Looking into my crystal ball I see...

I fear the day when having a bookshelf seems pointless and if you have one, younger generations will take one look at it and wonder what in the heck I was thinking when I purchased all of those big space taking items shelves and filled them with things called books.

Looking into my crystal ball, I see consolidation continuing. The big publishing houses will continue to add smaller houses under their umbrella. I also think that they will add e-book publishers under their umbrella too. Why wouldn't they? If e-books completely take off and become the most wanted literary format, these companies will want to snatch up any of the major e-book publishers. A flutter in my glass ball suggests that big publishing houses will be bundling e-books with paperback books. Bundles will keep both the traditional book format and the e-book together in order to make money--hopefully big money.

Hopefully in ten years e-books will be a little more permanent and the fear of buying something that you'll lose within so many days, months, or years won't be an issue for e-book buyers who want their money and their purchase to last.

Or...e-book publishers will gain control and will buy print book publishers in order to have more control over the rights...I won't go into this because this isn't an area that I know very much about and my crystal ball is becoming very foggy.

These are the predictions that I can make at this time. For a few dollars more I may be able to answer some other, less unpredictable questions.

"Grab your hat and read with The Cat in the Hat!"

The National Education Association (NEA) has deemed March 2 Read Across America Day since 1997. This big day has strategically been planned to fall on Dr. Seuss' birthday. What a great way for elementary schools to take a day and run with it! The NEA suggests that schools celebrate this day by making and wearing hats just like the Cat in the Hat's, eating birthday cake, reading to one another, and having people come in and read to them. How wonderful! I wish I had gotten to take part in Read Across American when I was little. (I at least got to participate in Book It and got to earn my own personal sized pizza from Pizza Hut after reading so many books.)

After reading this, I called my niece (she's in 1st grade) and asked her if her teacher has anything fun planned for March 2nd. I was happy to hear that she gets to have an afternoon filled with Dr. Seuss fun. She gets a day free from the usual full uniform and gets to wear something with stripes--she's wearing red and white striped tights. After recess a guest reader is coming into the classroom to read 2 Dr. Seuss books. Ellie's hoping for Horton Hears a Who.

I'm not sure who's more excited about this big event, me or Ellie. My nephew, who's 10, isn't anywhere near as excited as I am. His class is going to the kindergarten classroom and is reading to them. He told me he's "too old" for Dr. Seuss, but he can understand why "little kids" like it so much. I think he's secretly still a fan of some Dr. Seuss books.

I really hope that more schools are taking advantage of Read Across America Day. It's such a wonderful opportunity to get an entire school to read. At least I know of one school who is just as excited about Dr. Seuss as I am.

I do, I do love Green Eggs and Ham

My ah-ha moment came when I was sitting behind a window, head-phones over my ears, observing a speech therapy session with a three year old little girl. Sitting on the therapy table was a bunch of colored whistles, flavored tongue depressors, a tub of water, dish soap, a straw and a Dr. Seuss book.

At this point my in life I was a few months away from college graduation and I was patiently awaiting acceptance letter from half a dozen universities. Before this session I was determined that I wanted to be an audiologist who specialized in pediatrics, primarily birth to 3 years of age. I had fallen in love with audiology my first semester in the communicative disorders program at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Dr. Cotrell had a lot to do with my fascination with the science behind hearing and language development.

This little girl was working on speech sounds where the puff of air comes out of the mouth rather than the nose (hence the use of whistles and bubble blowing). She was an amazing little girl who so badly wanted to make the whistle toot and create big bubbles. Her reward for attempting was having Green Eggs and Ham read to her at the end of her therapy session.

I watched so many therapy sessions with my face as close as possible to that glass window and I was amazed at how many of the children had a Dr. Seuss book as their reward. The Lorax, The Cat and the Hat, and Green Eggs and Ham, were the three most commonly used reward books. Of course I had heard all of these stories many times when I was growing up, but when I saw how these children who were struggling to speak clearly or at all reacted to these books I knew that I somehow wanted to help them too.

