Revver- COS Social Media in Review

Revver has been around off and on for a few years. It used to be one of our most reliable sites, but over the last two years it became unstable. For a short time the site didn’t work at all, but recently it has started taking video uploads again.

Though it is listed on TubeMogul it has not been working correctly and any uploads we do have been directly to the site. It’s hit and miss whether or not the video actually uploads and displays.

We tried to reach out to the owners of the site and offer some assistance with some of their technical problems, but the phone number was discounted and we were never able to get anyone to return our email. They appear to have some kind of connection with the site – LiveVideo.com. That site has been problematic before as well and we have had a lot of problems with them. I don’t know if they are owned by the same people or not, but it is suspicious.
We don’t get a lot of views there anymore. I attribute this to the poor running of the site and lack of social opportunities.

I would love to see this site succeed. Our videos have done well there in the past and I’d love to see it thrive like it did in the beginning.

MetaCafe- COS Social Media in Review

We joined MetaCafe in Feb. of 2006 when it was young. We have nearly 500 videos posted there with views ranging anywhere from 50 to 3000.

Those videos with interesting and catchy descriptions seem to get the most views.

We have subscribers to our MetaCafe channel which is important since those people will get a notification when we upload a video.

There seems to be a more mature audience for us here. We have several videos that have over 3000 with the majority of those being suspense/thriller genre.
This site isn’t as big as YouTube or MySpace, but it has proven to be reliable with a good number of viewers interested in book trailers.

They do play pre-roll commercials, which is fine, but a little annoying. You can’t blame them though, they do need to make money and the pre-rolls are brief. It hasn’t seemed to hamper our view numbers. MetaCafe has a panel that reviews the video and sometimes they will mark our video 13+ which is like PG13. That doesn’t seem to hurt the number either.

There are options for bookmarking but we seldom use them from that site. We upload via TubeMogul, but check the profile and video performance once a week from the Metacafe site.

Relationships at the Heart of Publishing Success: How to Forge Them and How to Benefit From Them

Marketing your book is a matter of first, making friends and second, proving your value. When you combine the two you have a powerful arsenal in which to promote yourself.

The relationships you forge can foster your writing career. From support through the writing process to the connections made within the publishing industry, it’s the daily interactions that make any venture a success.

It is easier than ever before to get in contact with other writers as well as industry insiders. You don’t have to move to New York, just log on to the internet or attend writers conferences. Even conferences close to home are ripe with possibilities to connect with people that share the same interests and goals as you. To connect online, try for instance Facebook and Twitter. These websites provide group chats that will put you in contact with others in your field. When attending writing events, the main thing is to be open and say hello to every person you meet. These types of environments have jump-started the careers of many writers. Every person you meet offers something different and valuable to the writing community as should you. To determine what you can best offer others you need to play on your strengths. Do you want to be the critique buddy or BETA reader? A guru of your craft who provides insight as well as information? Perhaps you are the maven of Google who loves to search the web for titillating articles on the craft and business of writing. If that is the case, then posting links to save others time can be your value. Ideally you should aspire to play the roles of all of the above suggestions, it shows you are well rounded. Your connections with others needn’t be pure business either. Feel free to be at ease and joke, encourage or chat about life, it will endear you to your future friends, only watch what you say, it will make or break your reputation. Be willing to share your own knowledge and help others and they will be more receptive to your requests.

How much time should be devoted to networking is really dependant on personal circumstance like hours worked at a day job, family matters and writing time. The time spent writing should always exceed the time you spend networking. The number of sites you sign up for should be limited to a maximum of two, trying to keep up with any more could become quite a hassle. Hosting a blog should be another of your priorities. The blog will be the paramount asset of your career. Here you will be able to keep everyone up to date on your writing as well as share your thoughts on the industry and whatever else catches your fancy that is relevant to the theme of your blog. Later you can share information on any public or online appearances you make as well as book releases.

You’ve made friends, proved you’re an asset to the writing community and now you have a book coming out. How do you utilize your connections to promote your book? Blog tours are increasingly more popular than book signings. There are a plethora of blogs so limit yourself to the ones which are most likely to connect you with potential readers and that correlate best with your book. Optimally the blogs you tour will be high traffic and the host will know how best to promote your appearance on her site. Ask that your hosts include a link to your website or blog, a picture of the book and a link to a store where they can purchase the book.

