial passion is vital to startup success, it’s also a double-edged sword. It can limit and endanger startups in a number of ways. At the same time, I have found passion to be a polarizing, almost sacred, topic among many entrepreneurs. They are just as passionate about their passion as about their actual startups. They too often experience clear-eyed scrutiny and realistic consideration of risk as “negative thinking,” and I’ve seen a lot of virtual tomato throwing in online forums about entrepreneurial passion. So, the intent and spirit of the workshop is to help aspiring founders transcend the false dichotomy between “positive” and “negative” thinking, to subject their ideas to rigorous scrutiny in a way that actually deepens their passion and confidence.

My two cents: There aren’t too many people who have made a bigger impact on our success this first year than John. If you’re launching a start-up, this is a must for you.

3. How To Communicate Live in our Digital Age (Jodi Glickman, Great on the Job)

About: Technical skills on the job aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. They are important, yes. You have to be technically proficient to do your job. But they aren’t the end-all be-all. Instead, they are simply “check the box” skills you need to get by. The truth is, soft-skills and communication skills are the ones that will make or break your career. To get promoted, compensated well, to close a deal, move ahead in your organization, build consensus around your ideas, or sell yourself (or a product), kick-ass communication skills are your only hope. In this high-impact workshop, you’ll learn how to talk to your boss, board, colleagues or clients at work, every day, in every situation, when you’re on top of your game and when you have no idea what’s going on. Great on the Job has reversed engineered hundreds of the daily one-on-one conversations that are critical to success yet aren’t taught—not in undergraduate programs, not in business school, and not in the workplace.

My two cents: There is a reason that Jodi is one of the most popular Harvard Business Review bloggers–she’s smart, brutally honest and sports a client list that includes Harvard Business School, Wharton, NYU Stern School of Business, Kellogg School of Management, BofA/Merrill, Citigroup and many others.

4. For Better or For Work (Meg Hirshberg, Inc Magazine/Stoneyfield Farms)

About: How does someone who is obsessed live peacefully with someone who isn’t? That question—posed by an entrepreneur—elegantly summarizes the quandary faced by company founders and their spouses. In “Balancing Acts,” Meg’s regular column in Inc. Magazine, she examines the impacts—for better and for worse—of entrepreneurial businesses on families. As the spouse of an entrepreneur–married for more than 25 years to both her husband, Gary Hirshberg, and his business, Stonyfield Yogurt–this topic is familiar terrain. Gary co-founded Stonyfield on a farm in 1983. In those days, the business was “seven cows and a dream,” as company literature describes it. At sales of over $370 million, Stonyfield is now the third largest yogurt company in the U.S. In this session, Gary and Meg will discuss lessons learned about how a marriage and family can survive the wild ride of an entrepreneurial business.

My two cents: In addition to having my favorite book title of the past year (For Better or For Work, Mar 2012), Meg writes a fantastic column for Inc Magazine about the impact of entrepreneurial businesses on families. She’ll have her husband, Gary Hirshberg, the founder of Stoneyfield Yogurt there with her to discuss the family issues surrounding start-ups.

5. Marketing in a World Gone Mobile (Chuck Martin, Mobile Future Institute)

About: Mobile is a game changer. The mobile device is up close and personal, always on and drives behavioral change. In this rapid-fire presentation, digital pioneer and N.Y. Times Business Bestselling author Chuck Martin highlights what he found in his extensive research on his latest book on mobile. He will detail the rise and characteristics of the untethered consumer and the significance and future role of time and location in relation to smartphones and interactivity. He will show the best practices in mobile marketing with insight and practical strategies and tips to survive and thrive in the mobile revolution.

My two cents: Chuck Martin’s recent book, The Third Screen, was widely lauded as a category killer in the mobile space and this presentation is a perfect fit for marketers and anyone looking to step their mobile game up.

6. The Art of the No-Decision Decision (Peter Sheahan, ChangeLabs)

About: The art of the no-decision decision: getting people to change without thinking How do you change behavior? We are at mental capacity, and most external attempts to change our behavior fail because they require too much mental energy; any deviation from the status quo is asking too much. Behavioral economists and corporations alike are tapping into this idea of the no-decision decision, from combating obesity with the size of our popcorn buckets to engineering higher game engagement with an ugly carpet. How can we pull this lever to improve user experiences? Which companies are already doing this successfully? By employing semantic technologies we can lower the barrier to behavior change and engineer structures that facilitate the very change we seek – whether it is improving the health of a generation or propelling a social movement from ‘awareness’ to ‘action’.

