BooksGoSocial reports it has helped 1,000 writers
&
Announces its innaugral Dublin Writers' Conference
June 26-28, 2015
It has been almost thirty years since Roddy Doyle self-published his breakthrough novel, The Commitments, in 1987. Doyle is one of Ireland’s modern literary success stories.
Yet, in spite of defining moments such as this, as well as developments in the digital world – such as Amazon becoming the world’s leading source for book buyers – there is still something of a stigma surrounding self-publishing.
But with every day that passes and every statistic we see published, that stigma diminishes across the English speaking world.
Authors are now able to publish their works exclusively online, in digital format, ensuring the cost of getting their novel out to readers is kept to a minimum. Times are certainly changing, regardless of the established industry’s resistance and the “head in the sand” attitude of many in the literary world.
These days, anyone with a little bit of grit and online elbow-grease, can get a novel published, and have it up for sale on Amazon in digital format. Sure, there is an argument – one upheld by literary purists and publishing houses, across the globe – that this is a bad thing. They argue that this leads to an inevitable drop in quality, a lowering of standards, and therefore a cheapening of the books which ought to be receiving our collective, reading attention.
But this simply isn’t true. For one thing, there have always been more books for sale than any audience could possibly read.
The argument against making more books available is simply an argument for defending the status quo in publishing, a system which has seen a decline in author earnings to “abject levels” (The Guardian, July 8, 2014) and a 20% rise in publisher’s profits in the past few years, despite all the talk of online competition.
The application of judgement and free will regarding which books to purchase, which books to review favourably, and which books ought to become number one bestsellers, has never relied on there being a lack of choice.
Neither has it relied on the prior vetting of proof-reading interns in large publishing houses with aspirations to be the next T.S. Eliot. It has always relied on the quality of the writing itself, and, almost equally as important, the marketing.
Dickens knew how to hook a reader. He released his novels chapter by chapter in periodicals, and was the king of the cliffhanger. His best chapters ended in the same way the most effectively scripted episodes of House of Cards end – leaving the audience desperately wanting more. This, as well as being a popular literary technique, is a cunning marketing strategy. The success of a book – let’s face it – has an awful lot to do with its format, and its packaging (otherwise, books would all come in plain white sheaths simply stating the title in Times New Roman. We all, invariably, judge books by their covers).
One man who has embraced modern trends in publishing, is Laurence O’Bryan, founder of BooksGoSocial.com, a digital marketing service for books, based in Ireland, but supporting authors all around the world. The service recently passed the one thousand mark in the number of authors it has helped with online marketing.
Laurence is one of the few members of the literary industry in Ireland who has not only fully embraced modern developments brought about through digitalisation and the accessibility of self-publishing, but who has also staked his career on it.
His background in marketing comes to the fore here, but Laurence is also an author. It was his experiences in dealing with publishers himself – and their marketing strategies – that made him appreciate the gap in the market for a marketing tool like BooksGoSocial for authors.
“The public decides which books they want to read,” says Laurence O’Bryan, sitting in his offices on Dame Lane in Dublin, next door to the Stag’s Head, where James Joyce often enjoyed a small Irish whiskey.
“My job is to help a book, and its author, to get noticed, to ensure that they are exposed to a potential audience, and don’t simply fall under the radar. But that’s all I can do. After that, the work has to speak for itself. Books have ultimately always had to speak for themselves. It’s no different to previous publishing methods, except that the format, and the means, have changed drastically.”
Laurence is clearly passionate about what he does, and feels it is important to give people the opportunity to have their voices heard and their books read. He deals with authors all over the globe, and the company he has built, which has now helped over a thousand authors worldwide, has full time operations and online editorial staff on call to authors needs and queries 7 days a week. Its promotional services run 24/7, globally, using social media services such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, email and the BooksGoSocial.com web site.
“It’s a lot of work,” he laughs, “but it’s rewarding. It’s wonderful to see the success stories. We have had number one selling authors, whom, had it not been for their exposure through BooksGoSocial, may not have come to light. That’s incredibly rewarding.
I enjoy developing relationships with the authors too. We have a dynamic group for authors on Facebook, and we’re holding a conference for all authors, members and non-members June 26 -28 in the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin. This is the only writer’s conference in Dublin this year that we are aware off. By writer’s conference we mean a conference which provides opportunities for writers to learn the writing craft. We will also be live streaming conference excerpts to the 400,000+ followers we have online.”
Laurence, needless to say, is also a great promoter of Ireland’s role in the literary world.
“Even though BooksGoSocial is truly an international service and website, there is still undoubtedly an Irish feel to the company. I’m very proud to have set this up from Ireland. Ireland has an incredible literary heritage. We have always been known as a ground-breaking people in terms of literature. I see BooksGoSocial as a natural step in that trend in our culture. We are at the forefront of the move happening globally towards self-publishing and digital marketing. We are simply helping authors who weren’t selected by traditional publishers for one reason or another, or whose books aren’t celebrity biographies or safe publishing bets, to reach a wider audience.”
“BooksGoSocial has provided its marketing services to a number of incredibly talented Irish and International writers, both self-published and those involved with publishing houses. For example, we work with JJ Toner, a historical fiction writer based in Ireland, who self-published his work late in life, only to go on to be a top selling digital author in the U.S. That was enormously exciting for us. We also work with recognised, critically acclaimed authors such as Catherine Dunne and AD Garrett who are both award winning internationally published authors.”
“Our international success stories also include Barbara Devlin, the popular US self-published author who, for example, sold over 16,000 ebooks in January, 2015.”
So what about the future? “We are expanding our team and expect to have a dozen employees by the year end as we build our online marketing programs. Our services now include multi-book video trailers, interactive Facebook ads for books and a rapidly expanding international book promotion email service. Digital marketing is not going away and every other industry is using it. I see no reason why authors shouldn’t also embrace it. And they are. Every day we have more and more authors signing up. It just confirms what I thought when I set up BooksGoSocial – that there was a major gap in the market when it came to assisting and supporting authors in the modern digital age.”
For more on the BooksGoSocial conference see: http://thebookpromoter.com/conference/
For more on the books we promote see:
To contact BooksGoSocial email: admin@booksgosocial.com
Or call: +353 86 8369254
BooksGoSocial
5 Dame Lane, Dublin 2, Ireland
