Marketing a product through social media is the easiest way to increase revenue in 2013. Before social media was introduced, bookstores made a huge profit from customers purchasing paperback and hardcover books over the counter. Before 2011 bookstores generated a substantial profit; however statistics have shown a decline in sales due to new innovations such as Kindle, iBooks and even free library resources online that make purchasing a book quick and easy. Bookstore sales have plummeted 9.6% since 2007 causing companies like Borders to go out of business. Barnes & Noble and Half Price Books have managed to keep above water mainly due to both companies’ loyal customers. With Barnes & Noble merging with Starbucks, they are able to bring in customers who are willing to come into the cafe and drink a beverage while reading their favorite novel.
For individuals like me who love to purchase books through iBooks, downloading is the fastest way to avoid standing in lines and worrying about receipts. The best part of purchasing an e-book is the ease of highlighting and bookmarking directly on an iPad. Keeping up with your favorite author either on Facebook or Twitter is easily accessible as well. I was interested to see how many authors advertise and market themselves on Twitter and examined a list from the NewYork Times best booksellers of 2013. The top 5 booksellers of 2013 were: Inferno, by Dan Brown; Second Honeymoon, by James Patterson; This Man Confessed, by Jodi Ellen Malpas;And The Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini; and Affliction, by Laurell K. Hamilton. The list was comprised of sales from printed and e-book sales combined.
I was so intrigued by the top selling 5 fiction authors, several of them renowned, that I searched for their Twitter handles to examine how much marketing is left up to their social media sites. Out of the 5 authors, 100% of them market and advertise their products on Twitter. Dan Brown's Twitter is @AuthorDanBrown while James Patterson is a little more difficult to find @JP_Books. Interacting with Twitter followers is the most successful way authors make a profit from book sales, which James Patterson has done an excellent job at connecting with followers. He has 37,500 followers and even has a photo of himself and NBA star Grant Hill at an event benefiting children. The more followers he can interact with on Twitter, the more viewers will see his book advertised and will more likely purchase his book via e-book.
This type of marketing is brilliant and more profitable than ever before. In fact, we all should be moving toward writing and publishing books with the intent to market via social media. The fastest way to get rich has moved from bookstore purchasing to the online social media frenzy.
I was so intrigued by the top selling 5 fiction authors, several of them renowned, that I searched for their Twitter handles to examine how much marketing is left up to their social media sites. Out of the 5 authors, 100% of them market and advertise their products on Twitter. Dan Brown's Twitter is @AuthorDanBrown while James Patterson is a little more difficult to find @JP_Books. Interacting with Twitter followers is the most successful way authors make a profit from book sales, which James Patterson has done an excellent job at connecting with followers. He has 37,500 followers and even has a photo of himself and NBA star Grant Hill at an event benefiting children. The more followers he can interact with on Twitter, the more viewers will see his book advertised and will more likely purchase his book via e-book.
This type of marketing is brilliant and more profitable than ever before. In fact, we all should be moving toward writing and publishing books with the intent to market via social media. The fastest way to get rich has moved from bookstore purchasing to the online social media frenzy.
No comments:
Post a Comment