A giveaway is another good avenue to take in order to grow an audience. Consider giving away bookmarks or totes that include the title of your book, your name as well as your website. This is a fun marketing strategy that garners you cheap advertisement and is also something useful to the recipient. A signed copy of your book can be the grand prize. On twitter you can qualify anyone to win your goodies by retweeting (or reposting) the information on their own account so that their friends can see your contest and participate. You can do something similar to this on Facebook as well. On your blog you might stipulate that anyone who follows you and posts an article on their own site about your blog is qualified to win.

A book trailer is an entertaining peek into the world of your characters, designed to entice the reader to want to find out more, thus going out to purchase the book. Post a link to the video you create on your blog and networking sites and ask others if they would include the video on the sidebar of their blog or website as well.

The success of a book ultimately comes down to creating relationships, from those you work with professionally to the people who buy your books. Eighty percent of all books are sold via word-of-mouth, thus your platform goal should be to reach as many as you can and make it easy and entertaining for them to spread the word. A professional website or blog, running contests and making a book trailer are all ways to appeal to your audience and make it fun for them to share information about your book with their friends. Be present in the online community and maintain your friendships and industry connections by balancing both the give and the take aspect of your relationships. A structured online platform where you not only take, but give back should be the heart of any marketing strategy.

~Lindsey Edwards

thewritewords-lindsey.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/thoughtfulpen

Lindsey Edwards has written content for several web-based companies. She has published articles on the craft and business of writing through eHow, Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents as well as her blog, The Write Words. She is currently working on a historical/fantasy romance series that she hopes to place with a publisher soon. She lives in Missouri with her husband and son.

COS Blog- BEA in Review- CEOs Debate on E-books

Commentary by Sheila English

I didn’t get to make it to the CEO panel much to my regret, so like many others I waited for PW to send out their daily review of what was going on at BEA so I could find out what was said.

Of course e-books was a hot topic and the panel had a variety of opinions. The panel included ABA CEO Oren Teicher, Workman Group publisher Bob Miller, Authors Guild’s new president Scott Turow, ICM executive v-p Esther Newberg, Ingram CEO Skip Prichard, Penguin CEO David Shanks and FSG president Jonathan Galassi. That’s a lot of publishing leadership!

I found it interesting that some felt piracy was a big issue with ebooks, and I agree it is, but like someone on the panel pointed out, piracy happens when people scan in the printed pages too. If someone wants to pirate a book to sell it illegally they will. My own observation is that people can, if motivated, re-type an entire book. Yes, that would be time consuming, but let’s face it, if it is a top seller it is worth doing it, or so I would think a criminal would consider it worth it. And criminals are not worried about the quality of the final product. So piracy is going to live with or without ebooks.

Still, let’s not make it easy for the bad guys. I’m all of looking into the best way to make piracy difficult.

I love the quote in the PW magazine by Skip Prichard saying that ebooks “did not cause piracy” which is 100% correct!

Article resource: BEA Show Daily – Day 2 Publisher’s Weekly Wed. May 26, 2010

COS Social Media in Review – Blip

Blip is one of the single most important online video sites COS utilizes. It is a powerhouse for getting your video to a variety of audiences.

Blip is part of the TubeMogul family, in which COS is a premiere client. We use Blip in many ways. First of all it is a wonderful venue and we see a good deal of views come from the Blip site itself. In addition, the site offers additional distribution opportunities, all of which we have applied. The Blip RSS feed also feeds other sites for us such as Blinx, which COS Productions has a contract with and a personalized channel.

The Blip players can be personalized which is great. We have several booksellers and specialty sites that use these and we are able to feed in the videos they want. Some want them all, some want only certain genres.

Interestingly, the top sites to use our Blip player feeds are iTunes, Odeo, Borders True Romance and Bubba’s Book Swap.