My two cents: Pete is one of the most talented speakers I have ever had the pleasure of working with and you’ll find out why in this session.

What panels are you most excited about attending this year?

Posted in Blog | Tagged Cave Henricks Communications, Clients, SXSW, SXSW Interactive | 1 Comment

Steve Denning On Growing Your Blog Tenfold

There are few clients I have enjoyed working with as much as Steve Denning.

The former director of knowledge management at the World Bank and the author of six books, including The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management, Steve is as smart as he is driven (one thing I have learned through the years–there is no substitute for genuine passion for one’s message and Steve has it in spades).

That said, one of the challenges of working with busy, successful authors like Steve is the fact that they are being pulled in a thousand different directions at once and getting them to spend time on making their blog great can be a challenge.

When we started working together last summer Steve was posting regularly, but not daily, and was not getting everything he could have been getting out of the time he was spending blogging. As a result of a few tweaks and a year’s worth of hard work and great writing from Steve, he has grown his page views more than tenfold.

Along the way, Steve has learned a significant amount about how to grow a large readership on a blog (things we would do well to listen to). Below, in a guest post that originally appeared on Forbes.com, Steve tells us more about what works best.

Fourteen Points On Growing A Blog

Steve Denning

“I’m sometimes asked what is involved in growing blog. I’m hardly the one to respond, as I’m a relative newcomer to blogging. I’ve only been at it actively for about a year. But as my blog has grown quite substantially over this period, I’m happy to share my hypotheses as to what’s responsible.

In return, I am hoping to get feedback as what people would like to see more of—or less of!

I joined the Forbes platform in January and that has obviously a huge factor in the growth of traffic. But there are also massive differences between my posts on Forbes that attract a lot of traffic and my posts on Forbes that attract relatively few readers. As to what leads to the big traffic, here are fourteen hypotheses:

Fourteen hypotheses

1. Have something to say. You can have big hits with catchy titles, but ultimately building a following means having a coherent point of view on the range of topics that people are interested in and want to keep coming back to hear more. Knowing your audience and speaking their language are obviously important. Linking every article to the core theme is key.

2. Have a catchy title: It’s hardly a new thought that titles are a big part of the difference in traffic. “Spam Grandma For Cash” will do better than “An Analysis Of The Impact of Intrinsic Vs Extrinsic Motivation in Management Of Large IT Organizations Today”. The difficulty lies in coming up with catchy titles. Plugging in to current events can be helpful, although since everyone else is also doing this, you have to say something different to stand out from the crowd.

3. Write the title after the article. You are looking for a catchy phrase that highlights a key point with unexpected language. Typically this occurs (if at all) while writing the article not before you start. Hence always consider the initial draft title as a second-best throwaway title. You must be able to do better!

4. In the title, be specific: In a business blog, try to have a single firm name in the title. “Memo to Merck” will do better than “What The Pharmaceutical Industry Should Do,” even though the content of the article may in fact be about entire pharmaceutical industry.

5. Judiciously include big famous firms as examples: Objectively, small obscure firms are often more relevant examples. But in terms of communications, the reality is that people like to hear about big famous firms that they already know to some extent. So use the best examples even if they are unknown firms, but also try to add some big famous firms as further illustrations of at least part of the argument, while being careful to point out any respects in which the big famous firms don’t fit the argument. (Using examples of famous firms that don’t fit the argument is obviously very common on the web and very bad.)

6. Use stock tickers: Write not just Apple or Wal-Mart, but Apple [AAPL] or Wal-Mart [WMT]. Obviously this won’t apply if you don’t mention any listed firms. Tickers help your target audience find you.

7. Use categories. Categories help attract the attention of your target audience. The categories on the Forbes platform are particularly helpful in attracting the attention of viewers.

8. Do a series of posts: Given my subject matter, my posts tend to be on the long side. I was warned that this would be a drawback. But it doesn’t seem to be so for my subject and my audience. Thus the posts that have attracted very large audiences have all been longish. But if the posts are very, very long, then break them up into a series of two parts, three parts, or even four parts if the subject warrants it. By advertising “Coming tomorrow…” you invite people to come back. This has caused traffic to build over the series of posts.

