Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Books that include a collection of stories by different authors seem to be becoming increasingly popular. How are these projects planned? Who corrals all of the authors to create a single book?

I have worked on two projects like this recently, and they both came into existence in different ways. Over the next few days I’ll describe how various aspects of a multi-author project work.

The first anthology was A Log Cabin Christmas Collection with stories by Liz Johnson, Margaret Brownley, Michelle Ule, Wanda Brunstetter, Jane Kirkpatrick, Kelly Eileen Hake, Liz Tolsma, Erica Vetsch, and Debra Ullrick.  This book released September 1, 2011 from Barbour. It was on the New York Times bestseller list and has been on both the CBA bestseller list and the ECPA lists ever since its release (through February 2012).

A Log Cabin Christmas was planned by Barbour. An editor at Barbour asked certain agents if they had clients who might be a good fit for such a collection, and the recommended clients then submitted writing samples (a couple of chapters and a synopsis). The Barbour editors selected the top nine stories to be a part of the anthology.

The second collection I’ve worked on recently is the 7 Hours project. (Find out more about 7 Hours here.) My client, James Andrew Wilson, came up with the idea and presented it to me. I loved it but wasn’t sure if he would find other authors interested in participating. He was looking for seven authors (including himself) to each write a novella to go along with the title 7 Hours. I told him to find the other six authors and then to let me know.

James pitched his idea to a hand-picked group of authors and found six who loved the concept. Those authors are Rene Gutteridge, Robin Parrish, Mike Dellosso, Veronica “Ronie” Kendig, Tom Pawlik, and Travis Thrasher. James organized all seven authors and put together a strong proposal, including a writing sample and synopsis from each author.

I took the job as “lead agent” on the project because the 7 Hours concept was James’s idea. It was my responsibility to shop the book idea to the different publishing houses. We received lots of interest, and Tyndale House is now the home for this unique, exciting idea. The stories will release in digital format in May 2012. We just saw the covers, and they’re amazing! Follow 7 Hours on Facebook to be one of the first to see the covers when the images are released to the public.

Have you written a book with other authors? How was your concept organized? Would you want to work with other authors on a book some time in the future?

Location: Books & Such main office; Santa Rosa, Calif.

I bet most of you have heard about the Qwikster twitter news as well:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sorry-Netflix-Since-You-Dont-siliconalley-407710489.html?x=0&.v=3

Perhaps it has has been updated by now, I haven’t researched it yet this week, but here’s the situation in brief:

When Netflix launched the Qwikster brand, they didn’t get a registered trademark for the name “Qwikster.” A man on Twitter has the tweet name “Qwikster” already and tweets about profane things with his icon set as a pot-smoking Elmo picture. Twitter doesn’t allow for usernames to be purchased from their users, and the man isn’t willing to give up his tweet ID.

How does this story relate to you as writers? My advice to you is to be careful to research all aspects of your name when you are deciding which name to be published under. There could be other writers out there writing under your same name. This doesn’t mean that you have to use a different name, but you should weigh the pros and cons of choosing the same name.

For example, one of my clients has a name that another author has already produced two self-published romances under. My author decided to go ahead with using her name (after consulting with her agent) because the self-pubbed author was someone who wouldn’t likely cause readers to become confused. My author didn’t look much like the other writer either, so if someone was misled for a little while, they’d realize easily two different people have the same name. My author was able to grab the web domain with her name and tweets with that name as well. She did the right thing though. She looked into who was using her name and decided that she was able to go ahead with it after securing the social media pages under that name brand.

Another author I know was unable to get the website with her writer name. She was already quite well established, but when you typed her writer name into the web browser, you’d come to a site with pornographic pictures. She had tried to purchase her domain name, but the people who had it were holding onto it unless she paid them a ridiculous sum of money. She was able to write them a cease and desist letter for attaching her brand to pornography, and they did change the site, but she still has been unable to secure it even after consulting with a brand lawyer.

