tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post5738590789670646755..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: The Hidden Benefits of Reading an eBook by Lynne GarnerKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-76821101802648184452012-02-09T13:07:55.013+00:002012-02-09T13:07:55.013+00:00Interesting and thought provoking post - I suspect...Interesting and thought provoking post - I suspect there may be a difference between adult and children's fiction too here. And there is so very much marketing advice out there that it's really hard to know what to even experiment with - although Kindle certainly makes experimenting easier. Speaking personally, our slightly reluctant reader son (very happy to have books read TO him, like so many boys, I fear!) only really engaged with reading when his desire to know what was on TV overcame his reluctance to be bothered, and he read the Radio Times from cover to cover within a very short space of time! Regarding marketing, I've found the US writers who are making good money from eBooks and also blogging about it - have some very useful advice. John Locke's book advocates connecting with readers, and I think there's a lot to be said for that. In fact it influenced the way I set up my new website. I realised that - like so many writers - I had got into the habit of targeting publishers and agents, and I no longer needed to do that. I still find myself doing it, but I try hard to think about potential readers as well - it's quite a slow process - changing the thinking of a lifetime! Like turning a supertanker round. I've also been watching those Alex Polizzi 'fixer' programmes which - since they are about small businesses - seem to have a lot to say about personalising one's approach to customers - and after all, our readers are our customers. Benefits are important for sure, but I think it's almost more important to find a way of engaging readers with whatever image you, as a writer, wish to create.Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-12077633469083419952012-02-08T16:13:02.335+00:002012-02-08T16:13:02.335+00:00Susan thanks for the heads up on the link for your...Susan thanks for the heads up on the link for your cousins website. Will take a look. <br /><br />Dan perhaps that'll be my next blog as I've put a couple of things he suggests into place.Lynne Garnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05697330164705623835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-7290061948787968122012-02-08T15:32:43.413+00:002012-02-08T15:32:43.413+00:00My cousin, Alan Hess, currently taking a Master...My cousin, Alan Hess, currently taking a Master's in linguistics, is mad keen on this relationship between reading and developement, Lynne. (You can find him at: http://www.manxman.ch/moodle2/).<br />He says being able to read the words on the page is the tip of a huge iceberg - the stuff hidden below is the development of emotional and cultural intelligence and socialisation. He says books and stories aren't read word by word, but in 'blocks of meaning' - which may have as much to do with the emotions felt while being read to, or the sense of culture being passed on.<br />Hard to sum up briefly!Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-92215737136452051102012-02-08T14:42:33.085+00:002012-02-08T14:42:33.085+00:00Reports on the relative successes and suitabilitie...Reports on the relative successes and suitabilities of the ideas in Locke's book would be a very interestig & useful subject for a post :)Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-51852205854950897532012-02-08T13:35:35.132+00:002012-02-08T13:35:35.132+00:00As you say it's difficult to really know how t...As you say it's difficult to really know how to sell an eBook. It's a crowded place out there and it's a question of getting you and your book noticed. I"m open to new ideas and suggestions and have also been reading 'How I Sold a Million eBooks in Five Months.' So I'm going to play with the ideas I come across and hope some of them work.Lynne Garnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05697330164705623835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-18839664287444045002012-02-08T12:53:23.343+00:002012-02-08T12:53:23.343+00:00he problem with taking that as a marketing startin...he problem with taking that as a marketing starting point, of course, is how to make oneself (OK, that's my particular problem, but I know writers as a whole suffer large doses of self-doubt) believe that one's own ebook achieves this better than all other ebooks - if one were marketing "ebooks" that's one thing but "my particular ebook" requires a much more specific hook - what need is your book tapping into? <br /><br />It's the ellision between that general ("ebooks") and the particular ("my ebook") that I find suspect about this type of marketing - the danger is one says about one's own work what is equally true of other works, and that's something I know I wouldn't be happy doing, which is why I think the pitch of the book is the key marketing tool. <br /><br />It's a fascinating subject - I don't know if you saw Adam Curtis'(one of our true TV geniuses - most recently seen with teh stunning All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace) superlative documentary series The Century of the Self, all about psychoanalysis and advertising and hooking into aspirationsDan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com