I love social media, and I love people experimenting with it… so I was quite excited to see that Harold Underdown – editor, author, and creator of the children’s lit focused Purple Crayon website – was combining my loves in support of the 3rd edition of his The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books.
In full disclosure, I own a copy of the first edition of the book and have read it cover to cover. I also happen to be a big fan of Harold’s insights and thought his experiment was well worth checking into.
So, I caught up with him and asked a few questions….
GP: You’re doing a Twitter based project – all using the hashtag #cigpcb – to remind people about the current edition of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books. Can you tell me a bit about the project?
My book is now in its third edition, which came out two years ago. Sales have been steady but nothing like the first edition, and I had been noticing, from comments people made to me online and in person, that many did not know there WAS a third edition or that it was markedly different from the first edition. So I thought I should make an effort to let people know that.
(GP note: there’s a FAQ on Harold’s site that spells out how the third edition is different)
Twitter seemed like a good way to do that, in tandem with a Facebook Fan Page for the book (which I have had for years but hadn’t figured out what to do with). The Fan Page is at http://www.facebook.com/Harold.D.Underdown if you’re interested.
On Twitter, people like to retweet pithy bits of wisdom, quotations, and the like. So I thought I’d work my way through the book, tweeting mini-quotes, summaries of sections, and links to excerpts that I already have on my site or will be adding.
GP: I love how you’re varying the types of tweets you’re doing – links to chapters, quotes, even giveaways. Are you noticing that any particular tweet seems to get more retweets or responses?
It looks like tweets that are links to excerpts or that say something particularly interesting to my audience are the ones that get responses. I’ve been tweeting material from the early, more basic chapters, and after a flurry in the first week, the responses have slackened off a bit, but I’m hoping that changes when I get deeper into the book, and into new free material from it.
I don’t think the giveaway I offered is having much of an effect. I may have to tweet about that more often….
GP: The project seems to be a no lose situation – you’re investing time, yes, but otherwise you’re just giving out helpful information. That said, there must be many different metrics you can track to see if the project is “working.” Can you tell me some of them?
The key metric will be sales of the book. I get monthly royalty statements from my publisher, and so I’ll be able to tell if sales tick up over the summer — in fact, using last year’s sales I can make a projection of what sales would have been this summer without the Tweet Project.
I’ll also be looking at followers to the book’s Fan Page, clicks on links in the tweets, and activity 
on the pages related to the book on my web site (I have a lot of information about the book, and sample chapters, at http://www.underdown.org/cig.htm )
GP: And what were your goals that would mark success for you – 50 new followers? 10 sales? Other?
I don’t have specific goals. It’s more an experiment than anything–after all, this isn’t a new edition. I hope to learn from the experience for when the fourth edition eventually comes out! But, yes, I’d like to see a statistically significant increase in book sales over the period of the project, and some increase in FB Fan Page followers.
And I’m hoping for some happy accidents, of course–for tweets that go viral and get me heard where I’m not now, for discussions like the one I had recently on Facebook about a particular tweet with a nugget on cover letters that sparked a lot of responses.
I want to thank Harold for taking the time to answer my questions, and I encourage you to follow him and the project on Twitter and check in on Facebook, too, to see how he’s linking it all together. Experimenting, and watching others, is the single best way to learn what’s possible… something we’re all still exploring in social media.
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I remember seeing this when it first started out, but then lost track of it. I’ll have to check it out again!
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Greg,
Thank you for posting about my experiment. I think I’ve got about another three weeks to go, and I’ll let you know how I think it turned out.
For now, just want to add an observation I made after you asked me those questions. There’s a widespread assumption that there’s less of an audience on Twitter on the weekends, and even on Monday and Friday, than there is during the core days of the workweek. And when I started, I followed the conventional wisdom with the tweets in the #cigpcb experiment–I tweeted several times on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, less on on Monday and Friday, and hardly at all on the weekend.
Then I decided to keep going at the several times a day level this past weekend. And I got as many clicks on the links in my tweets, and as many retweets, as I have on a good weekday! There may be fewer active tweeters on the weekends, but there ARE people listening, and there’s far less competition for ears. So anyone planning a Twitter compaign should experiment and see how the weekends are for them, and not just write them off…
I think that statistically there’s more traffic at certain times… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that our more “personal traffic” for lack of a better phrase follows that same pattern. I’ve noticed that some of my writing related tweets gain more traction in the evening and on weekends – the time many of us get to focus on writing rather than day jobs, perhaps? Regardless of why, it’s a great piece of information to have.
Thanks for the follow-up!
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It sounds like a great experiment–a very smart and fun way to provide useful “teasers” that will actually motivate people to look for the book. I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for them!
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Hey Greg, terrific Q and A and invaluable info for seasoned social networkers and newbies as well. I think Harold’s situation is unusual in that he receives monthly royalty statements. That would allow much more precise tracking. and not the 6 to 10-month lag time of the twice yearly statements.
Vicki,
That’s a good point, but actually, the monthly statements just allow me to do a good analysis of the impact once I’ve finished. I don’t know my June sales, for example, until later this month–by which time I’ll be mostly finished. I’ll be able to analyze June and July, the months during which the project happens, in August some time.
For actual tracking, I’m going to be using the same measures anyone else can, as mentioned in the interview. Also, though I didn’t mention it, I’m looking at Amazon sales via http://www.novelrank.com, a tool that estimates actual sales from sales rank fluctuations, and pretty accurately too, from what I can see. That’s a tool anyone can use.
Lack of access to monthly royalty statements shouldn’t deter anyone from trying something like this.
I love the systematic way Harold has approached this! And, of course, his book is terrific, so the Tweets are a win for everyone. (Now everyone — go buy the book!)
Done. Ordered. Will get the new edition next week! Have the 2001 edition and use it as my Writing Bible. Thanks for the inviting presentation of guidelines. Thanks for your website, too, Harold. I have many of the articles printed out for reading and study. And, as I have said many times in my life, it pays to advertise!
)
Jackie
Jacquelyn Raftery Imrich
Thank you Greg. I am now following Harold Underdown. I am eargerly awaiting word of whether this translates into increased sales. Funny our blog today is on favorite writing advice. I notice that is the tag for this post.
Namaste
Sue B
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