The little girl's name was Megan and she is the reason why I became fascinated with Dr. Seuss. These simple books help children with speech development, speech delays, and auditory conditions learn to speak. It's absolutely amazing how a silly book can bring such big smiles after a tough therapy session and also be a speech development tool without the child ever knowing.

My ah-ha moment made me realize that I needed to find more books that can be used to help children going through speech therapy. Dr. Seuss was an amazing man who has truly left a mark on more than one generation. Now I want to write books that combine rhythm and rhyme for these children and search out other author's who want to do the same thing.

So yes, I will eat green eggs and ham in a box with a fox. I will eat green eggs and ham anywhere!

What are teens reading?

I signed up for PW's children's books up-dates and I love reading them. (I guess they're doing a good job, according to Alex, of giving me the information that I really want.) What surprised me today was that teens apparently are reading a lot of dystopian society/world books.

I remember having to read A Brave New World and The Giver when I was in junior high and high school, but I didn't search them out, they were basically required reading. According to PW, teens are searching out all of these books and there are a bunch that are going to be hitting the market in the near future. Themes in these books cover threatening issues like no more gas, no more water, out breaks of horrible viruses, genetic manipulation, totalitarian leaders, reality TV gone too far, and countless others.

All of these issues are things that people are seeing and hearing about on a daily basis, so it isn't shocking that they're making their way into the minds of authors. I'm just surprised that teens are so attracted to these topics. I dont' understand why you'd want to read about things that are potentially realistic and a little bit scary. For me, I want to get away from these fears and not delve into a novel completely focused on them.

I should be thinking and saying, "well at least they're reading," but part of me is a little nervous that they're so focused on the negative aspects of the world we live in. I think this interest they have in the future show that they're a little nervous about the future. That's my opinion though, maybe they just like the dystopian theme.

I suppose everyone reads for different reasons. Some people like the scary possibilities of the future and want to read about them. While others, like myself, like to read to get away from all of the negativity.

Overstock.com

I am a bargain hunter and a true believer that if you wait a little while before purchasing something you really want, you will be able to get it on sale. This part of me has been drawn into buying things because of an e-mail promotion.

Overstock.com is a wonderful on-line shopping heaven. They have everything you could ever possibly want and a great sales bin. What I really like about overstock.com is that they send you these wonderful e-mails letting me that I can get free shipping or even better free next day arrival shipping for free. From mid November until Christmas I got an e-mail reminding me of this wonderful money saver. Because of this, quite a few people on my Christmas shopping list got gifts from overstock.com.

Another reason I've bought products because of overstock's e-mail promotions is that if what I buy isn't the right size, color, or not what I expected, I can send it back without charge. I'm not sure if that works all of the time, I've never actually had an issue with anything I've purchased. I'm sure there's something in the fine print about large items.

Similar to Amazon, Overstock keeps track of the brands and items that I've purchased. I then get e-mail promotions about items that they think I'd be interested in. So far these e-mail promotions haven't convinced me to buy anything, but they do at least get to me to go to their site and check the items out.

Yahoo!

So Yahoo! has this new social networking device. Unlike MySpace and Facebook, this doesn't have a fancy name. I've been trying to figure it out and see what it actually does, and so far it hasn't been easy. I think part of this may have to do with the fact that it's new and people haven't "found" it yet.

Here are the problems with this new avenue in social marketing:
- How do you actually find anyone on it? For what I have figured out, you can make connections (that's the equivalent of befriending)with people who are in your contact list. You can search for other people in the search tool. Of course you can only search for other people who have joined this new profile addition of Yahoo! From an on-line marketing perspective, this isn't very helpful.

-How do you make it your own? Last night when I saw this message in my inbox about updating my profile and connecting with friends there was a link that told you how to add color and originality to your profile. Today, I can't find it anywhere. This is a major flaw. People don't expect to be able to personalize their Facebook accounts, but this site claims you can and then makes it difficult to find again.

