What do you think of Facebook as a marketing tool for self-published books?
What do you think of Facebook as a marketing tool for self-published books? A month ago I would have told you that Facebook was a useless website where 15 years olds trash talked each other and otherwise wasted time. As a mater of fact, I originally opened my Facebook account to try to rummage around and see what my 16 year old was up to. Today I am convinced that Facebook should be considered a primary marketing tool by every self-publisher.
About a week or so ago, I visited FaceBook to see if my 16 year old had changed the “Animal House” looking picture of himself that was posted to his account. He hadn’t. To the first time visitor the website is just what the name implies, a virtual book of faces. The first time you go to the site you reach a very plain looking page with a green button that says “sign up”. For those who don’t want to sign up right away there is a search field where you can use to enter a person’s name. For instance, if you enter “Pramschufer”, you’ll come up with my picture, right on top. There are a few links about the picture like “send message” or “view friends” or “Poke him/her” but all links take you to the sign-up page. This is as far as you go without signing up. The sign-up is no big deal, go ahead and do it. An email, choose a password, enter a birthday and you’re in…. or at least part way in. Now those same people that you did the sample search for, you can click and “send message” or “Poke” or “View Friends” or “Add to Friends”.
As a parent, using the site for the first time, I thought I had hit pay-dirt when I hit “View Friends” because I could now see my kid’s “friends”… but that was all I could see… postage sized images of all his “friends”. Other than a few, “I haven’t seen him/ her since 2nd grade; this is as far as you get in the super snooper department at Facebook.
The next level of activity is adding friends, which is what Facebook is all about. It took me a while to figure out what it was all about. To add a friend, you click on the “Add to Friends” link next to the picture. The trick is that the person on the other side needs to click “ok” before you are officially a friend. A friend basically means that you have gone from access of the person’s headshot, to access to the persons home page. What is on a person’s home page? Whatever they put there. I think I originally just listed my name and company name and maybe a picture.
Finding friends is a bit tricky in the beginning. For instance, did I ask my 16 year old son to be my friend? Of course not. There was no way he was going to click OK and let me in. He doesn’t even let his older brother into his “inner sanctum”. I tried my oldest son first. He accepted me as a friend. That was pretty neat. I got to see some of his friends. Many of which I already knew. I clicked on a few of them and they were added to my friend list. I still didn’t see any real point to the site until I did a search for publishers, or self publishers, I forget which. Lo and behold up pops the picture of probably the best book hustling self-publisher on the planet, Relentless Aaron. I click the “Add to Friends” link and a half hour later Relentless was on my friend list. It was exploring his site that the full impact of this site became apparent.
If you are going to sell books, or anything else for that matter, you need to look your prospect in the eye, reach out and shake their hand and demonstrate how your product meets their need. Facebook give you that opportunity. I don’t see it as a “quick hit” but a place to build a strong foundation on which to build. The site is very easy to work with and everything can be customized to meet your personal tastes. There is a great mixture of work utilities as well as playthings and other gimmicks to keep you coming back for more. If you let them, your “friends” will get to know you. As they get to know you, they get to know your product. If you are an author/self-publisher, you have something to share. Share it.
Facebook is the #7th highest ranked website on the Internet for web traffic. To put that number in prospective Amazon is ranked #33. Think about that a moment. Authors spend countless hours and sometimes thousands of dollars to get a few copies on a shelf, spine out, in a bookstore visited by a few thousand people per month, in hopes of selling books. Facebook has tens of millions of visitors and it costs nothing but a little bit of your time.
If you are already listed in Facebook, look me up and add me to your friend list. There aren’t too many Pramschufers there so it shouldn’t be hard to find me. I started a group called Self-Publishing Basics the other day. You are welcome to join that as well. I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with that group yet so you’ll certainly be getting in on the ground floor. If you haven’t signed up yet, go do it now. Once you are in, spend some time there and work on your contact page. This is how people will get to know you. There are dozens of modules that can be added to your site to help people get to know you and help you communicate with others. Have some fun, meet some prospects, shake some hands and sell some books.
See you there.