Do your research ahead of time, so that you aren’t faced with these awful online problems like Qwikster and these writers. Search out your brand name online and secure it before your name is ever printed on a book cover.

What comes up first when you google your name? Is it you? What have you done to research and secure your name?

If you are already published, start doing what you can do secure your brand name as well. Hopefully this won’t involve lawyers, but at times you really do need to do your best to secure your name so your readers can easily find you–without surprises along the way.

Location: Midwest Office IL

Why do we talk about connecting with people virtually through the Internet in chat rooms and social media places in the same way we talk about face-to-face conversations? How much time do we spend connecting with people we know and don’t know on the Internet compared to in person encounters? A comScore (www.comscore.com) report indicated that in 2010 Americans spent an average of 32 hours each month on the Internet. Ten of those hours were devoted to e-mail, on social networks, and playing games. The rest of the time was spent surfing, purchasing, and watching videos.

If these numbers are accurate—and I hope they are—it means we spend an average of one hour a day in the virtual world. Does that sound about right to you? It’s lower than I thought, and I’m encouraged by this news. We spend a lot more time on our computers writing or at our jobs. (Although for many, processing work-related emails goes into the equation as well.)

What are the implications for authors? First, I think it explains why word-of-mouth marketing continues to be the most effective method to promote your books. Although a lot of thought and emphasis is placed on Facebook and Twitter for your book promotion, and rightly so, they still take second place.

Second, authors write to real people, about real people (or characters who seem real), who have a multitude of emotional responses to complex, real-life situations. Your experience in real life helps you to understand these dynamics and apply them to your writing.

Can you envision a time when the scale tips in the virtual direction? How might that affect your writing? Your character development and plotting?

This is a far-out thought, thankfully, but not impossible as new technologies make the virtual world ever more accessible. Let’s celebrate real life today and hope and pray that our children and grandchildren will always feel this way too.

How do you think your writing would change  if the virtual world were the majority of the way we experienced life?

How do the stats on time spent “socializing” online match your experience?

Location: Midwest Office IL

Facebook, blogs, your website, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets are important components for your platform, but, in my opinion, the rising star is Twitter.

Publishers look for an impressive number of Facebook friends in the marketing section of your proposal, but Facebook serves a different purpose than Twitter.

Blogging is a great way to show your writing ability, let followers get to know you, and then attract them to your website. But you can consume hours writing blogs. I so agree with Wendy Lawton’s assessment of blogging in her post last Thursday. If you don’t maintain your blog consistently, you won’t attract and keep followers. If you blog consistently but infrequently, your following will increase slowly. Then there’s keeping up with other blogs and commenting as a means to get your name out there. How much time do you spend doing that? For some, blogging comes easily. For others, not so.

Twitter is broader in scope than Facebook. Your Tweets are available to anyone in the free world. Your Facebook posts are sent only to your list of friends. Again, both are important to your platform. Build friendships on Facebook and mention progress on your book–but you can’t be too hard-sell or “sell” so often that you sound like you’re using it as a sales tool. FB is for relationships.

Twitter is an information tool. Busy professionals in the industry use Twitter. You can gather and share important information, learn up-to-the-minute news first on Twitter in quick, succinct doses, and receive links to investigate later when you have more time. The hashtag feature gets you into global conversations of interest to you.

Twitter Translation Centre launched in February of this year and currently translates the platform into Indonesian, Russian, Turkish, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. Need a Japanese name for the hero’s judo instructor in your novel? It’s a Tweet away. Here is the link if you want to join: http://translate.twttr.com/

Facebook and Twitter supplement each other for your platform’s success. Hopefully, Twitter will maintain its distinct difference. Twitter users are generally technology- and social media-savvy, on-the-go people from whom we can learn a lot.

I’m among those who have been slow to utilize it, but as I learn more about the adjustments made in the last year and its benefits for a fast-paced lifestyle, I’m celebrating Twitter and think it could become my social media tool of choice.

