What Publishers are Learning about Books & Blogging

October 13, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

I posted this yesterday on the GodBlogCon Blog. FoxNews has an article on the convention.

I remember
not so long ago hearing from those who were troubled that people watch
too much television and therefore don’t read much any more. This may
have been true a few years ago, but not so much today. People still
watch too much television, but they do read- just not what they used to
read. The Internet has changed our media consumption. No longer do we
get our information from the anchor on the 5:00 news. Now we receive
instant updates at the click of the button, so that what the anchor
talks about is outdated by the time we hear it.

It
appears that newspapers are, for the most part, not read by the younger
generations. But the young and old have flocked to the Internet,
especially the blogsphere. The information we receive is now in our own
hands- we select it and we only digest what we want to hear. Over time
we gravitate toward those sites and blogs we’re familiar with; we
become a captive audience once again but to sources of our choosing.

What
does this have to do with books? It seems that more books are published
today than at any other time in history. But there is a problem
inherent in the system for publishers- people typically gravitate
toward authors and titles they’re already familiar with. Publishers can
do some traditional advertising in magazines, bookstores (do people
still shop there?), etc., but that will have minimal impact on the
younger generations. The bridge is the blogsphere.

Publishers
are becoming anxious to get their books in the hands of people who will
blog about them. They realize the potential the blog medium holds for
easily reaching these captive audiences. Initially, they will only sell
a few books through one blogger’s review. But that review will be read
by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people. Multiply that by a dozen
blogs for each book and the publisher has effectively created a market
for a new book or an unknown author. This is aided by sites like the Diet of Bookworms, which collect book reviews done by bloggers.

I now receive about 3-4 books a month from publishers, and I know
bloggers who receive more. Some books I personally request, others I
don’t, but I’ve never been turned down because they realize that the
few dollars it costs to send me a copy of the book will ultimately pay
off. I got started through Mind & Media,
a business dedicated to placing books in the hands of bloggers. It’s
free to any blogger who will commit to reviewing the book on their
blog. Sites such as Mind & Media
are showing that as the blogsphere continues to grow and gain more
readers it will become a fundamental avenue for publishers to promote
their books.