Blip won’t allow profiles that are commercial in nature and at one point they removed our entire profile saying the videos are all commercial. Once I called them and pointed out that we also supply webisodic content (The Lonesome Losers and Zombie Today) they agreed to put it back up, which they did immediately. I now have a contact in the tech department at Blip who says I can call him if that ever happens again. Lucky for me…he’s an avid reader!


• This series of articles reviews a variety of social media venues that Circle of Seven Productions and/or Reader’s Entertainment employees across the online universe.

7 Marketing Lessons You Can Learn From Nike

This is a guest post from Joanna Penn, from The Creative Penn: Writing, Publishing Options, Internet Sales and Marketing...For Your Book.

Whether you are trying to sell your first novel from your new website, or promote your latest product from an established speaking platform, there are lessons everyone can learn from mega marketers, Nike.

Create a brand that is memorable and easy to remember. Everyone knows the slogan “Just do it” and everyone knows the Nike swoosh. They are immediately recognisable. I even saw the swoosh painted on the paddle of a fishing outrigger canoe in the islands of Vanuatu a few years back. What is memorable about your brand, your books, your products or yourself? Can you create a brand or slogan that is easy to remember?

Focus on a niche. Nike are immediately recognisable as a sports-wear company. You don't go to Nike to buy designer evening wear or flat-pack furniture. It's very hard to dominate in multiple niches so the biggest companies don't even try. Who are your books and products for? If you think they are for everyone, you will find it hard to appeal to anyone. Decide on your target market, go where they are and market to them specifically.

Be everywhere. Nike are in physical stores around the world, but they also have internet sales. Plus they have free audio at iTunes, videos online, free blogs and podcasts and even software online for people to use. They provide ease of access to their products from anywhere in the world. How can you expand your platform to become an international, multi-media presence?

Create a community around your brand. Nike have a great community for runners where you can log your runs, learn more about training and even share music you run to. Seth Godin, marketing guru, talks about this in his book “Tribes”. People need leaders and groups to fit into. You can be one of them and create a loyal community around your brand or product.

Work with partners to create new opportunities. Joint ventures are a smart way to promote your product. You get an introduction to new people through someone they trust and access to a whole new market. You also get promotion to their list and new opportunities you would not have found on your own. But it is critical to only collaborate with a complimentary person/business. Nike and Apple iPod partnered to create running shoes integrated with the iPod so the music would match your running pace. This is an inspired joint venture where both parties benefitted. Who could you collaborate with to expand your marketing niche?

Have a product people want to buy that meets the expectations of your marketing. You can put a lot of effort into marketing and brand-building but there is little point unless you are going to make some money from it, or enhance your business somehow. Nike have lots of different products available that matches their marketing message. “Just do it” fits their active, sporty brand and they sell products to match. Do you have products that match your marketing? Does your marketing message attract your ideal customer?

Be in it for the long term and change with the times. Nike is a global company and a world leader in sports apparel. But did you know it was originally started in 1964 and began trading as Nike Inc in 1978? That business has been growing a long time and yet they have continually re-invented themselves for the new market. These days we all expect instant gratification, instant recognition, and instant sales but the best marketing builds on earlier efforts to create a brand over time. So think long term about your brand and your marketing and you will achieve more than you think.

Joanna Penn is an author, speaker and international consultant. Her blog http://www.TheCreativePenn.com provides articles, audio and video on Writing, Publishing, Internet Sales and Promotion...For Your Book. Visit the site for your free Author 2.0 Blueprint: Using Web 2.0 tools to write, publish, sell and promote your book. You can also find Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn

COS Social Media in Review – MySpace

We’re really thrilled to be an official MySpace video partner which happened in May of this year. Being an actual MySpace partner has some benefits. Now our videos accepted immediately without the filters most other video uploads have to go through. And if there are any problems with an upload or the content we have a direct line to MySpace for a quick resolution!

MySpace was once the main online social community for COS Productions and is still in the top 10. With over 9000 followers the site is a main staple for COS online social media. It’s a great way to deliver information and we utilize not only the video opportunities there, but blogging, bulletins and SEO.

The bulletins go out to all 9000+ followers, but because those announcements can sometimes get lost in the shuffle when someone has a lot of friends sending bulletins we send our bulletins out on different days and at different times to help ensure the most visibility of our messages.