Your friend,
Ron
Last 5 posts by Ron Pramschufer
- What do you think about Amazon’s announcement that small publishers need to print with their printer in order to be listed on Amazon? - April 17th, 2008
- What are the steps are involved in Self-Publishing a book? - March 24th, 2008
- Do you know any good book printers? - February 11th, 2008
- Did you change your mind about authors buying a single ISBN? - October 22nd, 2007
- What do you think about Author House buying IUniverse? - September 20th, 2007
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December 6th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Ron,
Facebook might’ve been a great marketing tool, but after the recent flap with tracking users’ activities all over the Net, whether they were members of Facebook or not, I deactivated my account. I don’t need any more Big Brothers looking over my shoulder than I’ve already got now. I don’t trust them any longer.
I am fairly sure that other sites do something similar without the publicity, but I am not, by my presence on a site, going to condone this practice. There are other ways to market online, and other sites, that are just as effective. Facebook made a huge mistake here. Trust is earned.
M.L. Bushman
December 6th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Hi Ron; I signed up for Facepage and then tried to find you. I couldn’t. What’s the secret?
I am a self-published author, getting great reviews, but need to get that book out there in more venues. I do not have a distributor at this time, have any ideas???
December 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Try searching “Pramschufer”. I should pop right up. As for the “Big Brother” post, I am past the stage of my life where I care, one way or the other, who is looking at what…. but that’s me personally. On the other hand, I am about as anti-big brother as you are going to find, so I’ll look into the whole matter further and see what I come up with.
Thanks for the heads up
Ron
December 7th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Ron, I keep hearing people extol the virtues of Facebook ( or MySpace or whatever) with all its megatraffic, but I still have not read one word that provides evidence that Facebook participation yields book sales. I am not at all convinced that the primary denizens on Facebook are a primary market for books. Is it truly a good use of one’s limited marketing time?
All the reports and studies that have come out over the past few years indicate that Facebookers are probably among the least likely to read, let alone buy, an actual book. Unless it tells them how to get to Level X of their favorite video game.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:37 am
There is a little bit of a leap of faith here. Waiting to read about it in a report usually leaves you playing “catch-up” with the rest of the world. I would try it now while it’s still free… you have nothing, but possibly a little bit of your time, to lose.
Ron
December 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Ron
Thanks for giving us the kick in the butt we need to get on Facebook–and myspace.com too. I took your advice and joined and explored the site. I agree with one author’s post that it’s hard to search or find things on Facebook. I also find that in my genre (cowgirl history) there’s nothing but a bunch of over-sexed women and fantasy driven men cluttering up the cowgirl space. But I intend to start a presence there to clean up the catagory. And I strongly agree with you that we should join now while it’s free and because it will grow to become a necessary part of every marketing plan in the future. It has paid hansomly for me in the past to be an early adoptor and have an established cyber spot in new media. Other authors should saddle up and join Ron and this cowgirl on the inevitable journey to becoming “virtually hip” in the 21st century.
