Social Media

Go Read This | HarperCollins stands down BookArmy | theBookseller.com

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Well, this is a shame.

A shame that it didn’t work, a shame that there isn’t any hope of saving it, a shame that a publisher couldn’t build something for itself, a shame that they are using advertising as an excuse, a shame that they are using competition as an excuse, a shame that instead of trying something like this in such a half-hearted way (and if you think that’s unfair check out the simply pathetic social media presence for this social based site) they didn’t go for it hell for leather, a shame that the users still on site seem so committed to the idea (read the forums and you see there is a great deal of support and interest). Oh well

HarperCollins is closing its BookArmy social networking site later this month, blaming poor advertising and competition from similar sites.

via HarperCollins stands down BookArmy | theBookseller.com.

One Thing EVERY Publisher Should Do (and doesn’t cost a penny)

~ Eoin Purcell ~ 2 Comments

Lots of publishers have been rolling out new media and social media strategies and yet they are failing to do really basic things. There are some VERY simple things that can improve your site immeasurably and help you promote your company and your website. The crazy thing about these are that Big and Small publishers all fail to do them. And they are effectively free!

This one though has been annoying the hell out if me recently. And it’s so easy!

Have A News Page, Make Sure That Page Has An RSS Feed, USE THE NEWS PAGE*
You could set your news page up as a blog and allow commnets, but even if that isn’t for you, it is non-sensical to have a news page without an RSS feed. News that you post to a static news page just sits there waiting for people to come to it. An RSS feed sends it OUT to people in the place they have decided to READ It. That’s a wonderful permission tool. They are LOOKING for your news when they subscribe to your news RSS.

The Mercier Press News Page is a good example of using an RSS feed to a) let people know what’s coming up and b) getting pictures and news out about book launches and pretty much anything else. If they do anything wrong it’s that they don’t TELL people you can subscribe, I’d change that.

My idea of perfection for this is Little Brown’s UK website where they have an RSS Feed for their News & Events page AND they promote it!

That is all!
Eoin

* For New Pages, read Press Release or Update or whatever you prefer to call it!