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Digital publishing stirs up BookExpo America, makes online publicity even more imperative - By Samantha Rideout, Journalist

Lugging my suitcase of book samples from BookExpo America to my hotel room every day in New York was a chore. However, there were a few titles which weighed far less than others; compact discs, web addresses and USB sticks loaded with E-books took very little space or effort to carry and I was happy to have them tucked in with all my soft-covers. The next time I go on vacation I'll pack light and still have all my holiday reading.

However, to a number of BEA's attendees e-books were not a handy alternative or supplement to traditional books. Instead, they were a visible source of anxiety. I noticed this on the first day, when the American Booksellers Association held a series of professional development workshops. Some booksellers were concerned that bookstores might someday go the way of the record label. Personally, I'm not yet convinced they will and even if they do, I foresee plenty of activity in the book industry. Since I work for Substance Books, an online book publicity company, I asked my senior colleague Hajni Blasko what digital publishing means for book publicity.

"I think it could be good for our independent author and publishers clients," she said. "Digital publishing levels the playing field even more than self-publishing did, because it's even less expensive. Authors and publishers would do well to take the money they save on printing and put it towards publicity."

She went on, "Since e-books usually don't have a physical presence on a bookshelf anywhere, it is imperative for authors and publishers to get exposure online."

Hajni had pinpointed exactly the challenge we are helping our clients to surmount: getting attention for their books in a tsunami of book buyer choices. Some authors simply write something wonderful, put it on Amazon or a similar website and expect the world to notice. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

Substance Books has always been ahead of the game. Having pioneered online book publicity even before e-books arrived on the scene, Hajni has had plenty of time to study the relationship between digital publishing and online publicity. When combined, she says, they can be a powerful force. "The great thing about publicizing your e-book online is that customers can buy and get it right away, as soon as they find out about it," she explains. "There is no ‘gotta get around to it’ factor imposing itself between you and your customers."

During the remainder of BookExpo America, I did end up meeting some people who were excited about new developments in the book industry. There was even a Digital Book Zone on the floor and a digital Book and Bloggers conference in the basement. I noticed that, regardless of whether attendees were delighted or disquieted by e-books, we all had something in common: we loved books and wanted to get great ones into the hands of readers. This insight made me happy to be at BEA spreading the word about online publicity, one important piece of the puzzle that makes it all possible.

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WOW, WOW, WOW! Major confusion about facebook profile pages and facebook product pages! So what's the difference?

HAJNI BLASKO Online Book Publicist & SEO Specialist It's all in the terminology. After running a few tests and polls on facebook, it became evident to me that most authors cannot tell the difference or don't know if they have a profile page or a product page. I hope these few paragraphs will clarify the issue. In order to use facebook, you as a person have to create a profile. This is your profile page. It's unfortunate that I need to use the word page, since this little 4 letter word is the reason for so much confusion in the first place. If you are an author or a person providing a service or selling a product, you've probably ventured into creating a product page. Product pages are not about you or who knows you, but rather about what you do. Pages will have different functions from personal profiles and will allow you to have apps and other wonderful interactive gadgets to customize them to your needs. The quickest way to determine what sort of facebook template you have at the moment is by taking a look at the URL / web address on the top. If you see the word "page" within, then you have a page. Otherwise you don't, unless you have registered a username (also known as facebook sub-domain) for your page. If you're wondering what that means, chances are that you haven't. If your page allows people to become your friends, that's a profile page. If visitors are able to "Like" your page, that's a product page. Product pages may have their own registered usernames, custom welcome pages and other iFrame tabs. For example, you could: - offer fan-only coupon codes - showcase specific products with call to action links - share your Twitter feed in real time - bring in your blog's RSS feed - share your company philosophy - run polls and contests - create a video archive or a photo gallery. The possibilities are endless. This is why I decided to offer free facebook author pages to all my new clients. They will be able to handpick the apps they wish me to install for them and make changes if needed. There's a catch, though: authors will have to do their best to promote their pages and titles. But isn't that what we're all here to do? Submit your book now and get your free facebook author page.    If you already have a page, get another one! See an example of a customized page with iFrame tabs! What's New at Substance Books Update on the Status of our Free Publicity Projects Authors' Directory: Ongoing Free press release distribution: Closed SEO of all listings: Completed Free site evaluations: Ongoing Free Facebook and Twitter recommendation buttons: Completed Free facebook author pages: Ongoing Substance Books Online Book Publicity specializes in online book promotion and Search Engine marketing, embracing the online arena as a crucial part of literary promotion. Would you like your title to feature on the first page of Google? Get more info Online Publicity and exposure with this Search Engine Marketing Network is only $300 USD annually and yields great results!   Test it yourself! It's Free. View campaign prices and bonus offers. Launched in 2001, the company is the largest of its kind, having served hundreds of authors and publishers since its inception. If you would like to know what our represented authors say about our services, we invite you to read their testimonials! The objective of Substance Books is to drive the industry's targeted traffic - the general reading public - to your book. Publicity Campaigns Packages and Prices. Take advantage of our highly successful online marketing campaigns! One-year $300 USD / CAD Two-year Save $80 compared to one-year $540 USD / CAD Two-year Premium Save $100 compared to one-year $620 USD / CAD Mention of Literary awards included included included Publicity Projects included included included Listing in Directory of Authors included included included Social networking opportunities included included included Number of book categories in which title appears 1 1 2 Number of Engine Optimized listings 1 1 2 Number of links provided to the site of your choice 3 3 6 Number of additional social marketing links provided 3 3 6 Monitoring of Search Engine Ranking Position "SERP" included included included Reporting of Search Engine Ranking Position "SERP" biannually quarterly monthly   One-year Campaign $300 Two-year Campaign $540 Two-year Premium Campaign $620 Book Marketing Solutions .:. Free Offers .:. About / Contact Us .:. Browse Books .:. Meet Represented Authors © Copyright 2001 Substance Books, All Rights Reserved.