-How many times do I have to put in my password? Everytime you change anything on your profile you are taken to the homescreen and asked to put in your password. This system isn't change friendly. Last night I put my password in over ten times just trying to figure things out.

I don't think that this profile connection system is going to last. It's not user friendly and there's nothing too exciting about it. There is a blog on it, so if you just wanted to use it as a blog then I could see your contacts being interested in possibly reading it. But, I don't think creating a profile on Yahoo! for the purpose of marketing would be of any benefit...at least not yet. Who knows, things may change on here and it could catch on.

Rethinking Paper & Ink

Do you have a green conscious? Rethinking Paper & Ink: The Sustainable Publishing Revolution is written as a collaboration of Olligan Press Students from Portland State University, the Green Press Initiative, and sustainable publishing professionals. Ooligan press operates with the goal of becoming the educatinoal leader in publishing. Rethinking Paper & Ink examines and analyzes sustainable publishings practices. Sustainability is examined through an economic, social, and environmental lense.

Rethinking Paper & Ink: The Sustainable Publishing Revolution is written with sustainability in mind from front to back. Rethinking Paper & Ink is a comprehensive account of all the sustainability choices and issues that arose throughout the book publishing process.

Rethinking Paper & Ink discusses green conscious issues such as paper distribution, ink choices, local printers, book manufactures, paper manufactures and paper distributors, Chelsea Green's Green Partner Bookstores, web resource guides, certification programs, paper, sustainable design (cradle-to-cradle), and sustainability issues.

Instant Gratification

I've decided that the internet is highly to blame for our need for instant gratification. I will immediately admit that when something on-line doesn't work as smoothly as advertised or as instantly I get highly annoyed. Most of my annoyance, I think, is completely warranted and legitimate. I will explain:

We've all been told over and over that the best way to go with bill paying is to go paperless. I'm all for saving the trees and ink that gets wasted on pages and pages of bills. Going paperless is supposed to simplify everyone's lives and we're not supposed to worry about paying these bills anymore, because they are automatically pulled out of your checking/savings/or some other account. What happens when there's a glitch in the system though?

Twice this month I've had a glitch negatively effect my finances. Every single month for the past year I've had my credit card bill automatically paid and I've never had an issue--until now that is. I followed the lovely instructions that my credit institution provided me, telling me that I should go in and check all of my settings and make any updates that were necessary. I did that. I also decided to simply change my payment date (nothing huge, just a few days). I even thought I was being smart about this decision and made sure that this update wouldn't effect my current billing cycle. I signed out and went on my merry way. And then the glitch hit me 1 month later. The online system decided to change my current billing cycle! This wasn't supposed to happen. I called this institution to see what could be done. They were apologetic and agreed with me that this shouldn't have happened because I had posted the date I wanted everything to go into effect. How did they explain this situation to me? "I'm sorry, there was a minor glitch in the system. It shouldn't happen in the future Ms. Woods." Their use of shouldn't didn't leave me with much confidence in making any future updates to my account.

My second glitch experience goes well beyond annoyance. I will even give you the name of the institution to blame for this issue, Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo loves to advertise all of the online capabilities that they have. They fail to tell you that the majority of the time their systems are down and highly unreliable. I have been trying to sign a master promissory note for 5 days. I have been filling in all of my information in this nicely designed box that's supposed to make student's lives easier. I correctly insert my identifying numbers and press submit. A nice little message pops up telling me that my identifying numbers are nowhere to be found in their system and to "please" give them a call for further instructions. I called. I got to talk to a very nice woman who was very helpful and went well out of her way to try to fix the problem. Nothing was working and what made both her and I upset was the fact that her computer screen said everything was filled out correctly, but for some reason just wasn't going through. She nicely called this a "glitch" and to try again later and on a different computer and if nothing worked, to call back and someone would get to the bottom of this issue.

