Publishing News -- 1/17/2009

Programming Note
FWA Radio welcomes Dani Greer of Blog Book Tours, Sunday at 1 pm. Learn about a low-cost tool for promoting your work, especially.

Social Media is Your Friend
Social Media is an important new tool for publicizing your work that's come along at the right time. Like the rest of the economy, the publishing world seems to be contracting at an alarming pace. More than ever, your success is in your hands. The publishers don't have the money to help smaller authors get the word out. If you want to make the jump, you have to do the work. Fortunately, social media help with that.

Dani's idea is for you to engage in a Blog Book Tour, in which you virtually write about your work and interest people in buying it. Penny Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts has built an entire business around helping authors use Internet tools to publicize their work.

In short, if you're an author, you cannot afford to ignore social media. This edition of Pub-News focuses on social media as a marketing tool, a research tool, and a place where care is required. With the exception of Penny Sansevieri's business, I used social media to find all the links and information in this post.

Best Social Networking Book Sites -- "As book review outlets decline and publicity budgets shrink, these websites will become increasingly more important for the publishing industry."

Why Social Media is Worth Small Business Owners' Time -- Another primer on different social media. After all, what are authors, but small (and later maybe bigger) businesses?

Social Media and Security
Last week, a phishing scam erupted on Twitter. Phishing occurs when a website tricks you into giving them your account information by pretending to be something other than what it is. The most common phishing scams seek your bank information via e-mail messages. The Twitter phishing scam sought users' Twitter account information. As soon as the scam started, Twitter users actively warned other users not to give their user ID and password out to any third party sites. Within a couple days, the scam had run its course. Awareness of these security issues is key to a successful experience. If you believe you have given your account information in a phishing scam, change your password immediately.

Avoid Phishing Scams in Social Media Clubs -- Be on the look out for generic messages like "I saw a funny picture of you", even from people you know. And never give your user ID or password to a third-party site.

Cyber Crime Fighters -- "The truth about crime on social networks and YouTube, cyberstalking and bullying, online child predators, and identity theft." Includes a blog and a set of useful links. It looks like a great research tool and its also a good example of online book marketing.

Resource
Law and Fiction -- Q&A and research services on legal facts for fiction writers of all kinds.

Our Craft
Ten Stupid Things Cops in Books Do -- Simple tips on getting the cop stuff right when you write about legal situations.

Publishing and the Economy
Random House Publishing Group Restructured -- Future title output will be determined by unit heads. More prositions may be eliminated.

B&N Lays off Nearly 100 at NYC Corporate Headquarters -- The layoffs are the first in the company's history.

Digital Publishing
Hachette Group to Limit E-Book Offerings -- Differences in distribution rules around the world have caused Hachette USA to pull all its titles from US e-book distributors.