Social networking has exploded in the last couple of years with the rise of Facebook and Twitter into the mainstream media. Many people you know on an everyday basis, friends from youth, co-workers, relatives and more are on Facebook and requesting your “friendship”. It doesn’t stop there. Businesses, organizations, movements, personalities and products have all started Facebook and Twitter accounts in an effort to reach out to their followers and expand their social network share. The best of these companies are engaging, personal and most importantly consistent. For these groups and aspiring professionals, Facebook and Twitter can be a great tool to help reach out to your audience.
Very recently Mutual Publishing joined the ranks of other local businesses in getting on both Facebook and Twitter. This is great news as Mutual is one of the oldest and largest of Hawaii’s local publishers and by joining the social media craze, those of us who are connected will have a much easier time keeping track of all the new books, events and news that come from Mutual and its authors. We excitedly welcome Mutual Publishing to the social networking sphere and hope they find it to be as useful and engaging a tool as we have here at Hawaii Book Blog. They’re already off to a tremendous start and if you aren’t following them already, you can do so now here:
Keeping that in mind I wanted to highlight some of the other local publishers that are on either Facebook, Twitter or both. A handy reference guide for those of you who haven’t already “fanned” or followed these great local publishers:
Bamboo Ridge Press is famous for publishing stories by and about Hawaii and its people. Their Twitter account is sporadically active, tweeting headlines automatically from their website or events calendar. One of the coolest things about their Facebook page is that they’ve been posting all of the entries for their recent writing contest to get into the 100th Issue of Bamboo Ridge. Read some great stories and keep up with their events here:
BeachHouse Publishing is an imprint of Mutual Publishing that focuses on publishing all manner of books for children. Amazingly they jumped onto Twitter much earlier than their larger counterpart, but unfortunately the account is not updated all that very often. They make such wonderful keiki board books, I would love to hear more from them!
Kamehameha Publishing is also on Twitter, but surprisingly I couldn’t find a Facebook page for them. Unfortunately, this Twitter account has not been updated since June 25, 2010. They’ve done a good job in the past keeping it updated every now and then, I hope they can find the time to bring it back as I always enjoyed re-tweeting their content.
Tinfish Press is big on poetry…experimental poetry from the Pacific. They’ve had an active hand in shaping many of the best writers in the region. While they don’t have a traditional Facebook page, there is a group called “friends of Tinfish Press” where you can see what’s going on. This is a private group which requires requesting a membership (much like a friend request). Much to my fault, I didn’t request membership until now. Hopefully, they let me in. 😉
University of Hawaii Press is the academic book publishing wing of the state university. They have one of the more active and consistent Facebook and Twitter accounts, which is a great plus on keeping up with the happenings of UH Press. Most of their content is news, basically a summarized version of posts on their UH Press Blog.
Watermark Publishing, in our opinion, has been the gold standard in social media marketing among Hawaii’s local publishers. They consistently do a great job keeping fans and followers aware of the latest events, new books coming out, recent book news and reviews, and even going outside their own sphere to bring you exciting literary and agricultural news and events. The best thing about Watermark is their level of engagement with people on both social media formats, especially on Twitter where Hawaii has a burgeoning community of tech-savvy people and companies.
As I am completely aware, keeping up with social media can be a daunting task, especially for small local companies who may not have the time or man power to manage what can be a time-intensive and often slow-rewarding undertaking. I applaud all of the publishers listed here for even taking the time to have some kind of presence in the social media landscape. If I have missed anybody I apologize, let me know about your pages and I will gladly add them to this list.
And of course…for those of you who haven’t already added us to your social networking circle, we’d love to be your friend! 🙂 You can fan us on Facebook at facebook.com/HawaiiBookBlog and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/HawaiiBookBlog.