9. Keep personal material light and relevant: Readers don’t come to my blog to learn what what I ate for breakfast. But my experiences, say, as a senior manager at the World Bank, or with a bad airline trip, or eating incredibly delicious bread in France, can add a light personal touch that is helpful, provided that they are tightly linked to the themes of the blog.

10. Find the right graphics. It took me more than a year to come up with the graphics that illustrate my main themes of my current blog effectively. The earlier versions worked to a certain extent, but they were not as clear, crisp and dramatic as the current versions.

11. Keep experimenting: Some titles have done unexpectedly well, that don’t follow any of these rules, e.g. “How to say no while inspiring people” did unexpectedly well. No famous firms, no tickers. It just seemed to hit a nerve and take off.

12. Post once a day: I see an immediate falloff in traffic if I stop blogging even for a day. Blogging once a week is probably not going to get the job done.

13. Highlight the work of like-minded writers: This is about advancing the subject, not just promoting your own work.

14. Avoid videos and audios. Everyone says the opposite, but videos and audios have not done well for me. In fact, for my audience, they seem to be almost the kiss of death, both my own videos, as well as videos by other people that I think are absolutely terrific like Rachel Botsman’s cool TED video. Not sure why.

Twitter

Twitter has been very helpful as a kind of on-ramp to the blog. I use it to flag the new blog posts and this is obviously key.

Thanking those on Twitter who retweet your stuff is important. This helps build a sense of common purpose and a community of interest in your core themes.

Using Tweetdeck has been a must. In enables me to keep track of many things at once. It also automatically feeds my Twitter entries to my Facebook page. (Facebook per se hasn’t been a significant part of my activities to date, in part because I don’t use it for my personal life.)

Other ideas?

Those are my hypotheses to date. The hypotheses relate to my subject of radical management, i.e. a big complex argument about the transformation of management and indeed the whole of society where the target audience is senior executives, change agents and all those interested in leadership, management and the future of the human experiment.

The hypotheses will be different for other themes/audiences. For instance, if your blog is about making money in the stock market, you would want very frequent short pieces with quick topical insights.”

Very good thoughts from Steve. Have you tried any of Steve’s tips? What else have you seen work well?

Posted in Blog | Tagged Blogging, Social Media, Steve Denning | Leave a comment

Bad handwriting + a white board = year one at Shelton Interactive

Posted in Blog | Tagged author, book publishing, client success, digital marketing, Social Media, web platform, websites, year one | Leave a comment

Writers’ League of Texas 18th Annual Agents Conference

The Writers’ League of Texas 18th annual Agents Conference is THE place to be Friday through Sunday (6/10-6/12) in Austin, TX. Learn the latest trends in publishing and meet some of the BEST of the BEST agents, editors and other literary decision makers from the world of New York publishing.

Shelton Interactive and Cave Henricks Communications are two of the proud sponsors this year. See some of the other great conference sponsors here.

Writers' League of Texas logo The conference is a place where careers are launched, questions are answered and crucial relationships are formed. It’s a conference for those beginning or in the midst of their writing journey and for published authors who want to take their careers to the next level.
Registration includes:

* 24-plus panels and lectures on writing and the publishing business
* Admission to the Welcome Reception with agents and editors
* Access to top agents and editors throughout the weekend

For details and to register visit the WLT Agents Conference registration page.

The keynote speaker will be Jane Friedman, an industry authority on commercial, literary, and emerging forms of publishing and the former publisher and editorial director of Writer’s Digest. In her keynote, she will discuss: “Is the Book Dead? Who Cares! Everyone’s predicting the death of something in publishing—the publisher, the agent, the editor, the bookstore, even the book itself. While it’s true that publishing is undergoing an irreversible transformation, what does it really mean for authors? What’s myth and what’s reality?”

This year’s conference has some new components designed to help attendees navigate the changing landscape of publishing:

➢ First Pitch and Last Pitch: To make the pitching process more fun, they’re debuting “performance” pitching, in which a panel of agents responds to a reading of anonymous pitches drawn from a box.

➢ Consultations with Publishing Experts and PR & Marketing Pros: With such a stellar lineup of experts, attendees will have many chances to meet with them individually.

➢ Tracks on PR & Marketing, Publishing 2.0, Craft, and Children’s Books: Each breakout time slot will include workshops on these tracks, as well as sessions by agents and editors.

