What This Book Is About

As I look for ways to revitalize Silver Boomer Books I’m reading other blogs of similar ilk. (Now, I do realize some of these other bloggers would resent my putting us into their ilk, but I can dream, can’t I?) As I find nuggets to ponder, I’ll post them here as part of a process developing plans and searching for ways to implement them. And example number one…

Even if the logic is fully absorbed and appreciated, the challenge for most publishers to change their process for creating descriptive copy is substantial. We’ve now replaced “knowledge of the book”, which has usually been routinely gained through work that takes place before the copy is needed, with “research into the audience”, a separate task that can take a couple of hours or more and requires a dedicated effort. [The Shatzkin Files, “Doing SEO right requires research into the audience, not maximum knowledge of the book” Posted by Mike Shatzkin on February 17, 2015)

He suggests eventually the editorial staff will need to learn audience research techniques as well as the marketers. I guess if we’re one and the same that actually equates to an advantage…if one or the other (editor or marketer persona) grasps it. It seems this is perhaps done by computers analyzing in one case proper nouns and in another writing style, sentiment analysis, and story construction. Hey, I’ve always been analytical. But maybe not that much.

However, a sum-it-up statement is, “publishers have a vested interest in showing up for the right searches for the right people at the right times.” (ibid) I knew that. I don’t have the actual knowledge but I do understand it’s a deficit I need to meet to move Silver Boomer Books forward.