Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The Charlotte newspaper has a trend story about how more and more writers are turning to the Web for help in marketing their books. The story leads off with Asheville author Marisha Pessl’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
Blue van Meer is an impressive young woman – an extremely well-read Harvard student. You can find out more on her MySpace and Friendster pages.
Funny thing is, Blue isn’t real. She’s the heroine of Asheville native Marisha Pessl’s 2006 debut novel, “Special Topics in Calamity Physics.”
Blue’s MySpace page is just one example of how technology is transforming book marketing.
Not long ago, marketing often meant author tours. Authors traveled from city to city for signings at local bookstores. Lucky ones scored interviews with local media. The unlucky gave readings to empty chairs.
Now, authors are expected to create Web sites and blogs. They e-mail fans with news about their latest books and chat with book clubs by telephone. They make “virtual” author tours by appearing on other Web sites and blogs. Pessl, for instance, has an interview on bookslut.com.
They’re even doing videos. In one YouTube video, you can meet the eccentric mother of “Glass Castle” author Jeannette Walls.
In another, Minnesota author Dennis Cass promotes the new paperback edition of his book, “Head Case,” with a hilarious send-up of what authors have to do these days to get their books noticed.
In the video, Cass explains his meager marketing plan to someone on the other end of the phone: “I’m also going to do a big e-mail blast: ‘That book I wrote last year is out again.’ Just send that to everybody – select all,” he says. “No, I never did a Web site. I know, you need to have a Web site …”
The logic of Internet marketing is pretty obvious. It saves money.
But there’s a downside, says Betsy Thorpe, who directs marketing for Charlotte’s Novello Festival Press. “Older readers, who make up a huge proportion of authors’ audiences, do not read blogs.”