➢ Taco Tweetup (8:30-10 a.m. Saturday): Complimentary Breakfast Taco Buffet
➢ Join WLT Executive Director Cyndi Hughes for a quick overview of how to make the most of the weekend. Then Rusty Shelton of Shelton Interactive will emcee the Taco Tweetup over breakfast tacos. Tweet questions about agenting, publishing, writing, or marketing using #WLTCON, and Shelton will ask the esteemed panel of experts for their answers.

Check out and download the Conference Schedule here.

Hope to see you there!

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

Books, Blogs & BEA

I don’t usually get too excited about BookExpo America, but I must admit that I am pretty amped about this year’s conference.

For those who haven’t been before, this is the U.S. book industry’s largest trade show—a collection of publishers, literary agents, foreign rights agents, publicists, media members, celebrity authors and overpriced food vendors. From C-SPAN buses to afternoon happy hours to free galleys to sore feet, it’s always a whirlwind week.

This year, in a smart move, BookExpo America is co-locating at the Jacob K. Javits Center with BlogWorld East, one of the biggest social media conferences in the world. Your BEA badge gets you into the BlogWorld exhibit floor and your BlogWorld badge gets you into BEA. Tremendous value on both sides of the partnership, though I’m disappointed that BEA badges don’t get you in the actual BlogWorld conference (no education sessions–just the exhibit floor).

Even so, I can’t think of a better conference for the book industry to co-locate with. Similar to SXSW Interactive, the ideas and discussions taking place at BlogWorld East are likely to be ideas that move the book industry forward as well.

The bad news?

It is scheduling madness–truly impossible to get everything you want to out of both shows if you need to have a foot in each.

The good news?

Breanna & Benedict love BEA

I’m here to help. Since I over-scheduled meetings throughout the show, I’m going to attend panels, presentations and book signings vicariously through you. In case you don’t have badges for both conferences, I have noted which conference the event is tied to after the recommendation. Here are my picks for your schedule next week:

Tuesday, March 24th

9 AM – Jay Baer presents on THE NOW REVOLUTION (Wiley, Jan 2011) at BlogWorld East ~ A great way to kick-off BWE–Baer’s take on the importance of speed is right on the money. (BlogWorld)

10 AM – Chuck Martin signs copies of THE THIRD SCREEN (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, May 2011) ~ Martin’s take on smartphones and the “third screen revolution” is a must for marketers. (client) (BEA)

11 AM – Chis Zane signs copies of REINVENTING THE WHEEL (BenBella Books, March 2011) ~ Zane is the founder of world-famous Zane’s Cycles, and a guy who redefined customer service. (client) (BEA)

11:30 AM – Kelly Leonard (one of my faves on Twitter) presents “Gowalla Where? Emerging Niche Social Media Platforms (and Their Uses) All Book Industry Professionals Should Understand.” ~ You never know, maybe Kelly got Foursquare or Gowalla to give her badges for check-ins at her presentation. (BEA)

Get some lunch already!

2 PM – Evergreen Book Marketing That Works Beyond Pub Dates and Front List Efforts, a panel of heavy hitters, including Rachel Chou (Open Road Integrated Media) and MJ Rose (Author Buzz) and moderated by John Mutter, Editor-in-Chief, Shelf Awareness ~ what publicity now looks like. (client) (BEA)

3:30 PM – The Future of eBooks Publishing Executive Panel, moderated by Tom Turvey, director, strategic partnerships, Google Books. ~ It’s been less than six months since Google announced the launch of Google eBooks and part of the intrigue here is that it feels a bit like Jeff Bezos moderating a panel on the future of bookstores. (BEA)

Tired? You’re not getting a cab, so head back to the conference floor and find a happy hour.

Wednesday, May 25th

9:30 AM – Director and Producer Steve Stockman will teach us “How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck! And 10 Things Book People Need to Know” ~ This may be the most common question I receive from authors (besides “who cares what I ate for lunch?”)–here’s a good place to get more insight. (BEA)

11:30 AM – Head over to BlogWorld for “Common Sense and Collaboration – The Last Stumbling Block for PR and Bloggers,” presented by Danny Brown and Gini Dietrich. ~ Both Brown and Dietrich are stand-outs in both fields and broach a tricky topic here. This is a must for PR reps–will be interesting to see how many bloggers attend. (BlogWorld)

It’s lunchtime and the magic question is–will BlogWorld have better food than BEA? My guess is the unions won’t allow it.

