We live in an attention economy today. There is no doubt about it.. so much information, you’ll never keep up.
For your book to stand out, you need to do something more than YELL THE LOUDEST.. no, yelling usually doesn’t work and is annoying.
The secret is.. we all really want more information. There are readers out there that want what your book offers, if only they knew about you and how the book fulfills their perception of needs and want.
Many author come to us hoping that our blast to millions of readers will click, and in fact, a few million emails sent to opt in readers of other newsletters and blog will get you to the best seller lists. However, the vast majority of reader will not get that day’s email blast.. they don’t subscribe or don’t resonate with the message.
But they do want to read, learn, grow, solve problems or enjoy your book.
So how do you reach them?
Go where they are looking for information. Hundreds of thousands a day are joining social networks, millions are sending text messages (to each other.. please don’t spam us) and having conversations on Twitter.com, Utterz.com and many others.
“But I looked at Twitter and just don’t get it”
Joining a online community is not like buying an ad. You can’t just place a message and hope that the phone rings. (and today, who has time for more phone calls<g>)
Think of these communities like a party. If you go to the event, stand in the corner and wonder why you aren’t invited to dance, you probablly won’t due as well as the people that get involved in the conversations already going on.
Here’s how to get involved quickly and find out if the conversation is right for you…
First off, accept the fact that not every party (social network) will work for you. But you won’t know until you try.
I’m going to use Twitter.com as an example here because it’s so easy to join, use, and extend through technology. If you have a cell phone, laptop or public terminal handy, you can send a “tweet” (that’s a 140 character or less.. 10 to 15 words) that tells your followers what’s up.
- Join the network http://Twitter.com
- Find some people to interact with.. Use http://Twitter.com/warrenwhitlock to follow me. All you do is look for that box under my photo that says FOLLOW and click it.
- Likely many people in your address book use Twitter.