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 Wikipedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wikipedia. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, June 13, 2008
A seemingly odd, but nonetheless worthwhile, book promotion idea.
By now, you've discovered Wikipedia. Whatever you think of Wikipedia -- whether you love it or hate it -- you've surely noticed that, regardless of what you're "googling," a Wikipedia entry almost always seems to turn up first in the search results.
We all know that (to be polite about it) Wikipedia's information is only as good as those who have contributed to its entries. That, of course, can be anyone, which is why "Wikipedia" is called a "wiki." It's produced by anyone with something to add, which means that Wikipedia shouldn't be your primary source of information. It's just not as reliable as it would be if, say, it couldn't be updated instantly, by anyone, at any time (although, in fairness, the site's editorial board to try to keep an eye on those updates and have even challenged some of my entries when I've inadvertently "under"-footnoted).
Anyway, what brought Wikipedia to mind is that, unfortunately, Tim Russert has just passed away. I wanted to see Russert's bio, so I googled him and -- predictably -- his Wikipedia entry came up first. What really made my eyes pop was that Russert's entry notes his death. I checked the entry a few minutes ago, and the entry already had been updated to include an unexpected death that had occurred less than three hours before.
People are using Wikipedia, and you should be using it, too, whatever your feelings about a democratic encyclopedia that allows anyone, regardless of credentials, to offer suggestions. It's easy to enter your own bio in Wikipedia and, hopefully, score a backlink to your Web site and your fair share of Google's attention. Yes, it's an offbeat book promotion idea, but it's one that authors and publishers should be using, anyway. Try it, and don't be shy -- it's impossible to "break" Wikipedia or your own entry. I promise. You can always edit your offering once you've uploaded it to Wikipedia to test it out "live."
We all know that (to be polite about it) Wikipedia's information is only as good as those who have contributed to its entries. That, of course, can be anyone, which is why "Wikipedia" is called a "wiki." It's produced by anyone with something to add, which means that Wikipedia shouldn't be your primary source of information. It's just not as reliable as it would be if, say, it couldn't be updated instantly, by anyone, at any time (although, in fairness, the site's editorial board to try to keep an eye on those updates and have even challenged some of my entries when I've inadvertently "under"-footnoted).
Anyway, what brought Wikipedia to mind is that, unfortunately, Tim Russert has just passed away. I wanted to see Russert's bio, so I googled him and -- predictably -- his Wikipedia entry came up first. What really made my eyes pop was that Russert's entry notes his death. I checked the entry a few minutes ago, and the entry already had been updated to include an unexpected death that had occurred less than three hours before.
People are using Wikipedia, and you should be using it, too, whatever your feelings about a democratic encyclopedia that allows anyone, regardless of credentials, to offer suggestions. It's easy to enter your own bio in Wikipedia and, hopefully, score a backlink to your Web site and your fair share of Google's attention. Yes, it's an offbeat book promotion idea, but it's one that authors and publishers should be using, anyway. Try it, and don't be shy -- it's impossible to "break" Wikipedia or your own entry. I promise. You can always edit your offering once you've uploaded it to Wikipedia to test it out "live."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)