2:30 PM – Amy Porterfield offers insights on “Why More People Aren’t Reading Your Blog: How To Create Bite Sized Content That Gets Devoured And Shared.” ~ I keep hearing Amy’s name and this looks like a great presentation. Hoping there’s a line of authors heading from BEA heading her way. (BlogWorld)

3:30 PM – Book Reviews Online Panel Discussion, a panel sponsored by the National Book Critics Circle Panelists from the New York Times Book Review, The Daily Beast/Newsweek, NPR and will look at how reviews are reaching readers ~Uh, pretty important stuff here. (BEA)

Sick of presentations? Come see me and the Cave Henricks crew in the Gallup Press booth — we’ll be getting ready for Greenleaf Book Group’s big Wednesday night party.

Thursday, May 26th

Get up early and get yourself some breakfast. You look like you’ve been run over by a truck.

9 AM – Start your day by heading over to watch Sree Sreenivasan give one of the most important presentations of the conference over at BlogWorld. Titled “Social Media for Journalists – Beyond the Basics: The Tools You Need and How To Use Them,” this presentation will be as useful to authors and publicists as it is to journalists. ~ Barbara Henricks and I saw Sree speak at the Penn Club in NYC last fall and he was excellent. (BlogWorld)

10 AM – Ben Clemmons presents “How eBooks Will Save the Book: Putting Storytelling and Creation at the Center of Publishing” at BEA.” ~ I’m not entirely sure who Ben Clemmons is (neither is Google apparently), but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here because he has a great title. It’s also the last day and you’re going to need a good story to keep you engaged. (BEA)

11:30 AM – Time to walk back over to BlogWorld to let Justin Kistner give you “The Brand Guide to Facebook’s New iframe Tabs.” ~ I’m looking forward to this one because I want to hear more about integrating landing pages into Facebook ad campaigns. (BlogWorld)

It’s almost 1 PM on day 3 and the floor is empty as it can be. There are a few stray galleys for the taking, so you might as well grab a couple before heading home–they may even let you rip a booth copy since it’s the last day.

See you at JFK.

For those attending both conferences, I am curious which panels, presentations and signings you are looking forward to?

Posted in Blog | Tagged BlogWorld East, BookExpo America, Cave Henricks Communications, Shelton Interactive | 9 Comments

Graphic Design Internship

We are looking for a junior graphic designer who is versed in multimedia to join our website platform development team as an intern.

The ideal candidate will be a creative and resourceful team player who can think conceptually and execute to specification. Also, it’s important the candidate has great attention to detail and the ability to work well with others, in a relaxed yet fast-paced environment.

Projects include website designs from scratch, building interior pages and any other Web-related items as needed.

Responsibilities:

Conceptualize, design, and execute array of electronic marketing materials including: website designs, logos, Facebook custom pages, Twitter backgrounds
Manage and uphold the visual brand, design direction, and identity standards for all clients
Recommend emerging trends and best practices in design

Qualifications:

Ability to plan, design, and implement creative concepts
Proven experience creating and producing integrated communications from start to finish
Knowledge of print and online design process and production and the ability to troubleshoot
Excellent organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects within tight deadlines
Proficiency in PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign (Dreamweaver, HTML, and experience designing for WordPress would be a plus)
Ability to collaborate with cross-functional team members in an often virtual work environment

This position is an unpaid, part-time internship with the opportunity for possible employment in the future. Qualified candidates please submit résumé and portfolio samples to taylor@sheltoninteractive.com.

We look forward to hearing from you or someone you know who may want to join us.

Posted in Blog | Tagged graphic design, internship, website | 2 Comments

Using Twitter for Marketing and PR: Do the Pros Practice What They Preach?

By Kent Huffman, Chief Marketing Officer at BearCom Wireless and Co-Publisher of Social Media Marketing Magazine.

It seems that everyone claims to be a Twitter expert these days. Of course, most are not. But several of the real Twitter pros I know—including those who have written books about using Twitter as an effective marketing and public relations instrument—have figured out how to best leverage the 140-character microblogging tool to promote themselves, their books, their firms, and their clients. And some of them actually follow their own advice!

How Smart Marketing Book Authors Use Twitter

For example, Mark Schaefer of Schaefer Marketing Solutions is the author of the book The Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time. He and his firm provide affordable outsourced marketing support to address both short-term sales opportunities and long-term strategic renewal.

