SmartSymbols^tm

A way to find out what readers are interested in is to look at the Icon Usage chart in SmartSymbols Analytics. (See picture below).
To get to the chart, simply login and then select the SmartSymbols set you are interested in.

Icon Usage Chart: January 2010, click to enlarge

(Click the chart to enlarge the picture)

This simple pie chart shows some pretty valuable information: people who were researching this particular sample book spent most of their time on Author Information (over 12 minutes) and almost equal amount of time on Social Networking buzz (about 9 minutes). The Book Content captured their interest for half the time of either Author Information or Social Networking buzz.

There is another interesting data point in the chart: people spent almost as much time researching the location of the plot of the book (Location/Compass icon - read more on Compass icon usage here) as on the contents of the book. In fact location seem to be of more interest then Reviews and News.

It could be that adding illustrations from the book to your SmartSymbols, as well as pictures of the places where the book is taking place could become a tipping point in the sale process of this particular book.

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Celebrate Green - Valentine's Day

Lynn Colwell & Cory Colwell-Lipson’s book Celebrate Green has a unique quality: it’s useful year round. Unlike typical abstract ideas about how to have a more eco-friendly lifestyle in general, the ideas in their book are practical. They are also specific to a particular holiday that’s coming up on the calendar.

Check out their suggestions for the Valentine’s Day for example: “one high quality organic chocolate bar instead of a handful of conventional candy on Valentine’s Day”. It turns out, that organic chocolate bar also tastes a lot better than typical candy, as testified by people who know best - kids.

You can also explore SmartSymbols for Celebrate Green book above. To buy the book simply go here: http://www.celebrategreen.net/buy/

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Here is an example of why SmartSymbols is  a perfect case for book promotion.

1.  Big Dead Place is a book about life in Antarctica from a grunt-contractor point of view.

2.  The book also has an associated website - BigDeadPlace.com, which is a great resource for people who are considering getting to Antarctica as contractors.

3.  Encounters At the End of the World (Discovery Films) is a film by famous director Werner Herzog, about life in the Antarctica from the point of view of people who work there from all walks of life, including scientists, programmers and backhoe operators.

Werner Herzog and His Camera Man

(Image from: http://www.bigdeadplace.com/herzog.html)

4.  BigDeadPlace.com has a review of “Encounters At the End of the World” by Bill Jirsa person who has actually been interviewed by Werner Herzog in the movie.

Now, these four different pieces of information are completely invisible if you just look at the book in an online bookstore (or a physical one for that matter).  Also, as the book publisher, I would probably want people to know, that one of my site contributors have been interviewed by Werner Herzog in a famous movie.  Lastly, if you were to look at those 5 links separately, you cannot see how they can be related to one another.  And the important thing here, is that the book is not at all a stand alone item - the author is truly plugged-in into all things Antarctic and obviously is a true authority on the subject.

This is a perfect case where SmartSymbols could shine and bring forward all the wonderful things that the book and aggregate all separate pieces of information into a coherent and powerful marketing message.

Can you think of another book that fits this profile?

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