Comments on: Looking Inside HarperCollins’ Online Marketing Initiatives

By: Emma Ward

Emma Ward — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:14:14 +0000

Nice information in your article and some great responses. Diana- You should try a listing on bookhitch.com.

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:30:01 +0000

And great comment. I am, yes, aware of your SL shop and it’s on my list of places to check out when I have a free moment. I have a hard time getting out of Caledon these days — it’s just so amazingly brilliantly cool. Makes my lack of artistic talent seem even more sad.

By: Diana Hunter

Diana Hunter — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:45:56 +0000

Your points about midlist authors feeling overwhelmed certainly hit home! Get a website, join MySpace, have a newsletter, start and maintain a blog, join the chatrooms, sign up and participate in every list that exists! All of these are expected of you to do on your own (at least when you’re publishing with a small press). All of a sudden, you’re spending all your time promoting and the writing slips to second priority. Knowing HC is starting to do something for its authors gives me hope that more publishers will take heed.

(btw, I have a shop for my books in Second Life, and of all the marketing strategies listed above? SL seems to be the one that works for me…besides which…it’s just plain fun! In-world live readings of my works, getting to meet readers “face-to-face”? Love it!)

Thanks for a great post!

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 05:34:26 +0000

Lorra — thanks for checking in! You’ve been AWOL for a while. I worry, you know.

By: Lorra Laven

Lorra Laven — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:50:57 +0000

Hey BS,

This was a great post. Keep that info coming.

By: David Thayer

David Thayer — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:27:21 +0000

I’m having Leo Tolstoy as a guest blogger. That’s pretty cool.

By: The ways word gets around at pinkyspaperhaus

The ways word gets around at pinkyspaperhaus — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:09:19 +0000

[...] Booksquare talks to Harper Collins’ Senior VP of Global Marketing Strategy and Operations about the publishers online initiatives. Included is this pearl from Booksquare herself: Authors need to stop seeing the online world as seventh grade: just because everyone has this cool thing or that cool blog or their own pad in Second Life, it doesnâ€t mean that you have to do it, too. [...]

By: Kassia Krozser

Kassia Krozser — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:52:37 +0000

Mike,

It’s sort of like saying, “Hey, BS, tell me what you’re going to write about next!” Only probably not really next because I am still working through my thoughts.

But, yes, HC does have a genre-specific site. Two actually. They’re quite interesting, which is why I noted that I’d be discussing the user-generated content, which relates to your topic, later. It felt like it needed its own discussion. You know me, always accommodating the issue!

But, yeah, you’re right in that publisher sites need to be less general, more targeted. It’s really hard because houses are so generalized. But readers, by and large, are specialized. There are those who are desperately seeking anything, but more than likely, readers are looking for something specific. Pushing to specific genres is very helpful.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

By: MikeShatzkin

MikeShatzkin — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 02:38:50 +0000

The ideas Harper is implementing would work even better if coordinated by subject niche. I know the have a “romance” site; maybe they’re moving in that direction. The whole idea of “general trade” doesn’t really map into the 21st century world of niches on the net. It is easy to see that these tactics mushroom in effectiveness if you can apply them to 20 authors writing on the same subject rather than across horizontal topics of interest.