by Erin Mitchell
One of my favorite Sherlock Holmes scenes includes when Sherlock holding a painting up to Watson’s nose and asking him what it’s a picture of. Watson gets annoyed (as only Watson can) because of course he can’t tell when the painting is so close to his face. Sherlock’s point is made: Sometimes in order to see a picture, you need to take a step back and look at the whole picture.
So it is with your marketing presence.
Try though you might, you never know exactly where your next reader is going to find you. She might happen on your Facebook page. He could see a Tweet. A Google search that leads to your Tumblr? Also possible. And this is before we look at your website, your publisher’s website (and plethora of social media accounts not to mention catalog), Pinterest, Riffle, e-newsletter, blogs, newspapers, magazines, radio, book clubs, TV segments… You get the idea.
I wasn’t at Digital Book World this week, but I followed along thanks to lots of smart folks on Twitter who shared 140-character nuggets from the presentations. Many of these nuggets came via Kathleen Schmidt. Here’s one of my favorite series:
Fascinating stuff. But here’s the thing: Until there is a reliable stat saying 100% of books are discovered in one place—which, we all know, there never will be—you simply can’t afford to be myopic in your view of your brand. You might not be on all the various communication platforms, but your readers are. It’s important, therefore, to take a step back and look around. Consider it an audit, but not the awful, scary IRS kind. This is the kind where you—or someone of your choosing—looks past the first page of Google search results. Updates your Goodreads author profile. Edits your Wikipedia page. Clicks every damn link on your website and fixes broken links (there’s usually at least one).
Once you have a complete picture, it becomes much easier to understand how to best utilize the content you create. What needs to link to or auto-post where and when. Where to focus your efforts to best connect with fans and new readers.
