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Publishers Thinking Beyond SEO Best Practices

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Tonight’s Confession:

Publishers have you ever wondered how your Facebook and Twitter followings impacted your sales?  In the Age of E-Books and Apps, how exactly are your social media fan bases affecting your success? More importantly, if social media optimization (SMO) is the future how can publishers adapt?

Here to help me answer those questions is M. Scott Havens who serves as the Sr. VP of Finance & Digital Operations for The Atlantic.

E-Publisher Confesses: Scott thanks so much for making time for my interview. As the Sr. Vice President of Finance & Digital Operations how much of your day is devoted to learning how readers discover your content?

Scott Havens: Quite honestly, not as much as I’d like these days. I’m spending a lot more time in the financial numbers of our media properties in order to assess where we should be investing and allocating our resources going forward. I do get a series of daily, weekly and monthly reports (some automated, some created) that break down where our readers are coming from, what they’re reading, etc. I also spend at least an hour a day reading trade pubs (Digiday, PaidContent, etc.) so I can stay abreast of all the new developments and innovations going on in media.

EPC: So then you’re familiar with metadata advocates who claim that if a book or magazine isn’t listed in the top 10-20 results of a query there’s no chance of readers discovering it. Scott can the same be said of The Atlantic’s readers? Or do they discover content differently?

SH:  I can’t validate that statement, but it seems likely.  Fortunately for us (I think!), we get 2x as many referrals through social networks/sites/referrals as we do from search.  That doesn’t mean we don’t care about SEO or we don’t try to implement best practices, but given the types and categories and volumes of content we produce, we’ve found SMO (social media optimization) to be a better use of our time.  There are also many new technologies, apps, sites that can be very valuable partners for publishers – including Flipboard, Pulse, TrapIt, Trove – and it may prove valuable for publishers to put on their “business development” hat and think about becoming  partners.

 EPC: Can less established publishers create an optimized Web presence without partnering with these third-party affiliates? Could publishers familiar with HTML5 software launch a successful magazine or book site without this partnership?

SH: Sure, but I think publishers have to experiment with every available tactic and see what works for them.  It could be search, it could be Twitter, or it could be Pinterest.   Not one size fits all.  HTML5 and all the hype around it is a bit overblown.  It is simply  not a fully formed markup language / coding language. It certainly shows promise to help optimize content for all the new devices and platforms (among other things), which is clearly challenging and expensive. Having said that, publishers do need to make sure that once they create the unique and interesting content, it can be consumed everywhere. HTML5 and responsive design could help do this. There are also several companies building and investing in CMS’s that will allow content to be pushed out in many forms so publishers can simply focus on the content. But again, focus on creating content that users want to read, develop a loyal audience and then think about ways to monetize the readership through paid products and/or advertising.

EPC: Earlier you stated that it seems likely readers won’t discover content past 10-20 results. So you suggested that publishers spend less time worrying over rankings and more time making their work shareable. Is that a correct summary?

SH: Yes I think so, but I’ll caveat that by saying that all publishers are not created equal.  If you are a high velocity news site that feeds off news searches or a restaurant review site that needs to leverage the “long tail”, you may want to spend more time on SEO.  At the end of the day, I firmly believe that if you write unique, quality, differentiated content and follow the “rules”, you should ultimately do well in search over time. I do think the key search engines are trying to surface the best content, not the content that has the best “SEO score.”  My best advice for publishers is find a niche where you can produce differentiated content for a specific target audience and let them help you grow. If you focus on creating interesting, visual, shareable, viral, unique content – you’ll be amazed at how quickly new readers will emerge because of the power of the “social graph”.

EPC: Why is it important for publishers to connect to a social graph? Does social sharing affect how publishers’ content is discovered by readers?

SH: Quite simply because social sharing is incredibly important in content discovery today.  For some publishers, like The Atlantic it’s more important than search discovery and it’s an entirely different way.  In one, a computer algorithm decides what you are looking for and in the other; people in your “network” are helping you discover content.  I’ll take the latter any day of the week.

EPC: Lastly, Scott can you offer any words of wisdom for aspiring publishers? Are there any other factors they should consider before entering publishing?

SH: My first words of wisdom are: stop calling it publishing! It feels SO OLD MEDIA! Other thoughts for aspiring digital media execs might be: be obsessive about using all the new devices that are launched, experiment with new sites and Apps as much as you can, read the latest news in the industry, network like crazy, and get a deep understanding of how technology works. Even if you are not a designer or developer, those who understand the ins/outs of digital media are usually one-step ahead of the pack.

