Before the advent of Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, an author only needed to demonstrate to agents, editors, and publishers that his or her book had a potential audience. Today, an author has to show customers waiting to buy the book when it is released. Book marketing in the digital era of transmedia is about pulling readers in to the author’s platform rather than pushing books out through the retailer’s door. Movie stars, newscasters, athletes, politicians and other public figures can demonstrate their audience platform based on box office numbers, Nielson ratings, million dollar contracts, popular votes, and news coverage. This explains why so many celebrities get book deals. Artists, activists, professors and other professionals build audience platform with every lecture, public speaking engagement, conference, workshop or exhibition. If you have prestigious degrees or positions, a powerful network and know key influencers, you have a built-in platform. But to persuade a publisher that you have a real customer base, you must show where you make an impact and give proof of audience engagement. This can be through quantitative measures (Google Analytics, Moz rank, size of your email list) or qualitative evidence (testimonials from opinion leaders, high profile reviews of your manuscript, news coverage or feature articles). Building an audience platform is not something you do overnight. It’s not a one-time event. Jane Friedman has a short video explaining the importance of starting early for your long term career goals. Building an audience platform is also not a one-size-fits-all process. It requires…
What good is all of this information if you can’t put it to use? By now, you know all the lingo to establish a baseline and understand where your site is currently at. A baseline is an essential combination of information – it’s the only way to see meaningful change. There are a lot of tools in Google Analytics for comparing your data – but you are an author,… [Read More]
Filed Under: Baseline, Google Analytics, social media metrics
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Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — To navigate to Visitor Flow, click on its name on the left hand menu when you’re logged into Google Analytics. What you’ll see is a visual map of how visitors used your site. The large veritcal columns are nodes: Nodes represent a single metric – the first column defines where the… [Read More]
Filed Under: blogging, Google, Google Analytics, internet, marketing strategy, social media metrics, WordPress
Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — You’ve gotten a feel for your audience and how they visit your site using Google Analytics, but you still might not have a clear idea what page is getting the most traffic. To get a good look at your content’s metrics, click on Content then All Pages in the left… [Read More]
So it’s cold outside. Steep a cup of tea and put in a teaspoon of pure, local, raw honey. Then take a sip, close your eyes, and feel that warm golden glow. Give thanks for the angels of agriculture: bees. Homegrown Honey Bees: Beekeeping Your First Year, from Hiving to Honey Harvest by Alethea Morrison is an introduction to beekeeping and a recruitment tool for… [Read More]
Analytics for Authors blogs have been edited to reflect the 01/16/2013 Google Analytics update. — Another key section of Google Analytics is Traffic Sources. Access this section’s overview through the left-hand navigation bar.* Your traffic is broken down into three types: Direct Traffic Direct traffic are the visits you get through someone typing in your URL into an address bar, by accessing a bookmark they’ve… [Read More]
Filed Under: analytics, analytics for authors, blogging, Google, Google Analytics, internet, search engine optimization, SEO, technology