The profile is easy to brand and you can see how we’ve created our own online presence to appear almost as its own website- http://www.myspace.com/cosbooktrailers

COS has made connections at MySpace with content managers in books, music, film and comics and have been able to have books or clients featured on MySpace books. For a while the MySpace books feature was left stagnating, but we have been invited to come to the MySpace corporate office to get a tour and a chat, which we will do this year.


• This series of articles reviews a variety of social media venues that Circle of Seven Productions and/or Reader’s Entertainment employees across the online universe.

COS Social Media in Review – DailyMotion

DailyMotion has proven to be a strong online video site. Part of the proof is that it is still around. Part of it is that is growing. Circle of Seven Productions signed a contract with DailyMotion so that we can offer “Official Content”. The contract is pretty basic, with promises that we’ll offer quality content that follows the laws of copyright and that we will provide consistent content. In exchange, DailyMotion will allow us to upload all content without the strict review process sometimes employed by social sites who must be concerned with copyright laws, etc.

But, more importantly to us, DailyMotion has agreed to feature some of our content on its main site or channels. Not all content is featured, but a good amount is and we’ve seen an increase recently in featured COS videos. That translates into more eyes on the videos and more video views.

Pros and Cons to the site.

Cons are that DailyMotion puts pre-roll ads before each video. Normally that’s not so bad, but when the majority of your own videos are 90 seconds long, a 10 or 15 second pre-roll seems pretty overkill.

There are a lot of advertisements on the site pages.


Pros are that links you put into the video description are live-links which means people can just click on them and be taken to the author’s page or the book product page. It encourages impulse buys or impulse curiosity that results in a click through.

The sites has some special features for sharing and presentation that we like and the profile pages is fairly customizable. You can see on the COS DailyMotion profile that we have branded the site- http://www.dailymotion.com/cosproductions

DailyMotion is also part of the TubeMogul video delivery. COS Productions is a premiere client of TubeMogul and it’s convenient to have this feature. We also RSS out to a lot of other sites from our DailyMotion site.

DailyMotion is a stable site worth investing time in and works hard to promote itself to viewers.



• This series of articles reviews a variety of social media venues that Circle of Seven Productions and/or Reader’s Entertainment employees across the online universe.

BEA a huge success for COS!

It all started with 500 new COS DVDs that were gone in the first day. The year before COS gave out 300 DVDs and they were gone by the third day. 

"I have to admit I was a little shocked when they told me were ran out the first day." Says COS CEO Sheila English. "But the up side to that is that a lot of people stopped me during the convention when they saw I was with Circle of Seven Productions. So the word got out fast!"

COS has increased their presense this year at several conventions and for BEA, which is the biggest convention COS attends, we added a meeting room in additinon to the DVDs and sponsorship.  Next year the plan is to have the meeting room again, new DVDs and perhaps a booth for Reader's Entertainment Group.

CEO Sheila English w/ Dot Lin from Tor/Forge

AAP Reports GOOD NEWS in Publishing Sales at BEA

I can always use some good news. I read about how sales are down here and they're closing bookstores there, it gets a little discouraging. But, finally, we get some good news from the AAP and I wanted to share a little bit of that with you!

Book sales increased by 16.6% in March with is $458.2 million dollars and were up by 8% for the year!!!

Hardcover adult category, audio books and University Press hardcover books all saw a fairly significant increase.

All of this was reported by the Association of American Publishers this week.

I have to say that COS has seen an increase in the number of book videos we're doing and I wondered if that was a reflection of the overall health of the industry. And though I don't know that they are related, I'm hoping it does signify a better year for publishing overall.

Posted from BEA!

COS Social Media in Review – Facebook

Facebook is a favorite of ours and we have 3 places on Facebook that you can find us. Each place offers something different and in a bit I’ll tell you why that’s important.

COS delivers our videos via RSS feed to our Book Video Facebook page. Every single video that COS distributes will be sent there. This is important for SEO reasons and because we want people on Facebook to be able to share the videos. But that’s not the most popular of all the COS Facebook profiles.