EPC: Thank you again Scott for fitting me into your busy schedule, I can see there is definitely a dimension beyond SEO that publishers now have to consider. Publishers are not only contending with e-books, but apps too. I’m looking forward to seeing how new and established publishers continue adapting to these new developments. Thank you again for your insight!

Readers tell me what you think of tonight’s confession by answering the poll below. Join me September 23 for “An E-Publisher’s Road Ahead” I’ll be updating you on my career plans and aspirations.

Yours Truly,

An E-Publisher Confesses

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Book Expo America: An EPublisher Confesses’ Recap

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So this Book Expo America post is long overdue, but here goes. If you’ve read my previous post A New York Remedy then you know my last trip to the Big Apple was less than stellar. Though good things eventually came out of it, my time there was spent braving New York’s winter at HI-NY. My June trip however, proved to me an emotionally rewarding experience.

Basics

What is Book Expo America?

Book Expo America is the Comic-Con for book professionals, publishing companies, and book bloggers. If you love books, then I recommend marking this event on your calendar.  Everyone from authors to celebrities attend this yearly conference.

Tuesday Madness

Book Expo began and ended for me on June 5. I opted for the Day Pass to avoid overwhelming my senses and missing too much school. I highly encourage BEA attendees to do the same. Honestly, the main draw for me was the BEA Education Panels, which  publishing pros and newbies rely on for updates about the industry. It might be easier to digest if I divide my trip into three portions: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

Adult Book & Author Breakfast - Bad breakfast. Great guests. So after getting less than five hours of sleep, the last thing I wanted to do was to eat cold bagels at 8AM. But Stephen Colbert helped me forget this minor annoyance. Or maybe I should credit Stephen Colbert’s penis, which he plugged about 20 times. Funny man!  Still, my award for favorite speaker goes to Norwegian author Jo Nesbo.  Talk about sexy and smart at 50. After Colbert’s naughty introduction, I was falling asleep. This is nothing against anyone, but I fell asleep at 1AM and woke at 5AM. So panelists keep it spicy, keep it funny, and keep me awake.

Clearly, Jo Nesbo was my fix. Not sure if it was the Norwegian accent or his stock trade/ rock star story, but I was mildly turned on by his delivery. More importantly, I was turned on to reading his books. What a great start to my morning!

Beyond The Hunger Games - At this point everyone knows The Hunger Games was pretty amazing! For a teen movie, you’re definitely getting you’re $15 worth. Seems everyone agreed because the session was jammed packed. Luckily, panelists anticipated this and fully delivered on my expectations. I honestly walked away with a clearer idea on how publishers successfully market YA titles. Next year, I highly encourage attendees to mark the Bookstores Today Track on their calendar.

Understanding Metadata In The Digital Age –  Absolutely loved this panel! By far one of the most educational sessions I have ever attended (including my GWU courses). Bill Newlin of Avalon Travel and Fran Toolan of Firebrand Technologies explains the metadata basics:what it is, why it’s important, and how to make sure the metadata on your books effectively enables both discovery and transaction. If you’re interested in further teachings on this subject please reach out to Fran Toolan directly.

BEA Floor Plan – Not much to add here. Just shouting out sales reps at amazing booths. Here’s to you Slice Books, Libre Digital, and Typefi Publish. And a special shout to James Patterson’s In-Booth Autographing Session. I didn’t get an autograph, but I did have a great conversation w/ a movie producer. Fun times!

The Bad

Discovery, Recommendation, Serendipity - My heart breaks to put this panel into this category. However, it was not good. While initially, I got grasped the idea of having emotions connect readers to new finds, I was lost in the last 30 minutes. Truthfully, I was not alone. In fact a librarian bluntly stated that the method was a waste of time and she would not recommend it to—anyone. Not sure I completely disagree with her. Discovering books through emotional book scenes sounds good, but I’m not convinced it’s realistic or profitable.  If this panel reappears at 2013′s conference, I would be interested in seeing how panelists directly address its critics. Sadly, this year this session left me with me more questions than answers.

The Ugly

BEA Floor Plan - Advanced Reader Copies are easy to get, but hard to carry. Why can’t Book Expo America invest in wheel carriers? It’s so much easier to have a discussion with a sales rep or author if your back is not breaking.Yes, FedEx ships your books, but what if you’re planning to carry your stack back to your hotel? Not sure why this system hasn’t been updated, but next year I’m renting a wheel cart. I would have stayed longer if my shoulders and back didn’t hurt so badly.

Javits Center Wireless - Bad, it was very bad. Internet went in and out…all day. I wanted to upload so many pictures, but a las no service. Not sure what I can do next year to resolve this. Just disappointing.

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