Book Marketing, Part 6

As within a family of raccoons, communication is practically instantaneous when someone finds a good book. I just experienced a great example of the marketing technique of “word of mouth.” First, a friend of mine posted on Facebook today a personal recommendation. As she said, it’s very unusual for her to do that. Because I think of her as one of the brilliant people, I immediately checked it out, thought it looked like a book I’d enjoy, and downloaded it onto my Kindle. (I had just finished my last Kindle book last night, so the timing was perfect. I also have two “real” books going.)

I haven’t read it yet, but it looks like a book that would be fun and helpful to anyone at any stage in adult life. Publishers Weekly gave it a good review, and Amazon’s customer comments are many and enthusiastic. Often enough to give me pause, a formal thumbs-up by the trade reviewers does not translate into regular-reader satisfaction when the book is released. That’s why I double-check with Amazon. If there are only ten or so customer reviews, I’m suspicious of them as friends of the author or publisher. But when there are a lot, like the over-two-hundred in this case, I figure most of them are for real.

So, with Switch by Chip and Dan Heath (brothers), I found a positive review by Publishers Weekly and raging happy reviews by most of Amazon’s customer-readers. That’s when I ordered the download. If I forget to let you know, remind me to comment after finishing the book, whether I was happy with my purchase or not.

Here’s a trailer/review done when the hardcover first came out (published by Crown [Random House] Business in 2010). The vid-reviewer is, I believe, probably holding an early, bound-galley copy of the book, since the cover’s a bit different from the hardcover at the time. The reviewer’s point of view is enjoyable, too, since he’s a book person and/or writer himself. His name is Chris Brogan.