Circle of Seven Productions has a Fan Page, an official COS Facebook page that we keep up on fairly regularly. In 2010 we have plans to be more “present” on the fan page with some behind the scenes, professional marketing information, future projects listings and information on conventions we attend. But that’s not the most popular of the COS Facebook profiles either.

The Facebook profile that over 2000 people follow is www.facebook.com/booktrailers and is the online home of COS Productions CEO Sheila Clover English. This is where the CEO lets her hair down, so to speak.

“It lets people see me as a person. I don’t have to be an expert, a marketer or a ‘CEO’ there. I’m just me.” Says English. She goes on to share, “I started playing a few online games since it allowed me to have fun with people who wanted to get to know me. And before I knew it people who had no idea what book trailers even were started commenting on my wall about books when I’d show a trailer there.”

English is an avid animal enthusiast and offers a good deal of her own brand of personal humor there. It has endeared her to many of her Facebook followers and helped create loyalty as well as engagement with the reading (and even the only-sometimes-reading) public.

The reason having an online social community connection is important is that it allows people to have a more personal bond with you. The site isn’t a sales and marketing site. It’s a place to kick back and make friends. From that organic relationships grow and so does trust, which is very important when you do so much online.

Sheila invites everyone to stop by, become a friend, talk books, play Mafia Wars, check out pictures of her family and travels and of course learn of the mischievous antics of Jack, her half Chihuahua, half Jack Russell puppy.



• This series of articles reviews a variety of social media venues that Circle of Seven Productions and/or Reader’s Entertainment employees across the online universe.

The COS Blog

I've gone back and forth between Facebook, MySpace, Future Perfect Publishing, COS website news, Reader's Entertainment Blog and the COS newsletter posting things here and there that interest me, irritate me or amuse me. I guess I spend more time on Facebook, but do more writing on the COS website news blog.

So, I sat down and took a look at where I'm at and what I'm doing and decided that I do different things in different places and that's okay.

On Facebook I'm really just me. I write about my work, my dogs, my travels and just about anything that catches my attention. I do post to the COS Fan Page there, but I'm on my personal site more often than I sleep! LOL

MySpace is where I post things that are more for that particular community. I know who follows that blog and I write about MySpace events, trailers and industry stuff. You won't find things about my puppies there or my feelings about videos I find on YouTube.

Future Perfect Publishing asked me to be a contributing blogger a few years ago and I try to send them a blog quarterly that is very specific to the industry and book video.

The COS website has a feature on the main page that shows you the current COS news or press coverage and I write there about the things going on at COS. What I'm hoping to do is find a way to get that over to the COS Facebook fan page and we're working on that now.

Reader's Entertainment is specifically for reader interest. It isn't an industry blog. It's about books, book videos, book reviews, reading and covers all genres. At some point this year there will be a blog for each genre and we will advertise for each genre channel. Guest bloggers will be invited to blog and we will advertise their blogs each month in the COS newsletter and in some paid advertising.

The COS Newsletter is full of COS news, but it also has reader interest items like reviews and book trailers and it talks about what I'm doing, the radio shows I host and things that I think would interest the over 1000 people who subscribe to our newsletter.

Here, on this blog, I want to continue writing about general interest things that involve COS. That might be blogs about the sites we upload to or contract with or maybe it will be about the publishers we work with, behind the scenes stuff, marketing trends, etc.

I don't know if people are interested in the "behind the scenes" stuff or not, but I'm going to do a series about it to see how it is received and will keep an eye on the type of blog posts that seem to get the most attention and then start to write more of those. So, I guess it can be said that, if you read it...I will write it! lol

Monday's are now designated for a series of blogs I'm doing, or someone at COS will do, about the different online upload sites we send our videos to. It will be a frank discussion of how those sites perform, why we choose to upload there and whether or not we think the actual sites is good or not.

Friday's I will do a blog about whatever I'm thinking about that day. Could be anything at all. And, Wednesdays I am going to start writing, or having someone from COS write, about the making of certain videos.

I will ask for guest bloggers for Thursdays to talk about trends in marketing and technology.

All of this will start after I return from BEA in NYC. I will be there all week next week, returning on the 31st of May.

Hope you'll stop by here and check out the blog!