What do you think? Are you celebrating Twitter too? Or do you have a different opinion?

Time to go. It’s 11:55. I have to grab my iPhone and tweet on my way to a lunch meeting.

Location: Books & Such Illinois Office

Twitter has approximately 20 million loyal users. The number of drive-bys, so to speak, is diminishing. In response, Twitter is repositioning itself as distinct from Facebook and the others. Almost a year ago Twitter executives expressed the desire to become “the pulse of the planet” rather than a “social network.”

The result is a different definition for users of Twitter than a few years ago. There is a high degree of brand following and brand loyalty. Those users with a strong following are much more likely to multiply the influence of their brand than their friends on Facebook. It appears the strategy of the Twitter executives is to attract those who have or want to create a brand, loyal brand followers, which, in turn, attracts more users to Twitter.

Here are some statistics about Twitter users courtesy of Daniel Flamberg, founder and managing partner of Booster Rocket, a consulting organization:

• 75% of active Twitter users are bloggers.
• 70% comment on other blogs.
• 61% write at least one product review per month.
• 56% write articles for third-party sites.
• 53% post videos online.
• 50% contribute to wiki sites.
• 48% share deals and coupons.

These users share! We’ve grown accustomed to thinking that because Facebook has more than 750 million active users (most current number from Facebook), it’s the best place to promote yourself and your brand. But this Twitter data should not be underestimated. It shows solid word-of-mouth–or Tweets-of-mouth–potential. If you can engage followers with you about your brand, loyal followers are grown. This can happen on Facebook too, of course, but perhaps not with the concentration, purpose, and type of person that Twitter attracts.

Here is a link to a study The New York Times commissioned to gain understanding of those who participate in social media sharing and their reasons for doing so:

http://www.slideshare.net/mitchiru/the-psychology-of-sharing-by-nyt-cig-httpnytmarketingwhsitesnet.

The findings are shown in a slide presentation that might seem pretty dull on the surface. But as you watch, I hope you will gain some insights into how to increase your social media effectiveness. Let me know!

Your turn. What have your experiences been with various social media networks, Twitter in particular? Have you observed the gradual shift in Twitter’s direction in the past year? If you are engaged in both Facebook and Twitter, how do you use them differently? Or do you use the same material on both? Are there areas of the social media world you need help with? Let’s see if we can help each other during our discussion.

We’re done. Another ICRS under our belts. What a great show it turned out to be. I’m writing my blog on an iPad, typing slowly with one finger. (Why couldn’t I have learned to text as a teen–I’m so jealous of teen textability.) So you are the winner– I’ll keep this short and to the point.

When anyone offers to speculate on the state of an industry, your response should be to roll your eyes. It’s an exercise not unlike the blind men describing the elephant. We only know what we’ve observed. But I thought I’d share ten observations with you.

1. We sensed a whole new energy. Publishers are definitely buying books.

2. Since Christmas 2010 the velocity of eBook sales has been breathtaking.

3. In fiction, historical is still strong but we saw the beginnings of a renewed interest in contemporary. We did see that editors are looking for very specific genres or time periods or settings to fill holes.

4. In fiction, editors seem to be somewhat more open to the unusual. One editor gave us percentages– a small percentage of her line can be used to introduce debut novelists, another small percentage can be experimental, while the bulk of the line is for excellent, but tried-and-true fiction.

5. In fiction, genre is still king. Publishers have not been able to develop any significant market for literary fiction.

6. In Christian nonfiction, basic is back. We talked to editors who are actively looking for books addressing things like simple Bible literacy.

7. In nonfiction platform is more important than ever. We had an editor tell us that if they take a project to committee they are asked to give specific details about the author’s social network platform. Another editor said it takes so long to get a writer up to speed on effective social networking that if it comes down to someone who is already well-networked and someone with a limited network, there’s no question who will get the nod.