I called back. This call did not go so well. This issue can be blamed on poor customer service skills. This new helper told me I was filling in the boxes wrong and in a very snippy, know-it-all tone told me she "needed" to walk me through the process. I told her that I understood the process and that there was a "glitch" in the system that wasn't accepting my information. She got angry with me so I requested to speak with her supervisor. She put me on hold for 11 minutes (I really timed it)and then told me she was sorry and that she forgot I was on hold. This must have been a glitch, right? When I finally got to talk to her supervisor she told me that whoever told me that there was a "glitch" in the system was incorrect and that any problems with the Wells Fargo site were being taken care of. I do believe that that is an admittance to a glitch in the system.

I never was able to get the instant gratification that was guaranteed to me through either of these fine institutions websites. These institutions need to realize that when guaranteeing people that something is going to be easier and much more efficient, that people will become upset when "glitches" appear. Especially when dealing with money.

Amazon the Powerful

How do I feel about Amazon's power in the literary market? Uneasy.

Amazon has been at the top of the on-line literary market for quite awhile and they have enjoyed every minute of it. They've been able to set up the "rules" that each publisher has to follow in order to have their books sold on Amazon. Amazon flexed their muscles and took control of pricing.

Sure, each publisher has the option to not sell their books on Amazon, but in reality that would be a big mistake. Sales are so high at Amazon and publishers don't want to miss out on the opportunity to make a sale. This is how the book industry makes their money. No one wants to turn their back on a for sure sale.

The problem with all of this is that Amazon has gotten a big head over the years and they believe that what they say should be indisputable. They have forgotten that they are just one aspect of a publishers book sales and want to be treated as the highest priority.

The risks of Amazon's growing dominance is that they will treat more and more publishers in the same manner as they did Macmillan. Pulling down buy buttons hurts more than just the publishers sales: it hurts the author, readers, and the reputation of Amazon. Who wants to do business with someone/something when they're going to hit below the belt and ignore all possible harmful side effects.

Amazon may continue to do business in the same manner, and they will probably continue to be successful. But, it's the publishers who decide to take a stand on all of the "rules" (Macmillan and Hachette) and make their own demands that will change the way Amazon works. I doubt that Amazon will fall any time soon, but I do think they're going to have to do business in a different way in order to fill the needs of their book buying customers. They can't continue to remove buttons and think that's a good way to handle disagreements.

If their business model doesn't change, that's when Amazon's power will really get scary.

It doesn't hurt to complain

So I had to purchase The Elements of Graphic Design for publishing software. Instead of buying a brand new one from the bookstore I decided to search for a used one on Amazon. Low and behold, I found it. It was only $10.00 and according to the little blurb about it's physical condition, it was in "good" shape with only a few markings on some of the pages. I decided that that wasn't a big deal, so I made my purchase.

Ten days later my book arrived. I was excited at the time because my software class had already been going for a week and I was getting behind in the reading. As soon as I got in the door I opened the package. The cover looked better than "good." It was in perfect condition, not even bent corners from being in someone's backpack.

Then, I opened it up. It was horrible! Every, and I mean EVERY page was covered in highlighter, underlining, or my personal favorite, a combination of both. I looked over my order and made sure I had actually purchased the book I thought I had. According to the receipt it was indeed the one deemed in "good" condition with only a few markings.

I decided to just suck it up and not waste my time returning it. Honestly, I didn't have the luxury of even considering it because I had a lot of reading to do in it.

Then this past Tuesday I got an e-mail from Amazon asking me to rate the books I had ordered over the past month. I decided to be completely honest. I thought over exactly what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it (considering you're only allowed so many characters for reviews) and then I went to town. I politely warned any other prospective buyers of this bookseller (I won't use their name)to be weary of any ratings that say "good" and "a few markings" and to consider a different seller because they will be disappointed when their eyes are assaulted by blazing yellow and black squiggly lines. I wasn't rude. Just honest.

Five minutes after posting my review I received an e-mail from the bookseller. He thanked me for my "well written" and "linguistically pleasing review" and asked if I would consider removing my comments if I were to receive a full refund (shipping and handling included). He didn't want his family run business to lose their five star rating. I politely replied to him saying that I would gladly remove my comment as soon as I was refunded and I asked that he or whoever writes their little book quality descriptions to be more honest.

