Last week we talked about a shift in the book publishing industry toward reaching people directly through digital marketing. Direct marketing to consumers isn’t entirely new in publishing: a handful of authors like Tom Clancy have marketing teams with the resources for big custom campaigns both online and offline. What is new is the opportunity presented within Facebook for publishers and authors to connect with people directly on an unprecedented scale. Not just for the top few books and authors, but for the whole list. We built Odyl to extend what’s possible for publishers and authors, from a few custom campaigns, to tens of thousands of authors (and more) connecting with their readers within Facebook’s population of 800 million people.
When we see a good movie, listen to music, or read a great book, we naturally want to share these experiences with our friends. Music, movies and books are all a perfect fit for what works so well on Facebook: people sharing the content and experiences they love with friends. To share music on Facebook, it’s pretty clear that you want things like a player, videos, and tour dates. Similarly, to share what’s unique to books and authors, you want a system built just for authors to connect with their readers – things like book excerpts, interviews, galley giveaways, reader polls, reviews – all creating excitement around direct connections that were never before possible.
Authors and publishers have unique requirements related both to the massive scale of publishing, as well the specific nature of books and readers. The need for a unique approach to Facebook marketing for authors and publishers is directed by three things:
1) Lots of books. For publishers who launch hundreds or even thousands of new books each year (combining traditional and e-books, about three million new books came out last year), there’s simply too many titles to spend time and money on designers and web developers to create marketing for each one. Facebook marketing companies have primarily focused on big custom campaigns for consumer products goods companies (think Coke or Pizza Hut). Systems are built to support creative and tech teams in developing these campaigns, and this is extremely time and resource-consuming. It works when you have a few products to market each year; it doesn’t work in book publishing.
2) Authors are great at writing, not great at programming. Brand marketing on Facebook is focused on big companies with a handful of products; supporting technologies are designed to work along with a team of graphic designers and web developers. Most authors don’t have access to this kind of team. They need readily usable tools to put their content in Facebook quickly and easily. They need to focus on shared conversations rather than technical hassles.
3) Volumes of sharable content, looking to get out. Friends sharing content with friends is what Facebook is all about, and authors are especially great at giving people something sharable to talk about. It’s important for an author’s page to extend beyond simple “brochure-ware” (some customized graphics) into shareable engagements – this is where readers connect with authors in a way that inspires them to share throughout their friend network. With the right tools built just for authors and publishers, readers can feel like they’re connecting directly to authors in a way that’s exciting and makes them want to share that feeling with their friends.
Authors and books are a fountain of great content; they just need the right toolset for connecting with their readers on Facebook. That’s why we created Odyl. We’re easy to use (whether in the hands of authors or book marketers), scalable enough to launch thousands of books without a hassle, and we’re affordable for both authors and publishers. Maybe most important, we work. Our technology is proven effective with top authors like Jane Fonda, Katie Couric, and Sophie Kinsella, for creating exciting conversations between authors and their readers, spreading those conversations throughout Facebook, and selling books.