8. Brick and mortar bookstores are still struggling. Some of the challenges are:

• Discount price competition from the big box stores (Walmart, Costco, etc.) and from Amazon and CBD.
• The ease of direct eBook sales, effectively cutting the store out of the equation.
• The tough economy–unemployment and underemployment resulting in less disposable income.
• The high price of gas, meaning people think twice before getting into their cars to go to a bookstore rather than to buy online. It’s created a perfect storm of trouble for the independent bookstore.

9.  We observed a proliferation of innovative new media ideas– the fusion of books with digitally delivered sound, video, extra content and interactive content.

10.  It was exciting to see the birth of several new publishing houses. We had meetings with three of them– Worthy Publishing, whose inaugural list featured a breathtaking offering of potential bestsellers; eChristian who look to be a major player not only in audio and eBooks but are also doing traditional books; and Jericho books, a division of Hachette, focusing on thought-provoking books for the church’s disillusioned, disassociated and disgruntled. Here’s how they put it, “The mission of Jericho Books is to seek new, innovative authors who reflect a growing change in the church. These non-traditional voices will appeal to the fresh perspectives in today’s culture and provide an avenue for those exploring political and social issues as they relate to faith.”

There was so much more, but these ten give you a sense of what we observed. We’re gearing up to meet the challenges.

Location: Books & Such Midwest Office: IL

Today is a change of pace. I’m going to list responses from a panel of CEOs and upper-level execs to a question Scott Meldrum asked and reported on in his June 17, 2011 article posted on iMediaConnection.com. I’d like you to personalize one or more of the executives’ responses and share how it affects your perceptions, approach, and ideas about connecting and building your fan base. Hopefully, there will be some aha! moments and valuable take-aways with which to end the week.

Instead of asking the usual question, what is your brand worth to you? Meldrum chose to ask the “more important” question: What is a brand worth to a Facebook Fan?

Here are the responses he received:

“A brand’s worth is equal to the content it provides, whether that content is timely information, customer service, exclusive offers, or deals. In a word: value. What do your fans want? What do they expect from you? The closer you are to delivering on those expectations, the more valuable you are to your fans.” – Michael Lazerow, founder & CEO, Buddy Media

“It depends. A brand could be worth a lot to a fan if it provides value, community, connections, and/or entertainment. Or it could be worthless, or even a negative value, if it disrupts or adds to the noise.” – Dave Kerpen, CEO, Likeable Media

“It’s all about the relationship. If the brand shows through its actions that it truly cares, then fans will value the brand. If not, it’s a one-way street.” – Rob Fuggetta, founder & CEO, Zuberance

“In our world (concert promotion), the artist is the brand. The more a Facebook fan feels part of the artist’s inner circle (i.e. direct access to the artist, exclusive content, access to tickets before anyone else, etc.) the greater the brand’s perceived value to the fan will be. This, in turn, will translate into greater fan loyalty and engagement in supporting the artist’s career.” – Blake Kuehn, senior manager, digital marketing, AEG Live

“A brand on Facebook is helpful. A brand on Facebook is useful, and interesting, and relevant, and human, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. A brand on Facebook respects my time and my interests, and knows just when to ask me to click or do something. A brand on Facebook educates me, brightens my day, gives me something special, or all of these. A brand on Facebook is worth my time and my attention . . . in theory.” – Jay Baer, president, Convince & Convert

“No crazy math here. A brand is only worth as much (or as little) as the value it provides back. Create meaningful experiences and offer up valuable content (informative, discount-driven, or entertaining) and your brand can grow its page beyond friends and family ‘likes.’ If you’re oblivious to your target’s needs, aspirations, and [you're] socially annoying—no thumbs up or loyalty for you.” – David Brody, co-founder, North Social

“Fans can leverage a brand’s presence to establish relationships, e.g., brands help fans engage those with similar interests and allow fans to become trusted advocates/ambassadors, but on your terms. Brands operating on Facebook empower fans to be heard, but more profoundly, to guide the brand’s future direction. This creates a unique opportunity unavailable to those who do not forge social relationships with brands.” – David Silver, brand manager, SunnyD

What especially struck home for you that you want to apply to your own Facebook experience? I’ll start off the conversation: What one word was repeated frequently throughout these comments?

