You & Authenticity at BEA

By Michael Drew - May 28 , 2008

I’m in L.A. this week, launching Promote A Book Studios at BookExpo America 2008.

Seemed like the perfect setting to show the publishing world how to use streaming videos to sell more books. ‘Technology’ is the buzzword at this year’s convention. Surprise, surprise. As BEA Director of Education, Mark Dressler, put it, “The thing that truly sets this program apart, aside from its notable participants, is that this is a book publishing conference about technology, not a technology conference about publishing.”

Dressler and his associates have developed a special, day-long program for tomorrow focused on digital technology. This ‘conference track’ is called The Dawn of Collaborative Publishing and consists of more than 30 specialized sessions like RIP DRM: How Publishers Should Adapt to New Digital Channels; Teaching Some Old Publishing Dogs Some New Digital Tricks: Lessons from Third-Party Vendors Who Would Change Our Business; and Using Video to Advance Sales of Non-fiction Titles.

Then on Friday, public opinion guru John Zogby is going to unveil the results of a recently completed, nationwide interactive survey of book buyers. The poll, created by his Zogby International research organization in partnership with Random House Publishing, drew 8,200 responses and apparently paints a detailed picture of America’s emerging reading and book-buying habits.

Random House is releasing Zogby’s new book, THE WAY WE’LL BE: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream in August 2008. In it, he analyzes the information gathered from thousands of polls to identify four primary trends that influence how Americans buy and vote – 1) learning to live with limits; 2) embracing diversity; 3) rejecting materialism; and 4) demanding authenticity.

I hope he’s right because Promote A Book Studios was created to give readers and book industry professionals an authentic look at authors. That’s what the ICUBU (I See You Be You) methodology is all about. People are tired of plastic smiles reading professionally written scripts filled with empty promises and unsubstantiated claims.

We’ve been burned too many times and as a result, we’ve become more selective about who we spend our dollars with. We want genuineness. We want transparency. We want people to show themselves real. We want this of our politicians. We want this of our professional athletes. And we want this of our authors, too.

Interested in learning more about how to deliver your own brand of digital authenticity? We’re at booth 2433 here at BEA, and online at PromoteABookStudios.com. We’ve got lots of streaming video examples to share with you. Take the plunge!!! The water’s fine!!!

Pssssstttt! While you’re checking out Promote A Book Studios, click on over to Promote A Book Media, my other new extension of Promote A Book. See how Media goes hand-in-glove with Studios . . . .

Questions about using videos to sell more books 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.