Ellen Reid Smith
Author of “Cowgirl Smarts: How to Rope a Kick-Ass Life;” and
“e-Loyalty: How to Keep Customers Coming Back to Your Website”
http://www.CowgirlSmarts.com and http://www.e-loyalty.com
December 7th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
As far as Facebook, or any other site tracking you, it’s too late. You are either on the internet or you’re not. If you have some kind of email address at the minimum, you can be tracked. Once you’re out there, you’re out there. If you decide not to use Facebook or some other site, then you are limiting what you can do and who you can communicate with. And that’s fine. That’s completely up to you. But how far are you willing to go with deciding what sites to use and not use, maybe based on a big news story the media decided to focus on because the topic is going to guarantee them a ton of people are going to read the story and produce traffic for there site. I don’t necessarily like it. But like Ron said, it’s “the cost of doing business”, so to speak. I think all we can try to do is “attempt” to try and control how obvious it is that we are being tracked, and maybe what is being tracked. Let me just list a few tidbits:
- there are many more incidents & issues that we don’t hear about
- you can always be tracked and there’s not too much you can do about it, unless you want to live illegally
- there is a business need for internet usage to be tracked, and if the company/site is not doing it themselves then some company they hire might be doing it or, an entity not affiliated with the company/site might be doing it without you ever knowing, to glean some useful information to them
- all the tools you need to track people are out there and you don’t need any special access
- a lot of these types of sites realize that “the people” are their milk and honey and will generally try to appease them, so look for Facebook and others to adjust what they do when there are such outcries
Regarding whether Facebook/MySpace/Etc. are useful or not for selling books kind of depends on your books audience, and it kind of doesn’t. We are living in an age now where everything is being exposed to or put on the internet and everyone is being exposed to the internet. If you are selling anything at all, you need to be looking at the internet. It’s just too big to be ignored. Like Ron said, you will not read about the possible success of using the internet in any report. It’s about getting out there in the “streets”, talking to people doing it, and seeing for your self. Just look at the blogging revolution. If you don’t acknowledge the blogging revolution then you just don’t get it. I know there are a lot of crappy blogs out there, but there are also some really good ones producing great, helpful content, and making serious money. Why else have well known authors setup websites and blogs? All these “Web 2.0” type sites are merely tools of the age we live in. If you think these sites are just for teenagers, that was like 2 years ago and they have changed a lot. I would implore you to check them out for yourself, and follow the sites of some of your favorite people you like. You can also do web searches and find articles on how these sites have had an impact ESPECIALLY for people selling things themselves and cutting out the middle man. Haven’t you heard? The internet is the great equalizer.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Hi Ron,
I am an about to be published self-publisher if there is anything like that! I was implored to join Facebook for months by friends but i ignored them because i thought all they did was chat endlessly about nothing, poke, tickle and do all sorts of ridiculous things. Finally, i was convinced of the benefits of the networking aspect and to my surprise, you (Ron) asked me to join your list of friends as self-publishers. I must tell you, i felt so important already even though you probably invited me because i’m on your mailing list.
That was the moment i knew i had made the right decision to be a “Facebooker”. I have learnt so much from you Ron. Your list of questionaires about “what you should know before you self-publish” was the tool i armed myself with on my trip to Dubai to interview potential printers/publishers for my books and i sounded like a real pro asking all those questions about covers, page weight etc. I am definitely hooked and thanks Ron for all your information. Hope we will eventually do business together.
Dr. Ololade Otitoloju
Medical Practitioner
DTM&H, DPH
Author of the new “African Languages Made Easy Series” and “African Phonics Cards Series” featuring popular Characters in Folktales like IJAPA and his friends in an easy to read format for all lovers of indigenous Afrrican languages.
“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about”
December 9th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Hi, Ron, I just sent you a friend request.
I finally set up with Facebook about six weeks ago. I find that both Facebook and Plaxo are easy to use for posting business resources, whereas getting anything useful from the Myspace interface mystifies me. So far I’ve followed others’ links to some very useful articles, and posted some links of my own but haven’t seen traffic from them.
I can see that social networking sites can drink up a lot of time and am hoping to find an intern who can do a lot of this for me.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
RON,
THIS LOOKS LIKE A GREAT IDEA AND IF WE DON’T SOW, HOW CAN WE EXPECT TO REAP? THANKS FOR THE INFORMATIVE PRESENTATION.
JONI CAMPO, AUTHOR, “PULPIT IN MY KITCHEN” A BOOK FOR WIVES, MOTHERS, AND GRANDMOTHERS.
http://WWW.PULPITINMYKITCHEN.COM
December 10th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Ron,
You’re so right about this. Besides FaceBook and MySpace, there are also new online social networks forming for specific interest groups. I’ve recently joined a new site called leftrightunite.com started by Patrick Wood and his son Josh. I’m a very serious researcher and my online experience has never included any of the social aspects, but as soon as I was invited to lru I was intrigued by it. After one month I can see it’s not only a way to meet others like myself but it has other possibilities, since other members have begun advertising my book on their blogs lately! (My daughter calls it a “MySpace for old people.”)
