Generating Internet Buzz for Books

An answer to a reader’s question
by David A. Rozansky, Publisher, Flying Pen Press
Readers, Writers & Royalties columnist
November 2, 2007
Copyright 2007 David A. Rozansky

 
In a comment to my recent article series, An Author’s Guide to Hand Selling Books, Sarah Collins Honenberger asked the following question:

“Great article, all helpful information. It's not the hand sell I have need help with, it's the media coverage. Internet buzz made Water for Elephants into a best seller. I want that, and am willing to work at it. Are you by any chance working on that aspect for an article?”

Thanks to Sarah Honenberger for this comment. I am always happy to entertain questions from readers, and I will endeavor to share my insights to these challenges. Honenberger is the author of White Lies: A Tale of Babies, Vaccines and Deception.

Honeneberger’s comment is really a two-fold question: How does a first-time author at a small press get media coverage? How does a first-time author develop Internet buzz? As Honenberger suggests, these will be great topics for articles, and so I am offering two articles on these topics. I answered the first question in my previous article. The second question will be answered in this article.

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Q. How does a first-time author from a small press generate Internet Buzz?

There is no doubt that the Internet has drastically changed the face of marketing books and movies. These are products that sell best through word of mouth advertising, what we now call buzz marketing. Many books and movies have succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams solely from Internet buzz, and so many publishers and producers are trying to capitalize on the ability of the Internet to accelerate buzz marketing.

However, the problem now is that everyone is on the bandwagon and the Internet has a lot of noise on it so that like real life, buzz about any one product is lost in the din.

There are ways to rise above the din, but these are not easy ways, and there is no simple formula because all the simple formulas are being overused.

Buzz is simply the process of people recommending a product to other people. There have been a few good books written on this topic, but essentially, buzz spreads the fastest when people who have the greatest number of contacts with other people talk often about the book in a positive manner. These people with so many contacts are often called “hubs.”

Because the Internet makes billions of people instantly available to each other, buzz can spread quickly. Where an author in front of an auditorium of people might influence a few hundred, at the very best, that same author in her blog can influence millions in the same amount of time.

However, while the Internet accelerates, there are inhibitors that are also accelerated, so that buzz is no easier on the Internet than it is in the physical world.

There are many things to talk about, and it takes time to have conversations on the Internet, slower than it does in real life. Most people get about 50 to 100 emails a day. Most of these messages are ignored, or the buzz is cut off instantly with “Thanks, Got Your Message.” Without a full back-and-forth discourse on a topic, there is no buzz.

Another inhibitor is the trust factor. The book must be recommended by a trusted associate. The closer the relationship, the stronger the trust, and the more effective the buzz. However, the Internet fosters impersonal relationships, and trust on the Internet is much more difficult to attain.

Buzz requires some primary ingredients. First, the book must be a truly great book — not just good enough, not just great, but better than most of the bestsellers of the day.

Second, the book must be read and appreciated by a large number of “hubs.” Until they read the book, they can’t talk about the book, so getting the book into their hands is critical.

Third, these hubs must have the desire to talk about the book. They won’t recommend the book just because they like it. A discussion about the book must meet their own needs. Fortunately, many of the bibliophile hubs like to write book reviews or suggest books as a way of making friends and socializing, so therefore, an author should concentrate on book clubs, libraries and bookstores, wherever book readers gather. On the Internet, Amazon is the best place to congregate, and Amazon has a lot of tools that authors and publishers can use to catch these reviewers. Steve Weber’s book, Plug Your Book!, is perhaps the best book covering the Amazon tools for promoting one’s book. Gather and Shelfari are also great places to promote online.

Fourth, the hubs who have a desire to talk about the book must now have the opportunity to talk about the book. The Internet offers such an opportunity, but while it allows for a hub to talk to a great number of people, it does not allow for a fully free-flowing stream of information. The impersonal nature and short attention spans of the Internet inhibit this discourse.

Once a hub has read the truly great book and has the desire and the opportunity to talk about the book with others, the next ingredient is to broach the topic. Most buzz marketing is about bringing up the topic in just the right places and times. The topic must be broached where it has true meaning and where it will become the primary topic of interest.

