Web-Map to Social Media, Part 5: Second Life

By Greenleaf Team - Nov 25 , 2007

By Aaron Hierholzer

Feel like you’ve got a handle on Internet promotion of your book?

Well, check out Second Life.

This isn’t your dad’s MySpace page. Widely touted as fertile ground for marketers of the future, hype over this 3D community has recently reached a fever pitch.

Basically, users download a client that allows them to enter an online world where they can interact in real time with fellow users. The first step is creating an avatar, which, thanks to the detailed appearance-editing options offered by Second Life, can easily turn into a day’s work of deciding things like how bulbous your nose should be or if your character looks good with turquoise skin. You can even try to make your avatar look like you, a great opportunity to drop a few pounds with the drag of a slider. Once you’ve designed yourself and chosen from a pool of whimsical last names, you’re ready to start exploring.

There’s no stated objective, no bosses at the end of levels. It’s certainly not a game (big SL faux pas). It’s a platform, a “metaverse,” if you will. Second Life denizens (known as Residents) aren’t messing around–they’re spending Linden Dollars, which correlate to real, actual, spendable money (exchange rate: approximately 250L$ to each US Dollar). Fortune 500 companies, noting the astronomical success of phenomena like MySpace and YouTube, haven’t wasted time in buying islands and constructing product-themed paradises.

While it’s hard to imagine scores of visitors to places like Wells Fargo’s Stagecoach Island, Cisco Systems Island, or other SL corporate playgrounds (reactions to corporate marketing have been mixed at best), Second Life is shaping up to be a networking tool with a lot of potential, particularly for the publishing world. Last April, sandwiched between London Book Fair and BEA, the Second Life Book Fair took place, drawing an impressive 1,400 visitors and featuring 42 exhibitors and nearly 20 events. Residents set up booths for their wares and attended talks by prominent publishing avatars.

If you’re not getting how this works at all (don’t worry–it’s confusing), check out The Infinite Mind’s interview with Kurt Vonnegut. Those figures in the audience? They’re people in real life (”RL” in Second Life parlance) logged on to see Kurt speak through his avatar. After the interview ended, they probably all chatted about the interview before flying away to another island. (You can fly in Second Life.)

Andrew Sullivan and Diana Hunter are two authors who have used Second Life to their benefit. This is a good profile of their efforts. Hunter (SL name: Diana Allandale) told us that she views Second Life as an alternative to other means of Internet visibility (chat lists, author blogs, etc.). For her, time is the main resource–time spent getting to know SL thoroughly and networking in-world.

Hunter pays rent for several shops, but it’s considerably less than what she’d pay for an eighth of a page in a major magazine, and she gets to promote her twelve RL books. The free excerpts she offers to Second Life users are at a touch and contain purchasing information and links to her Web site. In addition to presenting workshops on writing, she can often be found in her shop, talking to curious passersby.

Should you be so inclined, you can buy land and start building your Second Life base. In-world building tools are provided along with classes on how you use them, and if you want to be really fancy about it, many companies offer full-service SL development.

If you’re not ready to take that step, Second Life can still afford great opportunities through pure networking. Visit Book Island on Media World, home to around 40 publishers and writers with a Second Life presence. Hang out around bookstores, and chat with other people. Talk to authors that do SL promotion and find out what worked for them.

Some book-related happenings and spaces on Second Life:

• Random House hosts a book club, which meets at the Rose Garden of the Elysian Isle. It kicked off last May with a discussion of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife.

• Shakespeare & Co., named after–but not affiliated with–the famous Paris shop, holds weekly topical poetry readings in Mill Pond.

• Coelacanth Books & News Store in Chagmi explores text media in the virtual world with Second Life-themed magazines and books.

• The Second Annual Warren Adler Short Story Contest is seeking short story submissions that capture the essence of New York. The five finalist stories will be featured via “live” readings at Amazon’s Theater in Second Life.

-Image ©2007 LINDEN RESEARCH, INC. All Rights Reserved.-