The Post Pub

Good Blogging: How To Turn off a Reader

In her latest blog post, Barbara Delinsky admits a missed reading group appointment that could have landed her in hot water:

Did I tell you that this woman had also sent me pictures of the members of her group in advance of our meeting? She had to have been one of the most eager, most generous, most comprehensive meeting preparers I’ve ever dealt with. And I let her down.

Why am I telling you this? It isn’t something I’m proud of. But it is part of the HOW TO of being a writer. It relates to the business part. Ahhh, for the day when all I had to do with my life was to write books! I would estimate that I spend 40% of my work time on business. There are lots of things to keep straight, and I don't only mean the crises of my current characters. I’m talking about things that have to do with that most precious commodity, my readers.

Read Barbara's blog, Everyday Drama, for more about the realities of being a full-time fiction writer. Her latest book, The Secret Between Us, is now available.

GoodReads Best of 2007 List

In today's GoodReads newsletter, I received a list of Goodreads' Most Popular Books of 2007. Says the newsletter, "So why is our list better than any other? Goodreads can tell you what people are reading now, which is very different from what people are buying. "

They don't specify what that means, exactly, but I guess they mean that members of GoodReads are reading or re-reading things that they bought in past years; that they're borrowing from the library; and that (in the case of The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird) they've been assigned to read in school.  ** Attention, marketers:  that trio, plus the Harry Potter volumes below, indicates a large demographic of readers under the age of 22 **

Here's their list:

Social Sites for Readers

I have an amendment to my previous post, about the ways in which reading-related social sites are used.  I wasn't sure, at the time, if users of these sites could distinguish between different shelves -- for example, if they could designate a shelf for items "to be read". (The single most useful shelf for anyone using social bookmarking tools to "Add this Book" to a social site.)

I've joined all three communities -- Shelfari, LibraryThing and GoodReads.  (Click on any of those links to add The Post Pub to your friends list.)

As far as I can tell, GoodReads is the easiest of the three in which to separate out lists and designate items To Be Read.

More on the strengths & weaknesses of each site soon...

AdaptiveBlue's Smartlinks

AdaptiveBlue invited me to try out their new widgets and functions, and after checking out their website, I couldn't find a compelling reason not to.  The Post Pub now features SmartLinks, which are little boxes after book titles that, when clicked, offer up a java window interface that gives some nifty snapshot info about the book in question.  Anything relatively unobtrusive that furthers online conversations about books is a-OK in my book.

Test it out -- here are the titles of the books in which I have bookmarks at the moment:

• Lady Chatterley's Lover
• Collapse
• O. Henry Awards, 2002
• The Discomfort Zone

I like the fact that the plug-in allows for readers to bookmark books on their favorite social sites.  However, links like "Add to Shelfari" (or Goodreads, or LibraryThing) confuse me, because isn't Shelfari meant to track the books that are already on your shelf?  I'll have to give that function a trial run, to see if this is a true, useful bookmarking tool -- if it allows me to surf a blogger's site, read about a book they're reading, and with one click, add that book to my "must read next" list.

Another question:  where do the Tags come from?  The interface lists a series of tags ascribed to the book. I'd like to know who generates these tags.  Are they gleaned from Amazon and social sites?

In any event -- a good plug-in: nice-looking, informational, and social. We'll see if it catches on.

Cool Stuff, Courtesy of Publishing Insider

1. 2008 Winter Books Preview from USA Today (updated regularly; worth bookmarking)
2. America's Most Literate Cities 2007

Thanks to Publishing Insider for the links.

Free eBook: Effective Internet Presence

Thanks to the Publishing 2020 Blog, I found out about this free eBook about building an effective internet presence.  It's pretty elementary information, but as such, essential (and quick) reading for anyone who's just starting to get their feet wet with personal branding online.  This is a primer on how to manage, control and improve your reputation online -- not a guide to aggressive online marketing.  But it's a good, solid starting place for anyone overwhelmed by the possibilities and wondering where to start.

Best Books of 2007, Continued.

A quick post to mention that the Top 100 Customers' Picks are now available on Amazon.