November 2007

Virtual Promotion
by Jennifer Dunne
www.jenniferdunne.com

Jennifer Dunne (aka Finnivar Childs in Second Life) is the author of Not Quite Camelot and Shadow Prince, books 1 and 2 in the World Gates fantasy series from Cerridwen Press, as well as many other romance novels from Ellora's Cave which she advertises at her Second Life bookstore, Blazing Pages.

Promotion doesn't have to involve expensive book tours, or consume weeks of your time. What if I told you there was a place where you could meet fans of your genre, and then give live readings, teach a workshop or distribute book excerpts, all for little or no cost? Now what if I told you you could do all that without ever needing to leave home?

The place where all these things and more can happen is the virtual world of Second Life, an immersive virtual environment similar in concept to the Metaverse of Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash. Think of it as stepping inside a video game, but being free to do whatever you want once inside, rather than being limited to a particular game scenario. People create avatars to represent them within this virtual world, customizing them however they desire, and then interact with the other things and people of the world.

How many people? As of August, 2007, there were over 9,000,000 users from more than 100 different countries, with the number growing by approximately 1,000,000 people each month. 1% of those are premium users, paying monthly fees for added privileges. At any given time, over 30,000 people are using the system, with over $1,000,000US changing hands every day.

Unlike massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) such as World of Warcraft, Second Life is unique in that the content is provided by the users, who retain intellectual property rights to their content, and control how it is sold and/or distributed.

That means, if you write a story and sell it inworld, it's still yours, and you haven't given away your copyright, or granted tacit permission for other people to write in that universe. And selling your stories directly is one of the ways to profit from Second Life. (I know of at least one person who makes a nice five-figure income in US dollars from his inworld book sales, but they're non-fiction how-to books.)

Most fiction authors, on the other hand, use Second Life to advertise their real world works, directing potential buyers to online bookstores, their publisher's website, or their own website.

I've been active in Second Life for over a year and a half, and have tried a number of methods for advertising my books in that time. Because my publisher reports monthly sales numbers, I am able to see direct correlations between doing live readings in Second Life and increased sales of that particular title. I've also been able to track in-world sales of short stories, which rise after I participate in a new discussion group, and attendees read my profile. Additionally, I've done trade shows, given interviews, created store fronts, distributed excerpts, and taught classes-and tried plenty of things that didn't work, too.

The simplest way to advertise your books is to list them in your Second Life profile. Then mingle with the people likely to want to read your books. If they find you interesting, they'll look at your profile, and at least some of them will go on to buy your books.

For a minor investment of pocket change, you can create T-shirts or other items with your book cover, website, or author brand on them. (Uploading a graphic image costs $10L, and there are approximately 250 $L to the $US.) You can also include excerpts on notecards that people receive when they touch your items.

You can write articles for Second Life news media (there are multiple newspapers and magazines, as well as a "television" network, SLCN.tv) and include information about your books in your byline. Or you can be interviewed by members of the Second Life news media, just as you'd be interviewed by real world news media.

Those are all methods of advertising that do not require you to have a fixed location. There are additional advertising methods that will either require you to rent or own virtual land, or to work in concert with an owner of virtual land who wants to sponsor an event.

The simplest way of advertising on land is to create a sign with your book cover on it, and that when clicked either brings up a designated web page about your book, or gives an excerpt notecard with ordering information. But placing a sign randomly within Second Life is a waste of money. You need to target your signage to the market for your book.

Two authors who have had great success with simple signs are Michael O'McCarthy (aka Micha Jacobus) who directs art gallery visitors to his website to buy his real world art and books, and Taran Rampersand (aka Nobody Fugazzi) whose signs in newbie help areas direct the curious and confused to his O'Reilly ebook on Second Life, as well as to his websites and blogs. (He also offers open source code available for transmitting RSS feeds into Second Life.)

Beyond simple signs, you can rent or buy a storefront. With a storefront, you are able to display more information about your real world books, as well as offer items for sale or give away promotional goodies. Again, location is key. One of the most popular locations for author storefronts is Book Island, which features around 80 different stores from authors, editors, publishers and printers of both real life and Second Life books. The publishers are from Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, and range from micropress to major publishers.

One of the most unique uses of a Second Life storefront to sell books is from erotic romance author Diana Hunter (aka Diana Allendale). Her store is located in a mature, BDSM-themed location. Every month, she sets it up to give out an excerpt from one of her BDSM-themed books, and includes all of the equipment and animations required for visiting avatars to act out the scene in the excerpt.

As with websites, keeping the content of your storefront updated and buyers returning to buy more is the goal. Many authors have special groups readers can join to be notified when new books or stories are added, or special events are being held.

