In his newsletter, Seth Godin points out that the advent of the internet and especially social media have killed the importance of the New York Times best-seller and similar lists. He writes:
"...the reason we care if something is a bestseller is because we want to know if our friends are reading it. We want to know this so we can stay in sync with them, not appear stupid, or, perhaps, because we trust their judgment. That’s why you don’t care a bit about what the bestsellers in New Zealand are.
The digital world opens a new window, something that was unknowable just five years ago. Tell me what other TED attendees are reading, please. Tell me what readers of Mother Jones or Newsmax are reading. Or what my Facebook friends bought last week. Or highlight for me what people who read what I read are finishing on their Kindles…"
This is why the Amazon "people who buy this also buy this" feature works, although it's imperfect. If you buy your aunt three books on how to crochet, suddenly you're getting lots of other crocheting books on your recommended list. I know you can remove specific books from being considered, but most people can't be bothered.
So far, Godin says, "No one has built this list yet, it is sort of showing up around the edges of a variety of sites and services and industries. A great opportunity if you can figure out the best way to source the data and then distribute it."
If you belong to forums or groups on Facebook, Yahoo, or even if you have a reasonable size list of people to whom you send a newsletter or a blog with lots of followers, you can do a mini-version of this.
What are you reading?
Why and how is it useful to you?
What is there about it that might be useful to people who follow you?
Hey, Jurgen, you may be saying, if that's such a great idea, why aren't you doing it consistently? After all, if people see that you're reading books that appeal to them, doesn't that make it more likely they'll buy your books as well?
Good questions, even if I had to make them up myself. Watch out for Saturday Reviews, starting next Saturday, right here on this blog. And as a little preview, here's one I made earlier...
(Confused about how to market your product or service? Get a copy of "Marketing for Entrepreneurs," written in plain language and giving you all the steps to creating a practical marketing plan. It's written by me, published by Pearson, and available from Amazon and other book sellers.)
