Published by deborah.woehr on 11 Mar 2006 at 06:07 pm
On Blogging and Writing
I’ve got nothing today, but I found some articles that may interest you.
Plog-plog-plog-plog Find out how readers and authors feel about Amazon’s plog feature. Unless something jumps out at me, I’ll bypass this for the book section. Do you enjoy this new feature?
Books from blogs vie for new literary prize This article not only talks about the finalists for the Blooker prize, but speculates on a new publishing trend.
Melly on 12 Mar 2006 at 6:02 am #
Deborah, I didn’t hear of this plog feature before and I’m still not quite sure I fully understand what it means but it sounds like too much.
And I think it’s totally cool about the blooker prize.
Thanks
fredcq on 12 Mar 2006 at 7:31 am #
I have to check this out fully before I can make a decision on whether I would use it. Still, I think that it’s good that authors have as many tools availible to them on the internet. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. I like that it’s there just in case.
deborah.woehr on 12 Mar 2006 at 4:15 pm #
Melly: I’m hoping this blooker prize will continue the burgeoning trend for publishing.
Fred: I will read plogs if their authors announce upcoming books or give a little insight on why they wrote the books they have on the market. Most of the topics I see, however, belong on personal blogs. I should have clarified myself better yesterday.
Chris Howard on 13 Mar 2006 at 7:19 am #
Plogs…
I think it’s interesting that Amazon allows the author to link away from Amazon.com, something I don’t see often in online retail. Typically, they do everything they can to keep you on site.
I’ve made one plog post, just to see what it does, where it shows up, and who sees it. I did get a comment from a friend (only half-joking): “What makes you think I want to see your face when I go to Amazon.com?”
It still leaves me wondering what Amazon’s really up to, and how long some of these things will last. They do provide a lot for authors, readers and publishers. There’s a wiki on every product page, now a plog. I can upload images for the book, write a review. The publisher can add all kinds of content, book description, review clips, back cover copy, etc. Completely agree with Fred.
Ultimately, I think it’s a good thing. I don’t see any downside. I’ve read the grumbling about Amazon owning the plog content. Who cares? Use the plog as a publicity tool, and keep your intellectual property on your own blog.
I’m also thinking of plog content from the perspective of search engine indexing. Google hits the Amazon product pages, and if the content in the plog is rich enough with search terms, the page is ranked higher. I’m going to do some experimenting with this, adding keywords to the plog post, and see what happens.
deborah.woehr on 13 Mar 2006 at 8:01 am #
That’s funny, what your friend said.
Amazon has always come up with new and innovative features for both authors and readers. That’s why I’ve always been a loyal customer. As for the plogs, the only downside I see is the general confusion of what they should be used for.
You’re right in that they are a great marketing tool. Yes, definitely add content from the perspective of search engines. That should bring more traffic to your plog and your sites.
Keep us posted on how this goes.