Plug Your Book! A Review

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Title: Plug Your Book! Online Marketing for Authors
Author: Steve Weber
Publisher: Weber Books
Year: 2007

Rating:

 

 

I picked up this book as part of my efforts to learn as much about book marketing as I could for a small press back in late 2013. At the time, I was doing marketing for the eco-horror anthology Growing Concerns out of Chupa Cabra House, and this seemed like a good book to start with. I ordered my copy in paperback and began reading it the day I received it in the mail. I never ended up finishing it, due to finding another book, Indie & Small Press Book Marketing by William Hertling, a little more up-to-date and easy to parse.

This week, I decided to give the book another shot, and I’m sad to say that the book is in dire need of updating. I don’t think an update will be happening anytime soon, though, as Weber’s website, as well, has shifted focus to the reasonably well-known Kindle Buffet.

Many of the services mentioned inside are out of date (MobiPocket and LIT files are still listed as the most recent digital book formats) or gone altogether, including AuthorViews.com, MySpace (though his sections for MySpace are translatable to Facebook, in a way), and Google Print-on-Demand.

In the end, there are better books out there. And perhaps more than books, blogs like YourAuthorPlatform are generally more up-to-date.

What you can expect inside

Contents

 

10 thoughts on “Plug Your Book! A Review”

  1. :/ That’s too bad about the book. It’s got to be tough to keep print resources like that up-to-date, given how quickly the world of online book marketing evolves. I’ve never heard of YourAuthorPlatform, though, so I visited the site and signed up for the newsletter / free book.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, and unfortunately for this one, it really didn’t keep with the industry as it is now. It is illuminating, though, to see how fast things change. YourAuthorPlayform is really good, but they recently sort of switched their layout. Looks like they’re gradually going to try and phase into a paid service, which is understandable after everything they’ve put into it. I may have to write my own soon-to-be-out-of-date author platform book. Maybe I could title it “I’m Already Out of Date: A Belated Guide to Author Social Media and Marketing” haha…

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Yeah, it’s kind of surprising! Makes you wonder about all the textbooks that take at least 15 years to go from conception to print….

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      1. Well, I work in a university bookshop in Verona and I’m telling you, most of the time, students study on old books (and by old, I mean five years or older) because lecturers don’t bother updating their programs.
        No wonder students aren’t entusiastic about it. But apart from that, when a book is five years or older, it already becomes hard to provide it, because often it’s no longer available.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I had that issue when I was teaching a social media class. The book they originally ordered was great, but within two quarters it was outdated because social media moves so fast. The book wasn’t updated quickly, and even if they did the school didn’t want to buy new ones, so I had to do supplemental materials. When I started teaching the class, Pinterest, Google+, and Vine weren’t even in beta yet. By the end of the three years, the class was a little overwhelming because we had so many options. Oy!

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    1. Wow, yeah! That would be a hard class to have a textbook for. I’m not even sure I would use one. 😛 I’m currently drafting up a guide to social media that is specifically geared towards authors. That should show you how many there are now!

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  4. Things are changing so quickly, it’s hard for books to keep up. Nagzilla makes a good point too about educational courses…it’s expensive for them to keep updating, so I find that they tend to get behind, too. It seems we are in a time where self-educating through the internet is the best way to go!

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    1. Definitely! I’m loving going through Skillshare and Coursera. 🙂 I like the whole “learn at your own pace” deal.

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