Thursday, September 17, 2009

Expanding the PMN Empire

Apparently a new figure has entered the light saber-rattling, empire-versus-rebellion, Sith-versus-Jedi battle between Nathan and me, and that man is none other than... Barack Obama. 10,000 PMN points (redeemable at all participating PMN locations*) and mad props** to anyone who turns the green screen-ready version of that image into one of President Brobama lightsabering illiteracy in the face. Be as creative as you like!

Also, before I get going (I feel like I'm always saying that), it turns out some famous people really are reading PMN! (Apologies to all you other famous readers whom I may have inadvertently overlooked.) Michelle, if you're reading this: thanks for mentioning us, and congrats on your new book! And I promise to actually buy Cleopatra's Daughter and not try to acquire it for free through my myriad mega sweet publishing connections.

Ahem. So yes, update. I can tell a lot of you aren't die-hard Dan Brown fans, so I'll keep it brief. It is as follows:

• I do have a vague idea of how individual accounts did in terms of day one sales, but since those numbers haven't been made public and I don't want to post anything I'm not sure is true, I'm going to keep my mouth shut for now.
• I will say, however, that the rumors I'm hearing are more or less in line with the overall one million copy figure being quoted in the media. Congrats to Dan Brown, Doubleday, Random House, Bertelsmann, and all the fine people involved in making this book a hit.
• Amazon seems to be selling more of the e-book than the hardcover. Our e-book overlords are nearly upon us!
Records are being broken, people! (Although Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling are still king and queen, respectively.)
• Finally, I was right! I was right! Dan Brown is eating everyone else's sales! Not that that's a good thing, mind you—I actually think it's quite the opposite—but I do so enjoy being right.

Now, speaking of all things Sith and insidious (i.e. The Lost Symbol's overwhelming sales), I'd like to gauge your collective interest in the following: the Facebook and the Twitter. Would PMN's presence on either be positive for you? I'm talking the possibility of new and unique content for FB and Twitter, not to mention more than one update per day and the un-pass-up-able opportunity to be bona fide FB friends with yours truly. Status updates, tweets, &c could transmit more data to you on a more regular basis and in more easily digestible units.

Will expanding the PMN empire to other e-venues help you folks out? Do you have any questions/comments/ideas/misgivings/&c? To the comments with you, then, and make haste—Dan Brown sold another thirteen (thousand) books while you were reading this!





* Pimp My Novel is not a participating location.
** "Mad props" distributed at the discretion of PMN. Cash value 1/100 of one cent. Not redeemable for cash. Consult a physician before using. Your results may vary. Not for opthalmic use.

31 comments:

  1. I do FB. Have a twitter account but haven't really used it much. For you, babe, I might.

    Cheers!
    Laurel

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  2. I'd rather see a series of short updates to the blog throughout the day than Twitter and FB. Keep things centralized. But I'm old.

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  3. I generally use FB for personal stuff. I consider Twitter to be a tool for the Dark Side. I just know some day it will suck me in. Maybe sooner than some day if PMN tweets.

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  4. Eurgh, I shudder at the thought of Twitter. Would stink to have unique content there and then have it referenced here and not have any clue what was going on! :)

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  5. Speaking as the technology-aware Luddite that I am twitter / FB is the way forwards.
    Bring it on, and I'll follow!

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  6. I don't do Twitter, and I right now I only use FB for actual friends, so it's neither here nor there to me.

    THANK YOU for nerdy Barack Obama with a lightsaber!

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  7. I'm not a twitterer . . . the whole thing boggles the mind. But, I have gotten hooked on FB.

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  8. I don't Twitter or FB. I have trouble keeping up with the blogs I like.

    But I always read this blog. You do great work!

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  9. Yay I knew I liked Michelle Moran beyond just reading The Heretic Queen. I knew she had to have good blog tastes too!

    I'd enjoy PMN on Twitter. Whilst bored in class I could read the tweets on my ipod. The screen is a bit tiny to read full on blog posts without getting caught by my Profs.

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  10. I don't Twitter/Tweet but it seems that the masses do, so that might be a good avenue for you. I only use FB for personal stuff w/ friends but I'm old-school. Love the blog though.

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  11. Take what Heather Lane said and invert it for me. I'm fairly certain FB is a harbinger of the apocalypse, but I adore Twitter.

    Quite possibly because the latter comes to my phone and is thus safe for work AND no one can use it to poke me!

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  12. Hi Eric -

    Although I've been remiss in commenting up until now, I love your blog and want to thank you for providing such invaluable information for anyone who wants/needs to learn about the publishing industry.

    I, for one, would happily follow you on Twitter and friend you on Facebook. Please keep up the great work.

    Sharen Ford

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  13. Re: PMN on Facebook/Twitter, I say the more, the better!

    As for the Dan Brown cannibal effect, I must disagree. Perhaps the effect is true in the UK (from whence the linked article comes), but as a sales rep in the US myself, I've been hearing that the opposite is true: people are coming in to buy LOST SYMBOL and are leaving with another book as well, most notably WHERE MEN WIN GLORY (also within the Random House family) or TRUE COMPASS. Then, again, maybe this is more reflective of a difference between chains and indies than of US and UK book sales...

