After reading a PC World article called "The 15 Biggest Wikipedia Blunders," I'm not so sure that I want to recommend Wikipedia for book promotion any longer.
Can a book promotion campaign thrive without the inclusion of a Wikipedia entry? Well, it's beginning to seem as though it could -- especially in light of the fact that Wikipedia (according to the PC World article) reported that Ted Kennedy had passed away in January. We know, from this week's wall-to-wall Ted Kennedy coverage, that the awful event didn't take place until the wee hours of Tuesday morning -- that's Tuesday morning of August, not January. (You can see the updated Wikipedia entry for Ted Kennedy, which now appears to be correct, here.
Wikipedia is making changes about how, and under what circumstances, edits can be made on its entries. That may help the veracity of its information, in the long run.
But for the short term, I'm not sure that I'd count on Wikipedia's entries to be a focal point of a book promotion campaign. Perhaps I'd still recommend that it be a part of a book promotion campaign, but two bits of advice about using Wikipedia as part of your author promotion strategies. First, don't write your own entry or Wikipedia will cite it as "suspect" and possibly delete it (unfortunately, a Wikipedia entry that I created for myself was flagged as suspicious and biased, and I wish someone had told me that might happen ahead of time). And, two, ask whomever posts your Wikipedia entry to save your original copy in case someone edits it and you must revert back to the original.
Follow those steps, and then move beyond Wikipedia to promote your book online. There's a whole world of online book promotion opportunities out there!
Showing posts with label book promotion campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book promotion campaign. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 27, 2007
Hold onto book publicity interview information!
When you're in the middle of a book promotion campaign, every interview opportunity is precious. Make sure to capture the details of every book promotion interview you have planned, and then have a backup of that information in another place, and then -- for real security -- back up that information again, in some other way.
The book promotion interview will probably go on, as planned. The interviewer probably has your phone number, and he or she will probably call at the appointed time, on the agreed-upon date. But you know what? Sometimes, not so much. That's why you have to take careful note of the name of the interview, and how you can contact him/her in the event that you need to. When you're scheduling the interview, or your book publicist is scheduling the interview, ask for a backup line (explain that you'll be using it for "Plan B," just in case there's a mixup the day of the interview). Then write down that information so you'll have a hard copy of it. Compose an email with that information, and send it to yourself. Type the information into the calendar section of your email client, and into any online calendars you might use. Write it down in your appointment book....
You get the picture. Make sure to memorialize the details of the interview, and then make sure you have as many copies of that information as you'll need to ensure that, if you should need it, you'll have it.
And don't expect your book publicist to act as your only repository of this information. Book publcists are human. We do our best to hold onto information, but our computers crash. We misplace things. We try not to, but it happens. And even a theoretically perfect book publicist has to heed the call of nature (or take the calls of other clients) sometimes.
Therefore, when you get the information about the book promotion opportunity, capture it, and guard it carefully. Don't count on somebody else, however well intentioned, to do it for you. It's your book promotion campaign, and you can keep it on course by being the best data keeper imaginable.
The book promotion interview will probably go on, as planned. The interviewer probably has your phone number, and he or she will probably call at the appointed time, on the agreed-upon date. But you know what? Sometimes, not so much. That's why you have to take careful note of the name of the interview, and how you can contact him/her in the event that you need to. When you're scheduling the interview, or your book publicist is scheduling the interview, ask for a backup line (explain that you'll be using it for "Plan B," just in case there's a mixup the day of the interview). Then write down that information so you'll have a hard copy of it. Compose an email with that information, and send it to yourself. Type the information into the calendar section of your email client, and into any online calendars you might use. Write it down in your appointment book....
You get the picture. Make sure to memorialize the details of the interview, and then make sure you have as many copies of that information as you'll need to ensure that, if you should need it, you'll have it.
And don't expect your book publicist to act as your only repository of this information. Book publcists are human. We do our best to hold onto information, but our computers crash. We misplace things. We try not to, but it happens. And even a theoretically perfect book publicist has to heed the call of nature (or take the calls of other clients) sometimes.
Therefore, when you get the information about the book promotion opportunity, capture it, and guard it carefully. Don't count on somebody else, however well intentioned, to do it for you. It's your book promotion campaign, and you can keep it on course by being the best data keeper imaginable.
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