Marketing books to bloggers

By Joshua Benton @jbenton Oct. 31, 2008, 11:18 a.m.

Galleycat writes about publisher Thomas Nelson’s new book-marketing plan: Send free copies of their books to bloggers in exchange for the promise of a 200-word review, both on their blog and on Amazon (or some other online bookseller). Marketing products to bloggers is nothing new (the tech industry has been the leader here), but the program is another reminder of three big facts:

— Newspapers have largely abandoned their traditional role as a quality filter for the nine gazillion books published each year;

— Marketing efforts are increasingly targeted at narrow niches (like the readers of a specific blog) rather than a broad audience (a la John Hodgman); and

— Consumer reviews at places like Amazon are now a bigger factor in book buying decisions than reviews from the established media.

Joshua Benton is the senior writer and former director of Nieman Lab. You can reach him via email (joshua_benton@harvard.edu) or Twitter DM (@jbenton).

POSTED Oct. 31, 2008, 11:18 a.m.

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