Location: Books & Such Midwest Office, IL

Blogs require content–fresh content–that captures readers and gives them a reason to come back. One thing to consider when creating a blog is if your brand has the ability to cultivate ongoing quality content to write about on your blog. In her article “Outstanding Brand Blogs You Should Check Out,” posted on iMediaConnection.com, Sarah Kotlova reported what she found when she looked at four companies with successful brand blogs. Here are the main points:

1. Blogs don’t have to consist of paragraphs of text or cumbersome, innovative thoughts. A blog can simply be about highlighting a brand’s personality and inviting a community into discussions about what its members (followers) enjoy. I’m guessing this is how most of us approach our blogs. I’d love to hear how you specifically apply this idea to your blog.
2. Blogs can maximize social media. They can promote your brand message while empowering fans to share their thoughts about your brand. In addition to the standard share buttons, two of the blogs Kotlova reported on “added their own ‘LUV it’ buttons, so fans can spread the love without logging into other profiles.” One of these blogs even allows fans to upload photos to its blog. Now that’s really interactive. What do you think of these ideas?
3. Similar to the findings about websites that I told you about on Monday, successful blogs are user-friendly, making it easy (and therefore quick, as in the seven-second rule) to find information. A blog Kotlova cited provided many ways followers could connect with it.
4. One company has a separate blog for every facet of its business. How might we apply this to our author world? For instance, if you write to a broad audience or age group, it might be advantageous for you to split into more than one blog. You would have to first consider the additional time and effort needed for planning and implementation, but there could be worthwhile community-building benefit in doing this.
5. Providing shortcuts (tabs, buttons, etc.) to help users navigate your blog encourages them to come back to your blog.
6. There is nothing worse than an abandoned blog.

I’m looking forward to you sharing your reactions to these points and personal experiences. How does your blog reflect your brand? Where do you find fresh content? How do you encourage interacting with readers?

Location: Books & Such Midwest Office, IL

Bryan Gernert’s recent blog post on iMediaConnection.com, “Old Tricks for Stronger Brand Allegiance” offers usable applications for us. He points to the flaws in the current data-only approach to understanding customer (audience) needs.

He suggests a better method and calls it the “new old school” approach. He says, “Listening to what the audience has to say, and listening to hear why they buy, sell, want, desire, love, reject—is the essential step. Their answers are the best way to learn what they truly value and believe, and to figure out why they do what they do. It’s the kind of insight you could never get from a ‘like’ button.”

What’s the best way to get their answers? Simply by asking them. The application for authors is that by literally asking them what they value and mapping that information against selling patterns in our publishing world, you have the opportunity to connect with your blog and social media audience on a deeper level.

When you examine your target audience in an effort to fully understand what drives their purchasing (reading) interests and expectations, Gernert suggests you divide the process in these three steps (translated for our author world):

1. Ask. To connect with people on a deeper level, it is essential to connect with them based on their values. Gernert says there are no short-cuts to this; you need to do the work. For instance, when you blog about a particular topic, ask viewers for their opinion about it, what they like or agree with, and what they don’t. Or ask your Facebook fans to name a books, other than the Bible, impacted their lives most, and why. Ask your followers and fans for their feedback and opinions on a variety of things, especially what’s important in their daily lives, until you have a general understanding of the values and beliefs of those who are connecting with you.
2. Learn. Based on the answers you receive, you can adjust your social media efforts to make the connection between your brand and their expressed values and beliefs. For instance you may find that, while you write historical romance, you are attracting young, tech-savvy professional women to your social media community. Therefore, you would want to continually keep up with the latest changes on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. When done well, this method is the most effective means to engage and build brand relationships.
3. Go new old school. By engaging people based on what they believe, not just who they’re friends with on Facebook or followers of whom on Twitter, you will reach more of the right people.