Special events can be similar to special events held in the real world, such as readings, "meet the author" chats, discussion groups, or classes. An advantage over real world events is that you are able to attract attendees from around the globe, without ever leaving your home. To do a reading, you can either use a shoutcast stream (yours if you have one or one belonging to the location where you're doing the reading) or the audio chat capability of Second Life. Note that while everyone will be able to hear a shoutcast stream, not everyone has audio chat enabled. Other chats, groups, and classes are usually conducted via typed chat messages, but can also be over shoutcast or audio chat if you so choose.

It is common to put out a "tip jar" at live events, into which attendees drop from $10L to $1000L, depending on their generosity and how much they enjoyed your event. With a little effort, you can generate an hourly income comparable to a fast food worker.

However, you're not limited to real world events. One of the most innovative book launches in Second Life was by Al Perrin (aka Benjamin Helios), who released his book The Sloop John B. at the Main Library on Information Island. He gave a presentation where he switched his avatar to be each of the main characters in his book, then talked about the story from that character's point of view. The book launch event was sponsored by the Caledon Branch Library, which was able to advertise to all of Caledon's Victorian-era historical re-enactors.

This should give you an idea of the range of opportunities available to you. The only limit is your imagination.

Hopefully, you're filled with excitement at Second Life's potential, and can't wait to get started. Now you need to know how to get started.

Your first step is to go to the Second Life website, www.secondlife.com, and follow the instructions for downloading the software and creating an avatar. You'll be given the opportunity to choose your own first name and a last name from a provided list. (Currently, the last name of Writer is available, but it's very popular, so it may be retired soon.)

Creating an avatar is free, and if you provide your credit card information during the signup process, you'll get a bonus of some starting cash. (If they still ask how you found out about Second Life on the signup form, tell them Finnivar Childs sent you.) Premium accounts cost $72/year, or $9.95/month, but there's no need to upgrade to premium status right away. The two main benefits of premium status are a weekly stipend of $L and the ability to own land. You can convert $US to $L at any time using Paypal or your credit card, and most locations where you'd place a shop are on privately-owned land anyway, where you'd sublet from the landlord and so don't need a premium account.

When you arrive inworld, you'll be on an orientation island that offers instruction in navigating the world and performing basic tasks such as changing your appearance, picking things up, looking at things, and talking to people. Once you master the basics, you will teleport to the mainland, where your Second Life adventure truly begins.

If you're image conscious, you may want to visit The Free Dove, where you can pick up free clothing, hair, and skins so you don't look like an out-of-the-box newbie. Most people will be extra understanding and helpful to you if you're obviously new, but there are also griefers who target new players for abuse and harassment.

To locate people who might be interested in your work, or places where you might want to set up a storefront, you'll need to use the Search function (located on the bottom navigation bar of your interface). You can Search events for discussion groups or classes being held inworld. It's easiest to select the type of event you want and search by date, quickly scanning through the headlines to see if something appeals to you. Most of the classes will be Second-Life-centric, such as classes in building or scripting. But there are a variety of others, such as those sponsored by spiritual organizations, or those offered in conjunction with real world universities. Most discussions tend to be of the support-group variety, although again, there are a wide variety available.

In addition to events, you can Search places. One type of place you can look for is a role-playing environment. There are role-playing environments based on Star Trek, Vampire: the Masquerade, Harry Potter, and Gor, as well as environments based on Mafia gangsters, ancient Rome, Victorian steam-punk, and many others.

Other places cater to people with certain lifestyles or hobbies. There are places specific to different sexual orientations, to alternative sexual practices, to NASCAR fans, to sailing enthusiasts, and to speakers of various languages.

To find any of these places, type a generally appropriate word into the Search field. The results will be sorted in order of popularity. When you select any location, more details will appear on the right-hand side of the Search window, allowing you to determine if it's really of interest. If it is, you can click on the Teleport button to go there immediately.

Using the Second Life Search function is an interesting exercise in probability mechanics, because the same search does not always produce the same results, with locations mysteriously failing to appear in searches even though they are listed for that keyword. So it is always best to conduct multiple searches, using a variety of similar keywords, and make notes of locations you'd like to visit.

Once you arrive at your chosen location, take a moment to absorb the tone and tenor of any discussions occurring. Then join the discussion, or wander around and browse the storefronts in the area. You'll quickly figure out if it's someplace you'd like to spend more time or not. And if you'd like to spend time there, odds are pretty good your potential readers will be spending time there, too.

Second Life uses the power of the internet to connect with people around the world, in a way that simply isn't possible doing signings at brick and mortar bookstores. And unlike a passive website that requires readers to search you out, Second Life lets you go out and find them-with your avatar looking put together and professional even if you're wearing your pajamas.