Mark uses Twitter to help deliver on that promise for a number of his blue-chip clients, including Nestle, AARP, Anheuser-Busch, Coldwell Banker, Scripps Networks, Keystone Foods, and the U.K. government. He also very effectively promotes himself and his book on Twitter as part of his own marketing, branding, and relationship-development strategy.

“I’ve literally built my business from networking on Twitter and connections from my blog,” Mark said. “That’s what most people miss. Twitter can be a powerful business networking platform. It’s so much more than ‘what you had for breakfast!’ ”

Hollis Thomases is the CEO of Web Ad.vantage. She is also the author of Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day, a book that offers marketers, advertisers, brand managers, PR professionals, and business owners an in-depth guide to designing, implementing, and measuring the impact of using a complete Twitter strategy.

Hollis uses Twitter to generate qualified website traffic that gets converted into actions, leads, and sales for her clients, most of which are challenger brands or large non-profit organizations.

Much like Mark, Hollis’ strategy includes using Twitter as an effective promotional tool for her book and firm. She also leverages Twitter to expand her speaking engagement schedule, which features topics such as “Social Media 101,” “Twitter Automation,” and “Social Media Etiquette.”

And finally, Laura Fitton, co-author of Twitter for Dummies and founder/CEO of oneforty, has been an active Twitter user for some time. She has amassed approximately 80,000 followers and engages with them daily.

Laura’s firm helps people get started with Twitter, organize the chaos of their daily social media routines, and connect their social media efforts to their core business to drive ROI.

“The single most important thing is to make yourself useful, which you can do by curating great content, answering questions, shining a spotlight on others, and trying to turn everything inside-out to make it more about your readers,” noted Laura. “I tell people to ‘Listen. Learn. Care. Serve.’ (in that order), and then keep cycling through that process.”

Twitter’s Impact on How Journalists Search for SMEs

In an environment where fewer and fewer journalists are covering more and more stories than ever before, media members are increasingly taking a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” approach to finding sources and stories to cover. Rather than waiting around to be pitched by traditional PR reps, many media members are looking for their own sources—not only Google and HARO, but Twitter as well—to search for and connect with subject matter experts (SMEs). Book authors and other experts who have built digital platforms that showcase their credentials and provide valuable information on their topics have widened their nets to catch such queries on Twitter.

Beth Gwazdosky is the Vice President of Digital Marketing at Shelton Interactive, an Austin-based firm that works with its author clients to create social media and interactive marketing/PR strategies and platforms that generate attention—online and off. “We help our authors understand how best to use Twitter and other social media channels to stand out in this new environment,” said Beth. “Creating strategies to organically pull media hits, speaking opportunities, and client relationships has proven to be much more efficient than trying to pitch our way onto the air.”

So if you’re interested in promoting yourself, your book, your organization, or your clients, why not use Twitter to your advantage? But don’t jump in without a well-thought-out strategy. Pay attention to the real Twitter pros who are actually practicing what they preach, and then emulate their approach.

Posted in Blog | Tagged Book Publicity, Kent Huffman, publicity, Social Media, Social Media Authors, Social Media Marketing | Leave a comment

The Awesomeness of Being a 2.0 Author

Today’s guest post is from Scott Stratten, author of UnMarketing:

I don’t know how authors did it years ago. You pour your heart and soul into a book, it hits the shelves and you hope people like it.

I’m such a spaz that I don’t think I could handle the lack of immediate validation and/or rejection.

I’ve been amazed since UnMarketing came out. The immediacy and coolness of tools has blown my mind. Waking up everyday and reading tweets in real time about people reading the book makes me smile. Every. Day. It’s the passive conversation our readers are having with each other that was untappable (my new word) previously.

Twitter Mentions

And sadly most authors aren’t even listening to their readers:

And it’s not just on Twitter. Blog reviews, and other mentions can happen under our radar. Setting up a Google News Alert for your book title in quotes will keep you on top of most mentions online. I’m also tacking Trackur for a spin. I’ll update this post to let you know how it goes.

