Marching Orders for WIN Communications and Writers Information Network

Mission Statement: "Help me, O God, to do my best to help other people to accomplish and to achieve, knowing that their contribution is what God is trying to give the world." --from Florence Sims, 1873-1923, who started the YWCA. (Claimed for WIN, November 15, 2004)



Mandate: "Now go and write these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of times as a witness" (Isaiah 30:8 NLT).



Message: "The Lord gives the Word [of power]; the women who hear and publish [the news] are a great host" (Psalm 68:10-11 AMP).






Tuesday, August 4, 2015

AVOID GRADING AN AUTHOR'S SOCIAL MEDIA STATUS



When I was in college, my initial major was landscape design and architecture. For some strange reason, I had visions of designing golf courses with fancy clubhouses around the world. But, my dream was crushed as a sophomore student when I was graded on our biggest project of the year. I was given the task to design the structure and landscaping for a new county library near the college. Each of the six professors in my department would assign a grade.

When the big day arrived to receive our grades, I was stunned. One of the six professors gave me a failing grade of D, while another professor gave me a quite positive grade of B+. Likewise, my scores from the other four professors were all over the place. I remember feeling bewildered by the wide range of subjective marks. I couldn’t tell from the inconsistent grades whether I really good or really bad. That event dislodged my faith in the schools’ architectural program so much that I dropped out and switched my major to marketing – where all of the grades were a lot more objective.

I share this story as an analogy to the way I see too many publishers assigning dubious grades to authors based on their social media following. They judge authors based on the numbers they see online. For instance, I’ve sat in several meetings with literary agents, acquisitions editors, and marketing directors who ask misguided questions, such as:
  • Is this author on Facebook and Twitter?
  • How many followers do they have?
  • How often does the author post and do they get many shares and retweets?
Making acquisitions and marketing decisions based on an author’s social media popularity is like assigning grades to students based on their accent or physical attractiveness. It’s subjective and largely unrelated to the actual skill set needed to succeed.

There is little correlation between the amount of Facebook followers an author displays and the amount of actual book buyers they generate. Here are three reasons why:

1. An author could have thousands of followers, but not one of whom might actually purchase, since they are only following that author for the time being because it’s free.

2. Social media followers can easily be bought and faked. I’ve seen authors plant their Facebook account with thousands of “followers” purchased on Ebay.com and other sites. There are also free apps, such as StatusPeople, which let you see the amount of fake and inactive Twitter followers in someone’s account.

3. A recent study by McKinsey Consulting revealed that email is 40 times more effective than all social media combined at acquiring new customers. In light of this study, I still hear publishers rave about how their placing more and more importance on social media.

Convincing someone to buy a book is a subjective process, which will never change. Yet, we have access to so much objective data about what works and what doesn’t. The question is if we’re willing to acknowledge the objective data and ignore the subjective social media hype.

Informed publishers should focus greater concentration on numbers that reveal more substance to an author’s platform. I recommend these four:

1. Email list and performance
The size of an author’s email list is a better number to objectively grade an author’s marketing skills. It’s one thing to get someone to “like” something on Facebook. It’s a bigger challenge to create content that leads people to voluntarily register for an email list and consistently open the emails that they receive. And, just as a reminder, email has been shown to be 40 times better than social media.

2. Monthly website visitorsSocial media numbers can be easily faked. But, an author’s website traffic tends to be a more legitimate number. Google Analytics is free and makes it easy for authors to run reports and provide this data. At the very least, publishers should request information from authors on the amount of monthly unique sessions, users, and page views to their site. In addition, ask for reports that show traffic going from the present back to the past 18 months. Don’t just look at the present numbers, look at how the author is trending.

3. Speaking schedule or webinar participantsAuthors who get face-to-face with their readers tend to be better marketers than those who camp out behind their computer screen. Ask authors to provide a history and upcoming itinerary of speaking engagements and booksigning events. Online webinars and webcasts can also provide indications of an author’s presentation prowess and audience size. Ask for figures regarding the amount of webinar frequency per year and average number of participants.

4. Previous sales historyBuilding email lists, generating web traffic, and attracting speaking engagements are key skills. But, they are still distinct from actually selling books. Some authors know how to work hard, but not smart. They generate a lot of activity, but it doesn’t transfer into actual book sales. Most publishers wisely check an author’s past sales history using BookScan (authors can check their own BookScan numbers using Amazon’s Author Central account). An author’s sales history can be the most objective numbers available and should be given important weight.

If you feel nosy asking authors for details about their platform, for crying out loud, remember your offering someone a legal book contract and take a big financial risk. A little due-diligence helps bring much-needed clarity to the decision.

Publishers should avoid assigning subjective grades to authors based on their dubious social media popularity. Instead, publishers can make better decisions by reviewing the four types of objective data described above. This information provides a better picture of an author’s marketing skills. It also gives a clearer sense of what an author has done in the past and what they’re doing at the moment.

Armed with the proper data, publishers can peer into the future with more certainty and envision an author’s capability when the critical book launch day arrives. And, that’s a day you want every author to get passing grades!

- See more at: http://www.startawildfire.com/2015/08/publishers-grading-author-social-media.html#sthash.xoQSMK52.dpuf

About Rob Eagar
Rob Eagar is the founder of WildFire Marketing, a consulting practice that helps authors, businesses, and non-profit organizations spread their message like wildfire. He has consulted with numerous publishing houses, non-profits, and trained over 400 authors, including several New York Times bestsellers. Rob is the author of "Sell Your Book Like Wildfire," which is considered the bible of book marketing. Find out more at: WildFire Marketing. You can follow Rob on Twitter and connect with him at: Google+ or email at: Rob@StartaWildFire.com.