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  14. I too,congratulate Dan Brown and his agent, editors and pulishing house. It's a job well done. May we all do that well someday.

    Following a few blogs is more than enough for me but I might just open up a Twitter acount to follow you.

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  15. I Facebook and I tweet. For sharing links and information, Twitter is vastly superior; rather than static posts on a message board, you can actually have and shape a conversation. People who don't use Twitter have this image of it as being filled with people posting about what they ate for breakfast; rather, it's an unbelievable way to extend your reach, to find content about things you care about that you'd not likely find otherwise, and, for someone like you who is interested in creating new content, it's a way to engage immediately and easily with your audience.

    Putting original content on Facebook would be an utter waste of time--ask youself, how would that differ from how you use this blog?

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  16. I'm a little addicted to Facebook (okay, a lot addicted. You made me say it!), so YEAH, I'd follow you there. I don't Twitter ATM because I'm trying to have a life. I'm so compulsive that if I start Tweeting, my kids will go unbathed or something ;) But I can feel myself getting sucked into doing it soon regardless. Ugh, my poor kids...

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  17. Yes to Twitter! Yes to Facebook!

    And, am amazed at ebooks outselling hardcovers.
    Can Dan Brown be considered the marker that changes the publishing industry? Have suspcious sense of that being so. I imgaine a board room full of publishy types in suits.

    Publishy type 1: "It sold more ebooks than hardcover."
    Publishy type 2: "Get new ebooks business plan out NOW."
    P-T 1: "E-books are the way forward. Figure out how to charge more."
    Lowly Assistant 1: "Let's pay attention to what people want."
    P-T 2: "Shhh. Make us money. Go. Now."

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  18. I'm so far avoiding Twitter like the plague (as much for its addictive possibilities as for the fact that I could care less for constant mundane status updates) but I'd love to be your Facebook friend!

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  19. I don't know that it would "help" me, but I'd love to be a bona fide FB friend of yours (although... how legit can the FB "friendship" be if neither of us knows each other?).

    Whatever. I'm game.

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  20. Yeah, I have both a facebook and twitter account and I must say they are addicting. Maybe too much so.

    On one hand, I'd love to be privy to updates during the day from PMN, but on the other hand, it would be bad for the day job work flow.

    So I vote yes and no.

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  21. Having been an IT guy for 12 years, technology & associated social networking hoopla I've decided is a box of chocolates; you gobble it all up or try to ignore it.

    FB and Twit are expansive enough for communications. Keep it simple and keep it coming.

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  22. I already spend to much time blog-hopping and (God forbid!) actually writing, so I don't have time for Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. As long as you keep posting here, I'm good. Don't want to overdose.

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  23. PLEASE bring PMN to the Twittersphere. I must follow you. And I can't wait to send a become a fan of you, or dare I say friend, on FB. Even just updates of the next post and topic or something simple.

    Twitter: ChrisSShaw

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  24. Yes join Twitter. and put your twitter name in print on your blog next to the follow me twitter button because researcher like myself go crazy trying to find blog author's twitter name. Having the name out front is soooo much easier for so many reasons. Thank you

    Also I post many of your articles to twitter and I add your master's twitter name and he probably is getting tired of getting tweets about you. Thank you
    Jo Ann Hernandez
    @LatinoBookNews
    @BronzeWord

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  25. FB, not so much. It's more Holly Hobbie and Girl Scouts. However Twitter for sho'. It's slick and mean and knows the score, just like PMN. I think.

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  26. I'd prefer more on this blog. I check my blogger dashboard throughout the day for new posts.

    Facebook = friends. As in the original definition of the word!

    Twitter = shudder!

    But maybe I'm just old.

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  27. You should definitely join Twitter and Facebook. I finally broke down and joined Twitter because so many publishing types are already on there, and the advice they dispense is priceless. It really gives you an inside look at publishing.

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  28. I don't do (and won't be doing) Twitter or FB. I'm focusing on trying to find time to write, be an active member in my writers' group, and keep some kind of organized chaos in my home. As long as PMN is on my daily emails I can catch up as the opportunities allow. Otherwise, I just don't have the time.

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  29. Bought the latest Dan Brown novel on Tuesday. (I actually liked Angels & Demons better than DaVinci Code and had no problem with the thesis or the mysteries in either). Living in deep snow country, I plan to settle in and read this latest work in a few months. Don't know what your problem is - obviously we don't share it.

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  30. Even if you don't tweet much, some people follow blogs through the links posted on Twitter. So apart from anything else, it gives you access to a slightly larger audience who might otherwise not have found you.

    [You could say the same of Facebook, but personally I think Facebook is more for keeping up with friends and Twitter is more for finding interesting new things and people.]

    You can set up twitterfeed.com to check your RSS feed so that links to anything posted on this blog will be posted on Twitter.

    If you find you don't use Twitter much for anything else, then you don't actually ever have to log in to Twitter ever again, because it's automated.

    Any small nuggets you post on Twitter could become a blog post, based on conversations you end up having there.

    Although, echoing another commenter's concerns, don't reference things said on Twitter that won't make any sense out of context here (but you use links well in your posts here, so I guess you wouldn't make that mistake anyway).

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  31. Facebook and Twitter for PMN wouldn't be a gain for me personally, but I'll continue to loyally follow you here.

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