Carte Blanche: Social Networking R Us.
Cart, Michael (author).
FEATURE. First published October 15, 2007 (Booklist).

For a kid, one of the most enduringly haunting questions has to be, “What if you gave a party and nobody came?” But for authors and publishers, the question that haunts every waking-and dreaming-moment is, “What if you published a book and nobody bought it?”
The patronizingly adult answer to the kid’s anxious question is probably, “Well, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, now, would it?” As for an author or a publisher-well, it might not be the end of the world, either, but it sure could be the end of a career. So it’s no wonder that in this time of depressingly flat book sales, everybody’s talkin’ ’bout a new way of floggin’-the merchandise, that is. Such words as branding and viral and platform and social networking are among the new marketing catchphrases, and everybody is flocking to Internet venues like MySpace and youtube to stir the pot of electronic enthusiasm about the latest book or, if they’re an author, sometimes, just about the latest version of themselves (Think “Michael Cart 2.0″)!
Just trying to keep up with all this activity is so exhausting that I can’t imagine what actually taking part in the mad rush might be like-sort of like driving a buggy in the Oklahoma land rush, I guess, but that’s such a yesterday analogy, please forget I even said it. Anyway, after poking fecklessly about the Internet, trying to figure out for myself what publishers are doing in this new (virtual) land of opportunity, I gave up, picked up my old-fashioned telephone, and called an expert of my acquaintance, Diane Naughton, who is vice president of marketing for HarperCollins’ Children’s Books. My senior adult heart sank at her first words, “It’s all about the Web now.”

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So say what you will about the Internet, it has given publishers a new tool for promoting their product. And the same is true for authors, of course. I was kidding when I made that “Michael Cart 2.0″ reference earlier, but in fact, Printz Award- and Printz Honor-winning author John Green and his brother, Hank, have started an electronic thingie they’re calling “Brotherhood 2.0.” Some months ago, they decided not to communicate for an entire year except through video blogs, and, as they-a bit disingenuously-note at their site, “They don’t mind if you watch them do it.”

(read the full article at the link above)