#4 - Engaging Readers with Mitch Joel

Check out the books we're discussing here!

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Mitch Joel, author of the books Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT DELETE: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on it.

The conversation between Mitch and Mark involve the following:

• Mark's riffing on Mitch's regularly used consistent classic opening for interviews in his Six Pixels of Separation Podcast
• The importance of creating consistently delivered content (Mitch's 6 times weekly blog content and his weekly podcast) and how that relates to author branding
• The nature of having an audience available BEFORE you have a book and providing value to the community that you are creating content for
• How publishing his first book Six Pixels of Separation was a bit of a social experiment
• Never making an ask unless there is something more to give/offer as part of that ask
• The reality that selling a book is really hard
• Mitch's expression: "digital crickets and virtual tumbleweeds"
• Twitter perspectives – who to follow, who is spamming, who is followed by who; why am I following someone?
• Figuring out your work/life balance: Mitch's blending theory for work and play and the three tiered-stool of professional, family/friends and community
• The importance of presenting your ideas and yourself
• The "mystery" aura of an author such as the time when Mitch met Michael Connelly in the hallway his publisher's NY office
• What, in Mitch's view, makes Margaret Atwood so amazing in the way that she tries new things and engages with the community in social media
• The size of certain physical books (like the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson or Under the Dome by Stephen King) and how reading on an eReader has freed Mitch up
• The importance of "above the neck" exercises – ie, reading

OTHER NOTES

Taking a note from Mitch's book, Mark talks about the concept of treating indie publishing as a profession and a business as well as highlighting the importance of connecting with your audience as opposed to being "that pushy guy." Mark also discusses the value of pitching your book to the right target audience rather than trying to broadcast to everyone and to people who aren't in your target audience group.

Six Pixels of Separation – Mitch's Blog

Six Pixels of Separation – The Podcast