From Betty White to a Bestseller?
Jun 24th, 2010 | By Christine Gordon Manley | Category: Books
How do you get from Betty White to a bestseller? No, it’s not a question in Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon; it’s what I’m hoping to achieve through my Author Effect project on Facebook.
You heard about that Betty White thing, right? Someone started a Facebook group betting they could get her to host Saturday Night Live and it worked. Neat. But what did the “I bet we can get Betty White on Saturday Night Live” campaign have to do with me? I blame insomnia. One thinks of the oddest things when one should be asleep. At least I do. But there I was, counting sheep backwards, when it occurred to me.: Can social media be used to really make a change? And could I take it one step further—could it be used to make a change for someone who wasn’t already famous?
The idea still seemed like a good one when I woke the next morning—a good litmus test for me. I would start one of those “I Bet” groups on Facebook. But my bet would be that we could make a relatively unknown author a bestseller. Why an author? Because I am one I suppose, and I’ve been in the social media trenches since my book came out in January, trying to figure it all out (and there are a lot of authors in those trenches, let me tell you!)
So I had my idea. But then, of course, I had to pick a subject. That turned out to be pretty easy. There were only two books that I’d read in the last six months that I felt passionate enough about and were by a relatively unknown author, in fact, the same author: Jessica Z. and Two Years, No Rain by Shawn Klomparens (who I, ironically, “met” in the social media trench of Twitter).
Why do I love these books enough to devote hours of my time to making them bestsellers? Well, they’re the first two books I’ve read in a long time that I literally read in one session. I even read Jessica Z. on my iPhone, and let me tell you this is not the way to read a book you can’t put down (sorry Apple, I love my iPhone in all other ways). As an author, I find it rare to get totally lost in a book (I’m always thinking, oh, I’d do that differently or damn, wish I’d written that!) but with these books I was just able to enjoy them.
But above and beyond this, and maybe this is an author thing, there were parts of both books that I felt like I had written. It’s hard to explain, but you know when you hear a great song on the radio for the first time and you’re already singing the chorus by the end? Well that’s what these books felt like for me. They were instantly familiar in that great way.
So, the beginning of May, I started my group on Facebook and invited everyone I know to join. And I tweeted about it (a few too many times I think), and started a similar group on Goodreads. And then I had a moment of panic. I’d forgotten one little detail. I hadn’t asked the author if he wanted to be the subject of this little experiment. Whoops! I mean, I was pretty sure he’d be pleased, but maybe he didn’t want someone calling a lot of attention to the fact that his books hadn’t succeeded as they ought to? I agonized for a few hours, but I needn’t have worried. He had found out (through Twitter, I assume) and contacted to let me know that he was “honoured and humbled.” Phew.
So I marched on. To date, about 770 people have joined the group, I’ve appeared on a local Global show to talk about it, and have received tones of messages from authors commending the effort. People have even started buying the books (For one brief moment, Two Years, No Rain was at #1 on a sub-list on amazon.ca – yeah!). What I’m most encouraged by are the bookstore staff who’ve contacted me to tell me that they’re ordering copies of the books for their stores. This is important because so many people still buy and learn about books in their local bookstores, and to date, I’ve never been able to find a copy of either of these books in a store.
When I started this, I set a timeline of three months to see what could be achieved. Just over one month in, the jury is still out. But I still feel the lure of possibility. I still believe in what I’m doing. I’m still convinced that people should read these books. I hope you’ll agree and help out.
Facebook group: I bet we can make these books bestsellers
Goodreads group: Make a book a bestseller
My Twitter handle: @CEMcKenzie1
Shawn on Twitter: @sklompar
Shawn’s website: www.shawnklomparens.com
Editor’s Note: The Edwards Book Club is happy to participate and promote Catherine McKenzie’s Author Effect project. We will be reading and reviewing both Jessica Z. and Two Years, No Rain. To see these reviews, please click on the links below.
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