Nordica and I formed a self-publishing book company in 2005. Our political research website (the ACL) has had close to a million visitors since 2003. Many visitors emailed us and asked for a condensed hardcopy version of the massive amount of free information at our site. I was amazed that people wanted to buy a hardcopy rather than wade through our site for free.
“2020″ has a small but growing audience and we’ve decided to start taking it a lot more seriously. We’ve been using a “local” Anchorage printer who’s given us nothing but grief, and I found your company website while searching other priniting options. We’re buying our ISBNs this week and will be submitting 2020 to your printers asap. We like the layout of your business site, we appreciate your committment to teaching newcomers about the industry, but most of all we like your attitude toward internet business and networking. As Alaskans who live 200 miles from the nearest city, we already do most of our business online.
Looking forward to doing business with you!
Niki Raapana
Anti-Communitarian League
December 10th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Facebook, got it. Myspace, have it. But, I think the best social network for exposure, and networking (of course along with the aforementioned) is MyBlogLog.com!
That site has networkers, business types, BOOK READERS, and a more \’seasoned\’ demographic.
The resources once you join and the people you network with are incredible!
Plus, the informative links are exceptional for me. I have learned more about marketing, promoting and improving my blogging skills through the expertise of the members there.
Adrienne Zurub
Author,
\’Notes From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles\’
December 11th, 2007 at 9:48 am
RON, MY BOOK IS A MILITARY MEMOIR TITLED
VIETNAM NO REGRETS “One Soldier’s Tour of Duty” how do I get my book listed on as many Military sites as possible?
Any help?
J Richard Watkins
December 11th, 2007 at 9:48 am
RON, MY BOOK IS A MILITARY MEMOIR TITLED
VIETNAM NO REGRETS “One Soldier’s Tour of Duty” how do I get my book listed on as many Military sites as possible?
Any help?
J Richard Watkins
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I’m not convinced that Facebook is a good way to reach strangers, although I don’t participate in groups much at the moment. If I did, that might change. It is a good way to keep friends, family and other contacts updated on the progress of your book, though. When you post items on Facebook, they show up in your friends’ pages when they log on.
Two tips: Lulu has a storefront widget for Facebook which will display your book cover and link through for sales. Also, you can import your blog so that your Facebook page becomes self-updating.
I’ve added you as a friend, Ron.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Ron
I published with Virtual Bookworm. I would be interested in your opinion or your readers’ opinion on this book printer.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
What I’ve heard about Facebook is that they not only track your online activities, especially shopping, but they tell your facebook friends what you’ve bought and what you paid for it. One man’s surprise, a diamond ring for his wife, was spoiled when facebook informed her of the purchase.
Such a flap ensued that I believe they have stopped the practice, or at least you have to give your permission for facebook to share this kind of information.
The story was on 60 minutes recently. You can watch it here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/10/60minutes/main3697442.shtml
January 21st, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Great article on Facebook, Ron. I just invited you to be one of my friends. I’d like to add that Facebook is somewhat cluttered and not as clean to work with as goodreads.com–but then maybe that says something about me! Easily confused
To compare, I’d like to invite you to take a look at what a profile page looks like on goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/424383
Time magazine just ranked Goodreads.com #5 out of the top ten websites for 2007. It might be worth taking a look at it! And thanks to the person who mentioned mybloglog. I’m going to take a look at it!
January 31st, 2008 at 11:34 am
I, too, am a self-published (4) author. I have used Infinity, which i consider to be one of the best. i am also a teacher in the local colleges on the subjects of Writing, Publishing, and marketing. I have not tried My-Space, etc, but will consider it in the future. I question, with one of the others, if it will really sell books. I don’t think the ‘book buying’ public is into that type of marketing yet - maybe in 4 or 5 years.
For the self-published author - nothing being in the public’s eye. I sell at every flea market, craft show, book fair, that I can get into. I am also a public speaker, so I speak at every venue that will invite me. AND, I might add, I have done very well. On the other hand my s/p friends who rely on amazon.com are sitting on their books whining about no one buys books anymore. In the words of Dan Poynter: Now go write something. CAS