I received my refund almost instantly and I e-mailed him again saying that I appreciated his customer service skills and he responded by saying that I was a valued customer and that they would consider my requests.

The moral of this little story is that it doesn't hurt to complain. I was polite and never demanded anything. I just wanted them to know that I was not satisfied with my book. In this case I got a full refund out of it. I didn't ask for a full refund, I actually asked him to send me a copy that didn't have any marks in it, but in the end that is was I got. It's important to advertise truthfully and not to guarantee that a product will be in "good" condition when it's not even in fair condition.

Brand Marketing v. Product Marketing

Brand Marketing and Product Marketing:
Brand marketing is the marketing of the broad "name" of a company. Product marketing is the marketing of each individual product that the company has.
For example: Microsoft is the brand and the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iPod touch,and all of the other items are the products that are individually marketed.

It's easy to imagine that publishers look at each individual book as the product they need to market, but that isn't always the way it goes. In reality, the author's name becomes the product. Unlike book titles, the author's name doesn't change. It's a steady, dependable factor in the sale of the book. The author's name also draws attention to new titles, especially if their previous publications were bestsellers or award winning.

I don't think publishers spend as much time marketing their name as they do the author's. The reason I think this is because I don't know many people who walk into a bookstore and say, "I'm looking for the newest title released by Penguin." More than likely, a person is going to ask for the newest book by Nicholas Sparks or some other popular author.

I think product marketing is more effective than brand marketing. People know what products they like even if they don't know exactly who manufactures or publishes them. If product marketing is done well, then the brand will succeed as well.

Get them interested while their young

I grew up with a book in my hands rather than a Nintendo DS or a PSP and I owe this to my parents. Before I could even read I loved books. Taking a trip into town to go to the library was a weekly adventure that my mom set up for me and my older sister and brother. I don't think we ever missed a week and often we were there twice a week so I could go to "Story Time" and fall in love with some award winning children's book. While I was roaming the aisles searching for books I hadn't checked out before I wasn't wasn't thinking about some new electronic game that I could be playing, I was trying hard to pick books that had beautiful pictures and stories I had never heard before. Sure, there weren't nearly as many cool electronic gadgets fighting for my attention, but even when there were I turned to books.

I spent the last two years working as a full time nanny and part of my job description was to get the children interested in books. Rest time became my favorite part of the day, not because Anja was going to nap or play alone quietly, but because I had a full 45 minutes to spend one-on-one with her to just read--no other distractions.

Children's minds are so amazing and there are authors and illustrators who take this into consideration when they write. I search for these books and I have found that books with the Theodore Seuss Geisel award stamped on them do a fantastic job of captivating little kids with both illustrations and words. In a nutshell, this is the awards purpose. This award is given to authors and illustrators of beginning readers only.

It can be hard to get children to sit down and want to read, but if you have the right book, how can a child honestly say no. I recommend searching out these award winning books. They are written in simple language so kids can use them to learn how to sound words out or for sight recognition and the pictures are always beautiful.

If we want children to love to read as much as we do, we need to put in the effort. Set up a time just for reading and stick with it. As a nanny, it worked really well for me. Here's a link to the American Library Associations information on the Geisel award. Check it out.

"http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardgrants/bookmedia/geiselaward/index.cfm"

Direct Sales...

Question:
The vast majority of online consumer book sales are not conducted on publishers' web sites, but this hasn't stopped most publishers from targeting their web sites primarily at consumers. What do you think is the reasoning behind this? Do you think that book publishers can expect to see significant, ongoing growth in direct sales through their web sites? Should the presence or lack of strong direct sales affect the manner and extent to which publishers address their web sites to the general reading public (as opposed to their primary market of booksellers)?