COS Social Media in Review - YouTube

Welcome to a new blog series we're doing called COS Social Media in Review! We will talk each week about certain sites we're on and why we're on them! This week we're starting with YouTube!

YouTube is generally thought of as the end-all and be-all of video placement. It’s true that you can’t ignore the online video giant and your videos need to be there, but as far as book video goes it isn’t the best placement from a sales standpoint.

YouTube is a great place for silly videos, celebrity videos, controversy and pop culture. Not the greatest place for book video. Now, like any other landscape, that can always change, but at present this is true.

Yes, there are book videos that have tens of thousands even hundreds of thousands of views, but those are the exception, not the rule. The majority of COS Productions book videos get over 5000 views each with many that have tens of thousands. And yes, I’ve seen the Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters video that got over 200,000 views, but please see above explanation of what kind of videos do well on YouTube, those videos will do well for quite some time.

So WHY should is COS on YouTube at all? Here are some reasons-

1. YouTube is the #2 search engine on the internet
2. YouTube is one of the first places people go to when looking for a video they’ve heard about.
3. YouTube gives YOUR VIDEO great SEO across Google and other search engines.
4. You can’t ignore a place that has so many potential viewers.
5. YouTube has a lot of accessories like easy mobile phone viewing, captions, easy sharing, etc.
6. YouTube uses HTML5 which can be seen on iPhones and iPods unlike Flash

COS actually advertises our YouTube channel throughout the year in order to bring in new subscribers and build viewership. Making people aware that our YouTube channel is the “go-to” place for book video helps create a central place readers are aware of for books on YouTube.

COS has more than just one YouTube channel. Since moving toward a genre-specific business plan with our video distribution we have begun to create more genre specific sites so that people interested only in a certain genre of book can go there. Yes, we could make playlists on our main channel, but there are benefits to having these in addition to the main channel. You can see one of our other YouTube channels by going to YouTube and looking for InFaithNetwork.

Technically speaking it is important to watch what YouTube is doing behind the scenes. They are such a giant that the future of video technology can often be seen there first. We have someone who monitors all the new technology and opportunities YouTube offers to both viewers and content creators. COS has taken some of the YouTube technology and employed it for better mobile device engagement and we’ve even been able to create a simple software program wherein we can input a YouTube link to one of our videos and we are given special embed code that gives the highest quality, quickest upload speed and removes any other ads or videos at the end.

YouTube analytics is a great help to us as well. It lets us know who is watching, from where, how they got to us and who is using the video. We did a study a little over a year ago to see how long someone watches a video. Unless that person was very famous, the video had media or pop culture tie-ins or it has something that stood out over all other book videos happening at that time, people really only watched book video for about 90 seconds. What that told us is that we needed to get the call-to-action message in before 90 seconds was up. This information changed how COS did video and we now try to keep all videos under 90 seconds as a rule. Of course some videos really do work best with more content, such as author interviews or music video trailers, but for your standard book video viewer 90 seconds is golden.

COS has received over 2.5 million views to our YouTube channel and we’ve created a wonderful community there. Our subscriber numbers continue to climb.

• This series of articles reviews a variety of social media venues that Circle of Seven Productions and/or Reader’s Entertainment employees across the online universe.

Social Media Marketing – Marketing to the senses

Instead of sending a message in the way that is best for us, the marketer, we should ask ourselves – What way is best for our intended audience?



Instead of sending a message in the way that is best for us, the marketer, we should ask ourselves – What way is best for our intended audience?

Examine your audience.

You should ask yourself at least three questions about your audience –



How do they normally consume information?
- Radio
- Television
- Online
- Live events


Where do they usually seek it?
- news/media sites directly or bookmarking sites (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.)
- social sites
- podcasts- Blogtalk, iTunes, Bluebrry, Odeo
- industry outlets (eMarketer, Publisher’s Weekly)
- Friends and family (word of mouth)

How are they retaining information?

Most people have a preference of how they teach themselves to retain information.
We want to tap into that in order to have them retain our message.

The three main ways someone learns are-

Visual
Auditory
Experience (Kinesthetic)

Most people use a combination, but have a preference toward one.