Gernert ends his article by stressing, again, the importance of understanding your target audience and what makes them tick. It’s not just a matter of tracking them online (finding who their Facebook friends and Twitter followers are).

What do you think about this? Have you already been using this approach? If so, how are you going about asking people what their values and beliefs are? And has Facebook been your most successful social vehicle for getting answers?

Location: Books & Such Midwest Office, IL

Today’s information is taken from an article by Charles Lauller, posted on iMediaConnection.com. The author lists nine things a brand should never to on Facebook. Some of them will undoubtedly seem obvious but are still good reminders. I’ll attempt to translate each one for our promotions purposes.

1. Don’t do all the talking. Don’t be the person who just loves to hear himself or herself talk. On Facebook—and all other social media as well—there should be an ebb and flow of ideas. An author who monopolizes the conversation, continually talking about his or her book, will “end up losing ‘likes’ in a heartbeat.” Have you viewed others doing this or been guilty of it yourself?
2. Don’t forget, it’s social. Invite others you know well to contribute to your Facebook page from time to time. You could choose other members of your critique group, mentors, and author friends, especially those your fans will recognize. Let them promote you. It will ease burnout on your part and potential boredom for your fans. An added bonus is that it will connect you with your contributor’s fans! What do you think about this idea?
3. Don’t come across as an infomercial. In other words don’t come across like your primary focus is to market your book. Your fans and visitors are potential “likes,” and most everyone can quickly spot a marking ploy these days. Instead, simply share great content, tips, some humor. But always remember that you represent your brand, so anything you say should reflect your brand. As fans and visitors get to know you this way, they will connect the dots between you and your brand, and the benefits will come to you.
4. Don’t restrict users. Lauller stresses that, “When there are only positive comments on your Facebook updates, it’s obvious that every comment is closely moderated.” The more open and honest you are about not blocking negative comments, the more “likes” you’ll receive. Why? Because you’ll present yourself as authentic, genuine. And that’s very likable. How comfortable are you about doing this?
5. Don’t be a self-proclaimed social media expert. However, you are the expert of your own brand, so communicate to your Facebook fans what your brand is about, rather than trying to be a sales guru, which in Lauller’s words “is a complete turnoff to your fan base.” When you’re simply educating fans about your brand without a “sell job” approach, your fans will receive it well. He made a great comment here: “I learned earlier in my career that it’s easier to educate than it is to sell. Any objections about your Facebook updates simply mean requests for more information. That’s how I view it, and so should you.” In other words, if you receive a negative comment to a communication about your brand (that isn’t a sales pitch), assume you just need to provide more information.
6. Don’t forget to connect the dots. This one has been discussed in previous blogs and surely will be again as Facebook changes continue. Make sure all your social media accounts are integrated. Lauller calls this a “healthy web ecosystem,” and it’s an important factor in creating a growing community for your brand.
7. Don’t fail to allow enough time. You need to invest all the necessary time and effort to plan and implement your accounts. And consistency is imperative. Do you find it hard to allow enough time to manage these well?
8. Don’t forget to use the insights tool (likes, interactions, demographics, and activity). It provides information on how well you’re connecting with your audience, time of day you get the most activity, overall tone of voice, and more. Have you been using this tool?
9. Don’t forget to think before you post. Try to read what you’ve written from viewers’ perspectives before updating your feed. You can’t always please everyone, but is anything you’re about to say going to be an obvious offense to someone?

I can’t wait to read your comments. The link to the complete article is http://www.imediaconnection.com/article_full.aspx?id=29273 if you want to read the entire article. But be prepared for the corporate marketer audience approach.