Kindle

I was initially a little miffed at the Kindle version of UnMarketing because they made all my saucy/sarcastic footnotes into endnotes, and people wouldn’t click on them, thinking they were real citations and other ridiculousness, but I now LOVE the Kindle version for many reasons:

1. Immediacy – I’ve had people buy the Kindle version during one of my talks as they’re in the audience. This blows my cranium. The drawback of being an author who speaks is when people leave the session, they rush off to the next one and forgot to purchase your awesome book. Or worse, there is no bookstore on site and if you think that they’ll rush to the bookstore when they get home, you’re sadly mistaken for the most part. The immediacy and ability for your audience to buy your book on their phone/laptop/reading device in real-time is epic. If you’re even a half-decent speaker, the highest moment of intent to purchase your book is during your talk. And people can buy it. Brilliant. (this isn’t unique to the Kindle, you can also grab them on the fly as iBook, Nook, Kobo, etc)

2. Digital loaning – I freaking love this about the Kindle. You can loan your copy (link explains it) to someone else for up to 14 days. All you need is their email address. You can only loan a book out once, and can’t read it while it’s out on loan. I believe it’s only available currently to USA based purchasers, I’m not sure why they hate Canada but nonetheless this is great for spreading your content, especially to those that can’t afford all the books they want to read. The author/publisher also has to agree to it. I learned about it when I saw this tweet a few days ago:

I saw the tweet and retweeted it. I received a large amount of responses that people were impressed I would retweet that, since it doesn’t create sales. I say why wouldn’t I? I want people to consume the book. To love it. That’s our job as authors as far as I’m concerned. It’s not just to write it or talk about it or even sell it. It’s to get people to devour it. Jim wanted to read the content but didn’t have the means currently and I wanted him to read it. And now he is.

Heck, if you’d like to get a loaned Kindle copy, leave a comment below or if you have the Kindle version and are willing to loan it to someone, leave a comment too. Then simply reply if you have or want it to the person. And Shazam! We have an UnLibrary!

3. Free R&D – This actually made me say out loud “WOW!” which was awkward since I was sitting by myself in a coffee shop, but I digress. Kindle lets you highlight parts of a book. That isn’t the cool part. Kindle also takes the data and tells you the most popular highlighted lines from your book. Check out the UnMarketing ones! This is R&D for an auther/publisher and tells you what is resonating with your readers. (I just said YA! out loud. I’m going to get thrown out of this place.) Another great thing to do is to take these and make them tweets. You already know it clicks with people. Bring on the retweets! Here is a sample of mine:

That’s gold Jerry!! You don’t have to guess what’s working, it’s right there in front of you! You can go and check it out for any Kindle book, not just yours. Just click over here. And you can also see the top highlighted books. Just click on the book title and it will show you the highlights.

4. Track Sales – Using Amazon Author Central you can login as an author and see sale info that used to only be available to your publisher. It allows you to track where it’s selling and in what medium.

Click to enlarge the chart

Digital books are gaining traction. Do not ignore them. It doesn’t matter if you like to read in that format or not.

And this is only a fraction of what is being done and accessible out there to authors and their fans. Did I mention I did an entire 30-city UnBookTour planned through Twitter without any cost to myself or my publisher? Ya, that too.

What have you seen out there when it comes to books that excites you when it comes to the 2.0 book world? Leave a comment below!

Posted in Blog | Tagged author, digital marketing, Kindle, publicity, Social Media | 1 Comment

Books & Bytes at SXSWi Celebrating the Future of Publishing

SXSW Interactive is in full swing here in Austin, Texas. Last night at the Iron Cactus, Cave Henricks Commu nications and Shelton Interactive had the honor of co-hosting Books & Bytes – a party to celebrate publishing and interactive in Austin.

Among the honorary guest authors who attended were J oh n Bradberry, Carol Sanford, Stephen Denning, John Hagel, Chuck Martin, Simon Salt, and Tony Schwartz.

Thank you to wonderful team at Cave Henricks Communications, our talented authors and many amazing guests for coming out to talk books and enjoy some great Tex-Mex.

#SXSWbooks

Posted in Blog | Tagged 800 CEO READ, author, book publishing, Digital Publicty, Online Publicity, publishing, Social Media, Social Media for Authors | Leave a comment

2012 SXSW Interactive Panel Picks

Writers’ League of Texas 18th Annual Agents Conference

Books, Blogs & BEA

Graphic Design Internship

Clients

Friends

Resources

Clients

Fourteen Points On Growing A Blog

Fourteen hypotheses

Twitter

Other ideas?

Social-location marketing is such a hot topic. On Thursday, May 05, 2011 from 7:30 AM – 6:00 PM (PT), the conference: “Social-Loco: the convergence of the social Web, mobile and local-business” is taking place.