You should identify your general audience, the way they consume information, where they get it and then identify their preferences.
The link below gives you some tips on how to identify learning/retaining styles.

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/learningstyle.htm


If you’re looking to target a very specific audience work your marketing campaign toward the identified style of accepting, processing and retaining information and deliver your message via that route.

If you are looking to get a message out to a larger, general audience, identify a specific promotional idea and apply one idea per style of learning.

For an example see this site-

http://www.cosproductions.com/specialmarketingpackage.php



Visual is covered with video.

Auditory is covered with radio/podcast.

Experience is covered with blogging, radio and Twitter where the audience is invited to participate in the conversation.

Don’t forget to always include a funnel toward your website when using any of these methods.

Visual
For video you should have a call to action, your URL at the end of the video and within the description when you upload it.

Auditory
For auditory, whether that is radio or a pre-recorded podcast you’re putting on your site, include the call to action whether that is to participate in something, or a reminder at the end as to why they need you.

Experience
When blogging or using Twitter be sure to ask questions that invite participation and try to keep that conversation going as long as you can.
If you’re able to meet someone in person this is ideal since live interaction is possible.

Match the learning/retaining style to the outlet

If your audience is visual and their preference is industry outlets you can create a video to use as an ad in those outlets, or find a way to include the names of those outlets in your video, description or tags.

If your audience prefers word of mouth, try becoming a trusted resource, or join a strong community specific to your market. Check the various Ning.com sites for example.

Marketing isn’t just about putting your product in front of who you believe your audience is. It’s about getting the message to stick and creating fertile ground for your message to grow.

When Opposites Attract, The Fire is Ignited

People will contend often that, in the game of love, opposites attract. If you are open to testing the validity of that "physical" theory, then look no further than the extreme case of Drew Black and Gillian Noode, an unlikely pair fitted together on a circumstantial basis. Gillian, a PR expert with a talent for smoothing over a man's rough edges, has to help Drew clean up his image before his heated temperament takes him too far and compromises his profession as a sports club president. But Drew is the most extreme case that she has seen, and now, with proximity working against her, she is starting to find Drew's raw personality somehow impossible to resist. Tempers and desires are ignited in Back in Black, the newest novel by Lori Foster. Check out this sensual and provocative release from Foster to find out who will end up on top in this heated conflict between opposing forces.
Foster, a New York Times bestselling author, has written more than sixty novels in the romance genre. Her contemporary works have brought her much praise and many awards, and Back in Black will prove no different. It is bound to keep her readers wanting more. The novel will be a must for Foster followers, but it will make an excellent addition to your romance collection even if you have never encountered Foster's work before.

Shades of Blue - Interview with Karen Kingsbury

This book was so hard to put down. Karen Kingsbury is one of those authors who lure you in with such well written stories that you find time slipping away as you sit there engrossed in the book.

This book tackles some tough topics in a loving and realistic way.

Brad Cutler lives in New York and has a dream job. A dream life! He is engaged to the love of his life who also happens to be the boss’s daughter. Brad is a Christian man and the relationship between him and Laura seems perfect. But, a past sin comes back to haunt Brad and before he can marry Laura and start his new life with her he has to go back home to North Carolina and right a wrong. Unfortunately that means seeing his old high school sweetheart. Brad only makes matters worse when he doesn’t confide in Laura about Emma and what happened many years ago.

This book is thoughtful and one that makes you think about what really matters in life.

2.5 Million views on YouTube

With over 500 videos uploaded to YouTube Circle of Seven Productions is proud to share that it has over 2.5 million views on that site alone!



There are actually more than the 500 videos uploaded to YouTube, but many are older or they are behind the scenes type videos that didn't make it online. Back in 2002 when COS first started the book trailer market there wasn't a YouTube or MySpace to post the videos to.

With over 400 sites to choose from when uploading videos, COS has had over 16 million views collectively. That includes views from offline venues as well.

National Geographic Image Collection Book Trailer

Of all the beautiful photos you’ve ever seen in your life, what would be the ones you would put in a single book to share with the world?

National Geographic tapped into its vault of photographs from over years of time and put them together in this amazing book.

