Not so long ago the journalist Jan Moir wrote a piece about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately in the Daily Mail. It was interpreted by many as homophobic, and thousands of people – most genuinely disgusted, some just jumping on the bandwagon – berated her on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. It was unprecedented, and forced Moir to defend herself in the newspaper.
“Moirgate”, as it’s now known, is often cited by those who dislike social media as an example of interaction with readers going wrong. But this criticism is missing the point, as Moir doesn’t and didn’t interact with her readers on social media sites.
But what if she had? What if she’d reacted to the first of couple mentions of her column on Twitter, explained the sticking points and publically accepted there had been a ‘misunderstanding’ ? What if she’d extinguished the fire before it began?
Social media opens up a conversation around writing and reading, and books and authors, and the obvious worry is – as with Moirgate – it will invariably turn to the negative. And as we all know, negative sentiment on the web – such as bad reviews on Amazon – has an impact on sales.
Publishers need to get authors actively involved in what people are saying about their books – and they need to do it in a way that encourages a positive relationship between them, their existing readers, and their potential ones.
OK, so at the moment social media sales may not be as important as supermarket ones, but purchasing habits are changing rapidly and more retailers are finding a direct link between referrals from social media platforms and an increase in sales.
So if people are recommending books to each other on Twitter, why aren’t they recommending the ones you publish?
You need to establish a social media strategy around your authors now, so they can start the conversation about themselves. The trick is not to do broadcast marketing, but to be open and transparent, and for your authors to talk with – not at – their readers. It’s about increasing positive social media capital on the web, so when a prospective reader Googles a book they see lots of encouraging conversations around the author and their work – from real people. Not from your publishing machine.
There will be a point in the future where a Moirgate happens to one of your authors. Learn from Moir’s mistake now and be proactive and help your authors develop a real and meaningful relationship with their readers.
Social media is here to stay, it will have a massive impact on book sales, and you – and your authors – need to make sure you’re on top of your game.
This blog post originally appeared on The Bookseller blog. See it here.