A very important ingredient is trust. The recipient of the recommendation must trust the messenger. In some ways, the anonymous reviews on Amazon are trustworthy, because no one is required to do so and no one benefits from it (although people are always on the lookout for fake reviews). Otherwise, trust on the Internet is hard to find, because of the impersonal nature of this environment. Critical reviewers who have been chosen by editors, such as the “book correspondents” on Gather or the reviewers at Armchair Interviews, are also considered trustworthy by readers.

The final ingredient is often overlooked by authors and marketers. The product being marketed must create “viral value.” A product that has viral value means that it is only worth something if more than one person uses it. Like a baseball bat owner needs someone to throw a ball, social sites like Gather require people to connect, and so people invite other people.

To make a book “viral” is not easy. It must be written that way. Many books beg the reader to ask what other people thought of it, to interpret the meaning of the book. Self-help books work well, because people have in innate need to help others with their problems and books can be offered up as advice. There is a reason that cookbook recipes always serve two or more people and usually four to ten people.

Novels have it harder; they are a form of personal entertainment. Unless a novel becomes required reading in a classroom, or establishes some new ideas that are controversial, it will resists being viral.

There are some exceptions, but these are fashion issues. No one knows why a relatively unknown book like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer becomes the topic of discussion among teen girls on MySpace, catching bookstores completely off guard. One imagines that just the right hubs — at just the right times at just the right places — all recommended the book in just the right way — a random event. I imagine that because Harry Potter has run his course, the best non-Harry Potter book of the day in the teen fantasy category filled the void.

Which brings up another inhibitor that is amplified by the Internet: Buzz is fleeting. While a discussion on the Internet is saved forever, it gets buried by the massive flow of information hourly on all topics from all directions. Thus, it is important to create “viral messages” that can be repeated constantly, along with a link to “Buy the book now!” It is also important for the author to blog daily. Publish or die.

Certain types of people are more active on the Internet than others. Namely, computer techs and young people are the most active online. Women talk about books on the Internet far more often than men do. Those with more leisure time and a moderate amount of money tend to be on the Internet more often than those who must use the library’s connection or those who are busy spending their wealth. People with fewer friends spend more time in the Internet, and the effort on being on the Internet allows less time with friends.

These factors also inhibit buzz. A book that appeals to older, physically active, influential men tends not to buzz on the Internet. Fantasy stories for young women tend to become Internet hits.

White Lies, I am afraid, falls in the middle. It appeals to women, because of its focus on caring for children and a mother’s fight against the system. However, as a story about a social issue of the 1960’s, it appeals to the Boomer generation, who do not spend a lot of time in the Internet. It also appeals mostly to married women, or at least women with relationships, so it is less likely to appeal to the loner who spends hours on the Internet. The drama of a long, drawn-out court battle rarely catches the attention of the Instant-Messaging crowd.

Thus, the Internet buzz for White Lies is not strong, despite all the hard work, positive reviews and viral messages Honenberger has built around the book. Fortunately, a little bit of buzz on the Internet can go a long way towards connecting physical-world hubs who will like the book and talk about it.

If I had to make a recommendation to Honenberger, I would have to say she should continue her Internet efforts as she is doing now, but also step up the effort to get print and broadcast media coverage and writing magazine articles. I would also recommend writing a second book; a book that appeals to young, online women that connects with White Lies in some way, so that readers who buzz about the new book will also be drawn to the first novel. Perhaps a legal thriller involving a young woman using the Internet to discover that the government is covering up another scandal related to the events of the day, such as a product not properly recalled or the undisclosed dangers of anthrax vaccinations forced on soldiers?

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Recommended Reading:

Plug Your Book! by Steve Weber

1001 Ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer

The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen

White Lies: A Tale of Babies, Vaccines and Deception by Sarah Honenberger

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

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This is the first of a two-part answer to a question from a reader of David A. Rozansky’s column, Readers, Writers & Royalties, a blog column about the book trade, from writing and publishing, to selling and reading. The next article will focus on how first-time authors can generate a high volume of Internet buzz.

Readers may find archived articles or subscribe to Readers, Writers & Royalties at www.ReadWriteRoyalty.Gather.com. Subscribe to all of Mr. Rozansky’s articles at www.FlyingPenPress.Gather.com.

David A. Rozansky is the publisher of Flying Pen Press. He has been in publishing since 1987, and has more than one million published words under his byline. Flying Pen Press is at http://www.FlyingPenPress.com. He is available for speaking on the subject of writing and selling magazine articles.

Flying Pen Press publishes fiction and nonfiction books.