Part of the reason I put Harper Perennial's website on my bad list was due to the fact that they blatantly ignored all of their markets except for the one that wasn't doing them much benefit--direct consumers. Their entire site was laid out for their benefit. I think publishers websites are designed with the hope of increasing their direct sales. They have chosen to target a market that they are the least successful at reaching.

I think it's a waste of a publishers time to put so much of their time into designing websites to increase direct sales. To be completely honest, I would never buy a book directly from a publishers website unless it was the only possible place I could get it. On the Harper Perennial website one of their new releases is The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell. Their hardcover price is $24.99. This book was just released on January 19, 2010. Why would I pay that price when I could go to Amazon and get it for $11.00? I think this is exactly why consumers don't buy directly from the publishers website. The price is crucial and people are always hunting for a deal.

Even though direct sales are low, I still think it's important that the publishers website markets towards direct sales. For me, that just comes with the territory. Some people will buy their books this way while the majority will head to a bookstore or Amazon to do their shopping. Do I think they should keep that as their primary goal? No. Providing more information for booksellers seems like a more logical choice. If more time and energy was given towards them this would most likely increase sales elsewhere.

My opinion: a target market is a market no matter how small. Attention should be given to all, but publishers need to be realistic and prioritize their websites. It is important to reach the ones who are creating the most revenue first.

Blogging Tips

Blogging is brand new to me, so I've been reading articles about how to create a successful blog. They all say pretty much the same things. If you're a frequent blogger or a new one just like me, I hope these tips are helpful to you.

1. Update Frequently
Don't forget to post on your blog. If you want people to notice you, you have to make sure you're giving your blog the time and attention that you want from your audience(s).

2. Comment on Successful Blogs
Be a follower of successful blogs in your niche and comment on their blogs. This is an easy way to get your name and voice out there. Your comment leads to potential clicks to your blog. Successful blogs have found their audiences and are reaching them well. It's ok to use them for your benefit. When you're commenting, make sure your comments are well written and a great representation of you. The better your comments are, the more likely you'll gain more readers off of the already successful blogs.

3. Do Your Research
Use blogging directories to find the most popular blogs in your niche. There are quite a few of different directories you can use, I have listed several below.
- Technorati www.technorati.com
- Blog Catalog www.blogcatalog.com
- Blogarama www.blogarama.com
- Bloghub www.bloghub.com
- Blogging Fushion www.bloggingfushion.com

4. Gain Credibility
The best way to gain credibility is by providing original content on your blog. People want to read something new, not something reguritated. Hopefully people will like your originality and keep coming back to read more and more,which will build your web traffic. Don't steal something off of someone else's blog. There's no need to upset people. Always think about copyright laws.


5. Whatch Your Web Stats
You want to know who is coming to your blog. Knowing your audience well will keep you ahead of the game. With this information you can configure your blogs around your readers and possibly fill their needs in new ways. You can add a blog log widget to keep an eye on the web traffic you are gaining.

6. Cut Down on the Clutter
Keep your blog clean. Don't fill it with useless things. If you want people to visit your blog more than once, don't use flashing text and animated images that move all around. Simple is always a good way to go. Keeping you blog free of clutter will allow your readers to navigate it well and this will lead to being indexed in the blog directories mentioned above.

7. Create Offline Publicity
Use the marketing materials you already have. A good place to start is to add your blog web address on to your business cards. People are always looking for information and the more places you have your address, the more likely people are to see it. Do this tastefully though. Don't over do it. Keep it simple is a good motto.

The Good and the Bad Publishers' Websites

The Good: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt--Mariner Books
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/mariner/

The website for Mariner Books has their content information divided among three main audiences; booksellers/media, librarians/teachers, and reading groups. These audiences are clearly highlighted in the second main row of text on the website, which allows for easy access to the information that each specific website user would be interested in locating.

Booksellers/Media
For booksellers and media, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has provided their users with images, catalogues, press releases, excerpts,forums, newsletters, and FAQs. The FAQ section provides the user with answers to questions about domestic trade and reference orders, accounts, and returns; special sales information, school supply and office product inquiries; distribution; international sales; subsidiary rights; review copy requests and publicity inquiries; library promotions; and electronic data.

