I’m drawn to solving big problems. Devising real solutions to so-gigantic-that-they-are-obvious problems. Here’s my next one.
I’m sick of the fact that talent gets lost—that there are writers, musicians, and artists of all types who will never be “discovered.” They will put years into producing really good work, to little effect. The current system does not work anymore, and it’s questionable whether it ever did. Publishers, record labels, and studios have not evolved, even though the means of reaching an audience has. They still rely largely on 20th century techniques, which tend to work for the elite artists only.
Those who have money pay agencies and publicists to help get the word out—it helps, but it still amounts to shouting at as many people as you can in the hope that a few will pay attention. That’s called “Interruption Marketing” and it doesn’t work anymore.
A big issue, to be sure. But how am I going to solve this?
I recently joined Libboo.com, an early-stage startup in Cambridge that’s attacking this issue with data, and tons of it. Libboo is a first-of-its-kind “Advocacy Marketing” platform that uses a network to build more network. The best marketers are and always have been peer advocates. Advocacy Marketing is based on the principle that you’re 100 times more likely to take a recommendation from a friend than from someone you don’t know. You trust your friends. You don’t trust a salesperson. Obvious, right? Both are offering you something you might like, but their motivations are very different.
Most advocacy platforms to date mimic the shouting model. They employ broadcast techniques, with little feedback on the efficacy of their efforts. That leaves them right back at the beginning, relying on hunches and industry “experience,” which are not much more than educated guesses. Valuable to be sure, but less so when the industry is changing so rapidly.
So, Libboo is starting with trade publishing (i.e., popular fiction and nonfiction), where the problem is probably the most pronounced.
The way it works is fairly simple, even though the underlying machinery is not. Authors run campaigns for their book(s) on the Libboo platform and motivate readers to draw their friends into the circle. While the network grows, the Libboo platform runs over a million calculations per hour to analyze the behavioral data to determine how, where, and why the book is shared online. All this psychometric data is delivered back to the author (and sometimes his/her publisher or agent, too) in the form of an easy-to-read, real-time analytics dashboard. The author now has a better understanding of his/her audience and can “tune” the next campaign accordingly. After a few iterations, there is a clear indication of what’s working and, more importantly, what’s not working. Way more efficient, way fewer hunches.
I was an early advisor to Libboo, when it was still an idea in Chris Howard’s notebook. I’ve stayed involved because I love the audacity of trying to tackle a problem of this size and scope. Though they are still in the early stages, the work they’ve done is starting to show results. For example, 4,500 readers have brought in nearly 300,000 unique book “discoveries” since the platform launched a few months ago. Who in the industry can do that, especially for unknown authors?
The answer is not many. There’s no better proof of this than the story of J.K. Rowling’s latest novel, “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” which she released under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. J.K. Rowling is one of the bestselling authors of all time. Robert Galbraith is an unknown. What do you think happened? The book failed to gather a readership—until, of course, it was discovered (revealed?) that it was really J.K. Rowling.
This is not a matter of talent. It’s because publishing’s promotional system only works if you are a J.K. Rowling, not if you are a Robert Galbraith.
This issue is personal to me because I’m a Robert Galbraith, too. As a musician, I know about this firsthand. I’ve been producing music for over 25 years and—trying to be as objective about it as I can—I think that at least some of my songs are better than some of the songs out there. Listen to any of the tracks on my latest EP, Introducing the Selectmen. These songs were professionally produced. They were written, revised, and arranged, with help from some excellent musicians. They were recorded, mixed, and mastered by a professional engineer, in a professional studio. That doesn’t guarantee you’re going to like my songs. But what’s missing? A fair shot at getting them heard.
I don’t make music to earn a living. But some people do. The rules were stacked against them—until now. Gatekeepers have lost some of their power, so now artists don’t have to rely on getting picked. With the Web, they now have the ability to put their work in front of a lot of people. The tools are out there—they can connect directly with their audience. Here’s the issue, though. Everyone thinks that social media is the answer, but often it’s used as a means to broadcast rather than to connect. So, we really haven’t gained anything other than a lot more noise.
Libboo aims to solve that. Shouting is noise. Recommending to a friend is not. So I’m in. I think that these guys have got a better shot at solving this issue than anything I’ve seen out there so far. We share the same mission, so I want to help them—and in turn, help authors underserved by the current system.
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Here’s the press release about joining Libboo. For more about my role, see my CV or my LinkedIn profile.