Some of these pictures are dated back to the 19th century and some are never-before-seen pictures. All of them are breath taking.

As someone who loves photography, both the art and the mechanics, this book gave me insight to lighting, angles, subjects and opportunities like nothing else I’ve ever seen.

People, wildlife, landscape it’s all there.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Here is a book video someone made for it so you can see some of these amazing photos yourself!

Social Media and Book Video Distribution

I attended PodCamp Ohio this past weekend where I gave a talk on the topic of online video distribution. We discussed how to identify your target audience, where to find them and how to win them over. We also talked about what online sites are great for video.

I was happy with the turn out for my talk and the fact that the audience participated by asking questions and making comments. All in all it was a great trip and I hope to attend next year.

COS Productions helped to sponsor the PodCamp Ohio event. We were a sponsor of BEA this year, but no one asked "why" since it is obvious. We work in the publishing industry so BEA (Book Expo America) is a natural choice when we go to sponsor an event. But, PodCamp is important to us as well. PodCamp Ohio featured some great talks about new media, social media, trends, SEO and so many other wonderful topics. I learned a great deal and walked away with some great contacts there.

It was a little ironic that one of the main sponsors was Ohio State University's Center For The Study And Teaching of Writing. Ironic since COS Productions is also a book-centric company and a sponsor of PodCamp.

Blip.tv was a sponsor and I was encouraged to see that company be so active in a community event like this. Blip.tv is one of the biggest video sites and one of my personal favorites to distribute to because they offer so much by way of distribution platforms and analytics. They are leaders in what they do and what they offer.

Blubrry, which is a podcast site is also a favorite of mine. We send all of our podcasts there and get a fantastic response. Blubrry even gave out some cool little pins and I snagged one for my "nerd" collection, of which I am proud. lol

I hadn't heard of Spaceblue, AssistCoach.com or even TechSmith but these are all great companies who care about investing in the industry in which they serve. I was familiar with The Doctor Anonymous Show, which you should check out if you are interested in new media.

Other sponsors included Writers Talk, which is a radio show and I'm hoping to get some COS authors on that. Digital Disciples and td/Taviano Design were also sponsors.

It was great being surrounded by like-minded people. I did a quick poll when I addressed the assembly and found that over 50% of the attendees had already seen Star Trek. We all got a good laugh at it and it was wonderful to find that we could laugh at ourselves, be passionate about what we love and share our knowledge all in one day to the benefit of everyone.

During my talk I gave people handouts with links to a list of social media sites that they can put their videos on. I also gave them some TubeMogul t-shirts that went over great! Thank you to the great people over at TubeMogul for sending me t-shirts to give away at my talk.

I saw two people video taping my talk and I am hoping it gets posted online at some point. If it does I'll be sure to share the link!

I have a few more PodCamp stories to share this week so I hope you'll come back often!

Sheila Clover English
Circle of Seven Productions

Book Expo America the Remix

It was a long week and a fruitful one. Despite the doom and gloom predictions I saw a lot of action, meetings, signings and industry news in the making going on all week during BEA.

I attended as Press since I work for Reader's Entertainment and I planned on blogging during and after the event. But, I was there to promote my own business as well and paid the fee to have my material put in the high traffic areas of the registration desks. It was the best $500 I've spent on promotions this year. I saw an immediate return on investment with an increased amount of traffic to the COS websites.

I heard a lot of talk about social media. Once group said you have be present online the other group saying social media just doesn't sell books. My question is, how do they know that ads in magazines sell books when they aren't tracking that? How do we know what is working? It was interesting to hear the same old song and dance from the same people who continue to hold out, believing that online promotions will go away.

The best workshop I attended was put on by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. They were promoting their book Trust Agents which I highly recommend. The book talks about using the web to build your reputation and earn trust. There's a lot of great information in this book. If you're job takes you to the internet to interact you should pick this book up immediately!

I could not see where BEA suffered from any lack of participation. That doesn't mean that it didn't, or that those publishers who did not attend weren't missed. I just didn't see any indication that BEA was anything but successful. I walked out with information, ideas and over 100 pounds of books!

I will most certainly attend and invest again next year.