Get Your Multimedia House in Order
Following typical protocol, Ayun Halliday went on tour to promote her latest title, “Dirty Sugar Cookies.” Only, it wasn’t a 30-city tour, it was a 30-blog tour. These days, blog tours are all the rage thanks to the high-speed, seemingly infinite cyberspace connections they create. After interviewing with bloggers who either posted Halliday’s comments online or recorded her on a downloadable audio podcast file, the author’s “appearance” was suddenly linked to other blogs, which linked to more blogs, ad infinitum.
Buzz like this is priceless and, interestingly, Halliday’s publisher, Seal Press—an imprint of Avalon Publishing, New York—didn’t have to make too many adjustments to its creative workflow or staff to get it. Instead, says Hannah Cox, marketing manager for Avalon Publishing, a new job description was created.
“We wanted someone who would look [for] ways to better market and publicize books through the Internet, because we are finding that, increasingly, Web outlets reach more people,” she says.
It has been only in the past year and a half that Avalon has accelerated its Web reach this way. And while it was somewhat simple to implement, transitioning from a print publisher, or one with a restricted digital platform, to a fully operational multimedia house is another story.
Many publishers are also stepping up creation of author- and title-specific Web sites, and creating audio interviews and webcasts with authors to supplement print content and give their authors an online presence. Between these efforts and the general push for providing content in many formats, multimedia demands are confronting entire publishing organizations.
Stepping Into the Abyss
For the less electronically equipped, offering online products to compete in the digital age can be a little like stepping into an abyss. The question is, how far down the rabbit hole do you want to or should you go?
