A variety of things

Been out of touch on this blog for a week or two, but we’ve been updating the SDSHS Press’s various web presences, and trying to learn more about how to interact with people who enjoy South Dakota history books.

There is a new reader’s guide for Seth Bullock available for download at sdshspress.com, we’ve got illustrations from the forthcoming Raccoon and the Bee Tree also on that website and on our Facebook page . . . and why not, here is one for the blog as well:

As a quick aside, it has just come to our attention that our new catalog has the incorrect ISBN for The Raccoon and the Bee Tree. Just in case you need to order using the ISBN, it should be 978-0-9798940-8-4. That was literally breaking news.

We have a firm date for the launch of The Raccoon and the Bee Tree now. So start looking for that book after October 3. The official launch party will take place at the South Dakota Festival of Books in Deadwood, October 2-4.

If you are using twitter, we’ve been amping up our tweeting as well. Tweet us if you have a question, suggestion or whatever.

Notes from the BEA

I thought I’d try and summarise some of my notes from sessions attended at the BEA, so as to give a feel for some of the discussions that took place there. These notes are by no means comprehensive, but hopefully provide a taste, and maybe they will start a conversation or two.

Discussing the future of book reviews, and how these will move from print to online even more than they currently already are. The traditional authorities for book reviews have been the print media, in particular, publications such as NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Publishers Weekly, New York Review of Books, etc. These authorities are likely to change unless the traditional outlets adapt to new technology provided by social media. However, there should still be a place for the traditional authorities, but their expert knowledge will be combined with new authorities from social media sites, i.e., “Joe Public.”

Reviews are unlikely to be reduced to 140 characters in order to fit twitter.

Individuals will have far more choice in who they listen to for their information. We are no longer restricted to the traditional voices.

Well-known or well-respected reviewers and brands will still carry weight in the social media network because people trust them. Trust will be crucial, because there will be so many more outlets for information from which to make decisions.

Social media allows for quicker buzz about books.

Although the forms of communication are changing, experts will still be needed, we won’t rely soley on the masses. However, user-generated content, particularly recommendations for products, including books, that are available through social media sites, will become far more important to people when they are making purchase choices.

Sharing information, links, videos, media in general, is the key to using social media. We all need to do a better job of listening to what people want to say (and then responding to that) than we currently do. So, I suppose, this post should be in response to questions, but I’m posting it to start a conversation, so maybe that is ok!

There was plenty more, but this gives you an idea of the kind of things that were being talked about in relation to new/social media and the book industry. It would seem that we are on the cusp of a major media revolution (maybe it has already happened in many ways), and now we just all have to work out how to live in that world!

Fascinating BEA

Having just returned from the BookExpo America in New York City, I thought I’d share this video with you that was used to open a session on the use of social media in the book industry. This video is not directly connected to the book industry, but at the same time, the information within the video is incredibly important to everything we are doing and will be doing over the next few years.

Let us know what you think about the video and the ideas/problems/issues it brings up.