Librarians/Teachers
All of the materials and information that educators and librarians would be interested in, are listed and made readily available for their use. There is a catalogue of home-based education books, a recent Mariner Books catalogue, reference resources, a long list of teachers resources, newsletter subscriptions for five different categories,and forums to share stories.

Reading Groups
Reading groups for fiction, nonfiction, and young adult can access featured reader's guides, newsletters, and forums.

About Us/FAQ
Of course the people of Mariner Books don't forget about all of the author's who are waiting to be published. Submission guidelines and information on how to find or be your own literary agent is available. I like that Houghton Mifflin took the time to suggest where to find a literary agent. This is more personal than just blatantly informing the author that they unfortunately aren't able to accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Houghton Mifflin even provides an address for readers or anyone who would like to write to an author. This could be an attractive aspect for author's who are hoping to receive fan mail.

The publishing house is also providing information to anyone who is searching for a job with them. This section is pretty basic and similar to most of the other publishers websites.

The Bad: Harper Perennial
Unlike Mariner Books, Harper Perennial never states who their audiences are. They have two broad categories of "Books" and "Authors."

"Books"
The "Books" section provides basic information (ISBN, price, book description, publication date, and the formats that the book is avilable in)on new releases (books published in the past two months), a full list of titles, award winning books, publications to be released in the next ninety days, and reading guides.

All of this information is primarily geared towards current readers and prospective readers. Harper Perennial provides links to Olive TV, The Oliver Reader blog, the book army, FiftyTwoShortStories.com (a free story for each week).

"Authors"
The "Authors" section is very basic as well. There is a full list of authors and an events calendar. While this section is coined "Authors" it is also geared towards readers. There is a "hot chapter" and "author tracker" available for users to subscribe to. Both of these subscriptions provide users with information on upcoming events, promotions, and new books.

Mariner Books provides a huge list of press releases for the media to use as they like. Harper Perennial only provides users with essays and interviews from the authors.

Harper Perennial is attractive to look at and easy to use, but they fail to provide information for a well rounded audience. The potential author and the media are ignored. It appears that Harper Perennial is most concerned with their current readers and they market to them very well. In my opinion, ignoring all other markets isn't wise and beacuse of this, I have labled Harper Perennial as a bad website.

Guerilla Marketing on the Internet

For my book summary/review decided to purchase Guerilla Marketing on the Internet, by Jay Conrad Levinson. Last quarter in book marketing and promotions with Kent we spent a little bit of time going over guerilla marketing, but we never looked at in depth and we didn't look at it in terms of the internet. Considering marketing is a huge part of the publishing industry and that marketing budgets tend to be minimal, knowing how to successfully market for free is crucial.

I wanted to choose a book that would be an asset and not just sit on my bookshelf and get dusty. While the internet is rapidly changing, I am hoping that the tools that Levinson provides in his book will be applicable even with all of the changes. I am confident that a guerilla marketing book will be beneficial to my career.

I spent quite a bit of time on author Jay Conrad Levinson's website (http://www.gmarketing.com/) reading articles and bits of news. All of the information on his site pertains directly to guerilla marketing, which provided me with detailed information that contributed to my decision to purchase Guerilla Marketing on the Internet. I read these articles assuming that his book will give an in-depth insight on the ins and outs of free marketing on the internet.

The cost of the book also played a significant role in my purchase decision. I am very interested in the topic and being able to purchase the book for under ten dollars sealed the deal. I have to work within my buget as well.

I read customer reviews and editorial reviews for the book and they were all positive. Most focused on the fact the Levinson has written quite a few books on the subject matter and really knows how to effectivly market guerilla style. His authority in the field is reassuring and compelling.

I am looking forward to receiving my book (in the next 7-10 days courtesy of Amazon) so I can start reading and take notes on how Levinson became such a successful guerilla marketer. Working on a budget is part of marketing (and life) so knowing how to utilize the internet will be influential tool.