How to Nurture a Happy, Healthy Book

By Michael Drew - May 07 , 2008

Last month I had a little fun comparing publishing a book to having a baby. As I posted the article, I realized I was opening myself up to the potential backlash of a thousand angry mothers who remembered pregnancy as being anything but humorous. Yet here I type, five weeks later and no worse for wear. To that end, I want to thank you, World, for not taking me seriously. I have always suspected this to be the case and now you have confirmed it for me.

And that is a wonderful thing because I am going to pull out the old book-baby analogy yet again.

Why, Daddy?

Because I want to, Pumpkin.

Why do you want to?

Because I see a commonality between some of the ways authors can help their books succeed and some of the ways parents can help their children succeed.

Daddy …what does ‘commonality’ mean?

Encourage Social Interaction

Parents who integrate their children into social environments are giving them the opportunity to bond through interaction. Authors who integrate their books into social networking websites for booklovers are doing the same thing. Except, books don’t really interact. Authors do. And they are usually bonding with the very people they are counting on to make their books successful.

Websites like goodreads.com have sections profiling published authors who are also members. They have author discussion groups where writers can converse about their books with interested and potential readers. They promote author videos and support book reviews. They host discussion forums on specific books and rank them based on criteria such as “Most Read.”

Development researchers have long espoused that children who lack social interaction are more likely to “fail to thrive.” Aren’t leading-edge publishers and promoters saying the same thing about books?

Support Collaboration

Life is a team sport (families, friends, coworkers, etc.) and those children who are taught to collaborate with others stand a much better chance of moving ahead as the game plays on. But who would have ever thought writing a “book” would be conducted in this way? Ask Dilbert author and creator Scott Adams. He and his distributor, United Media, collaborate with readers of the comic strip by allowing them to rewrite captions and redistribute them through Dilbert.com.

When asked why he was willing to open up his intellectual property like this, Adams said,

We’re accepting the realities of IP on the Internet, and trying to get ahead of the curve. People already alter Dilbert strips and distribute them. If we make it easy and legal to do so, and drive more traffic to Dilbert.com in the process, everyone wins. Plus it’s a lot of fun to see what people come up with in the mashups.

You see, when we all work together, everyone wins. Our children, and our books. And did I mention that the full archive of these user-generated strips will be shared for free?

(Not so subtle segue)

Promote Sharing

Most kids don’t like to share. Then again, neither do most adults. The only difference is that adults have learned that sometimes, generosity pays off. I know publishing goliath Harper Collins feels that way. Earlier this year HC started posting free book samples on their site in an attempt to increase sales.

Wait a minute. Does that make sense? Reminds me of when my wife comes home from the mall and dumps seven plastic bags of clothes on the bed while exclaiming, “You won’t believe how much money I saved!”

But apparently it does make sense in this new era of book publishing. The HC article goes on to discuss a children’s book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid that was published for free three years ago at Funbrain.com. Nevertheless, the actual book has been on the New York Times Children’s Chapter Books best-seller list for 42 weeks straight. And I promise you’ll be reading about more and more of these cases as time goes on.

Are you struggling to find ways to help your book succeed? Take some cues from the Parenting handbook:

• Encourage social interaction
• Support collaboration
• Promote sharing

If you do these things, your little binder of joy might just grow up to be a bestseller someday.

Questions about how to promote your book may be directed to Michael R. Drew at the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Promote A Book: 512-858-0040. You can also contact Michael via email at michael@promoteabook.com.