Comments on: Being Part of a Community

By: Franklin Paree

Franklin Paree — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:17:31 +0000

You can not believe how long ive been googling for something like this. Through 9 pages of Yahoo results without finding anything. One search on Bing. There you are!…. Really have to start using it more often!

By: babette

babette — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:37:27 +0000

Great article… I’ve also heard that 1:12 ratio for promoting yourself in social media… And i think that makes sense, if you just promote yourself without engaging with the community than you’re pretty much a spammer.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:18:24 +0000

@Charles – assuming publisher is “employee of a publisher” then I would presume that they would be participants in the larger community, exchanging comments online about various topics germane to that community, although, I think this is actually much easier in a non reader designated community.

In a self designated reader community, I think there are more pitfalls for both the editor and the publisher to be aware. For example, in a site that has reviews, an author’s presence in the comment thread about her book can stifle discussion and I would presume that would be the same for publisher representatives.

By: Charles Bohannan

Charles Bohannan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:02:28 +0000

Jane, a lingering thought: how would you suggest the publisher, author and reader all connect together in this community model?

By: Charles Bohannan

Charles Bohannan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:05:21 +0000

Thanks, Jane. That clarifies things. I look forward to your future posts. I appreciate what you’re doing.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:00:27 +0000

I see this as a supplement but not a replacement for the writer interaction in a community.

By: Charles Bohannan

Charles Bohannan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:53:55 +0000

This is subtle but groundbreaking stuff.

My only issue is the connection between the editor/publisher and the community.

It would seem that for every book you have to pitch, you’d need someone in the company whose genuine interests align with both the book and the community — wouldn’t this start to become unrealistic?

It seems better to have the writer interact directly with the community, and then refer them to the book. Not always easy or realistic, either, but definitely the purest connection between community and content (book).

Hmmm…

By: Ami

Ami — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:25 +0000

What really resonated with me is this line: “The point is to find a robust community around a topic or two that interests you the most.”

This is something that will pay off repeatedly for folks. Experience in an online community that you enjoy being a part of tends to be a gateway drug, so to speak–it often makes people want to try out additional communities.

And from the POV of a publisher, it would be great to have employees who are involved in a range of communities. As you say, book lovers are everywhere, and book subjects are all over the place. It’s challenging as a publicist to try to figure out a way into a community that you haven’t got any experience with.

How cool would it be to know that you can call on the editorial assistant who loves to rock climb and represents your publisher within those communities to introduce you to the important people and sites?

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Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:59:08 +0000

[...] guest blogged at The New Sleekness about how editors and publishers could participate at a greater level in reader communities. Have you got some other [...]