What is the potential value of Twitter or “Twittertising” for book publishers? This has been the subject of much debate recently at HS and we’d love to know what you think. Carolyn Pittis, SVP of Global Marketing Strategy for HC wrote recently:

“I continue to struggle, myself, with how valuable Twitter is as a viable marketing tool. 

I am skeptical myself that it becomes main stream in any way. Is it not simply the narcissist’s ultimate tool?”

I agree that no one really needs to know the banal details of daily life which are often the subject of Twitter feeds (though some people use Twitter to share actual news). But now that people have started to assume fictional identities on Twitter, like the characters on AMC’s Mad Men, (see BusinessWeek article), the space has become an unexpected platform for deep branding.   

Could authors and publishers benefit from this? (I’m thinking Stephenson, Rowling, Meyer, Lauren Conrad! Anything with a cult following, really.) Are hard core fans of certain writers likely to use Twitter to act out plot lines and would that have any impact whatsoever on sales?

Don Draper would say fans have to have a “sentimental bond” with the subject- like the carousel!   

Julia