Zondervan Names New Senior Acquisitions Editor

Grand Rapids, MI - Stan Gundry, SVP and Editor-in-Chief for Zondervan, recently announced the promotion of Madison Trammel to Senior Acquisitions Editor for Digital, Reference, and Reflective titles. Trammel will work within Zondervan’s Church, Academic, Reference, and Reflective (CARR) publishing group, which is led by Gundry.
 
Trammel has been a part of Zondervan’s editorial team since January 2011, when he began as Acquisitions Editor in the CARR Publishing Group. He is a graduate of Multnomah Bible College with a double major in Biblical Studies and Journalism. In 2004, he received an MA in Christian History and Theology from Wheaton College. Previous to joining Zondervan, Trammel was a writer/editor and editorial supervisor at Wycliffe Bible Translators, an editorial intern with InterVarsity Press, an associate editor with Christianity Today, and an acquisitions editor for Moody Publishers.
 
Trammel will serve as the lead acquisition editor in the Reflective category, and will oversee Zondervan’s Reference publishing. He will also give editorial direction to the group’s Digital publishing initiatives.
 
About Zondervan:  Zondervan is a world-leading Bible publisher and provider of Christian communications. Zondervan, as part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., delivers transformational Christian experiences through its bestselling Bibles, books, curriculum, academic resources and digital products. The Company’s products are sold worldwide and translated into nearly 200 languages. Zondervan offices are located in Grand Rapids, MI. For additional information, please visit www.zondervan.com.

United Methodist Publishing House Celebrates New Headquarters

(Nashville, TN) – The United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) celebrated the dedication of its new campus in Nashville’s MetroCenter with a special ceremony on July 28th. Keeping its long established roots in vibrant Nashville, Tennessee, the company, previously located in the heart of downtown on 8th Avenue South directly across from the Music City Center, has relocated to its modern and technology rich 2222 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard address.
 
Known to some area residents as the old Fountain Square Mall complex, the publisher honored the environment and the local community by repurposing the pre-existing structure into the newly renovated John Dickins House main building. Named after historic people and places within the Methodist movement, the office building resides on the New House Commons campus along the banks of Lake Wesley and features the Georgia Harkness Library. The interior design utilizes historic artifacts such as old hand presses and early manuscripts of theological texts in a state-of-the-art facility that demonstrates the publisher’s forward-thinking mindset which serves as a continual catalyst to meeting the needs of the ever-changing Christian community which it serves.
 
Nashville’s Mayor Karl Dean spoke at the dedication ceremony and noted that “Nashville’s history as a magnet for publishing – whether religious publishers, music publishers or print publishers – has given us an edge as a creative, entrepreneurial city. The United Methodist Publishing House is an important asset for Nashville, and I appreciate all that they do to represent our city across the country. And I appreciate the investment they’re making right here in Nashville.”
 
Other special guests in attendance included UMPH board members, former board chairs, and William McAlilly, the Nashville Area UMC bishop.
 
“As we celebrate the dedication of the New House Commons Campus and The John Dickins House, we also rededicate ourselves to the on-going mission and ministry of the United Methodist Publishing House.  We find ourselves in a new place, with new technologies, telling an ‘old, old story’ that still has relevance for today. It is an exciting time to be a part of this ministry of God's church,” shared Rev. R. Carl Frazier, Jr. who serves as chair of the Board of Directors for UMPH and lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in Cary, North Carolina.
 
“It is an honor to dedicate our beautiful new facility to the mission of reaching more people in more places with the good news of Jesus Christ,” added President and Publisher Neil M. Alexander.
 
About UMPH
Located in Nashville, the United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) is a publisher and distributor to Christian clergy and laity, with primary responsibilities for the publishing and distribution for The United Methodist Church. The Publishing House is a fully self-supporting agency and receives no general church funds. UMPH develops, produces, and distributes materials ranging from academic monographs to Bibles, biblical reference works, Christian formation curriculum, several genres of books, and a wide variety of other print, digital and multimedia resources, and church supplies. UMPH currently generates approximately $65 million in annual revenue from its primary channels: Cokesbury, the retail division, consisting of an Internet store, a telephone contact center, and approximately fifty field sales staff in various regions of the U.S., and Abingdon Press, the main publishing imprint, which offers print and digital books, study materials, Bibles and Bible study aids, clergy resources. They also publish the Common English Bible. Visit them online at UMPH.org.
 
About Abingdon Press
Abingdon Press is the publishing imprint for The United Methodist Publishing House and has a tradition of crossing denominational boundaries with thought-provoking and enjoyable books. It has a commitment to providing the best, most effective religious publications available which include a wide array of quality Christian living, fiction, devotional, academic, professional, and reference titles published each year to enrich church communities across the globe. Visit them online at AbingdonPress.com.
 
About Cokesbury
Founded in 1789, Cokesbury is the retail arm of The United Methodist Publishing House a publisher and distributor to the greater Christian community. Their mission is to provide quality and relevant resources and services, at the best possible price, that help people know God through Jesus Christ, love God, and choose to serve God and neighbor. Cokesbury consists of a Customer Contact Center, numerous catalogs, Cokesbury.com, a team of Community Resource Consultants, and an events group. Visit them online at Cokesbury.com.
 
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