When it comes to tech-savviness, I’m a Ph.D. – Push here, Dummy! So it took sitting through three similar sessions at Book Expo America to begin absorbing the technical aspects of a breakthrough marketing concept called BookGrabbr. The marketing part I grasped immediately since it echoed the concept that launched Book●ed: use personal contacts and endorsements through the internet in ever-widening circles to broaden awareness and interest in new authors and books. What excites me about BookGrabbr is how quickly, widely, inexpensively and relatively easily a book could be promoted.

The online marketing tool allows authors and publishers to give away eBooks or sections of eBooks in exchange for a social share from consumers. The idea is that by offering consumers books by requiring them to post about it on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, they will spread the word about the book with their networks and the books will take off virally. For self-publishing authors, the digital file they create for Print on Demand, eBooks or traditionally printed books can be used with BookGrabbr. Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Worthy, Regnery, Beaufort and Dunham Books are among mainstream publishers test driving BookGrabbr as a new social media marketing tool. An attractive featured benefit of BookGrabbr is the analytics provided to clients, including detailed demographics to help make better marketing and editorial decisions.

BookGrabbr’s library already contains more than 2,000 books, many from well-known authors and of popular titles. A “Grabb” occurs when someone “clicks” to download a book to their own BookGrabbr library. So, if an author’s book is “Grabbd” 500 times, and that author has 250 friends (less than the average number of “friends” the average Facebook user has), the total amount of potential impressions on Facebook would be 125,000.

In addition to Facebook, BookGrabbr supports platforms for Twitter and LinkedIn, further expanding a book’s reach. Each time someone chooses to read all or part of a book for free from the BookGrabbr library, they must make your book available to all of their social media friends. This implied endorsement of a book makes it more likely that “friends” will check it out, too. Books downloaded to a reader’s BookGrabbr library cannot be printed or shared. Availability of a book through BookGrabbr can be chosen for a limited time or ongoing.

Whether an author decides to offer an entire book or just excerpts will likely be determined by the author’s goals: building a “brand” (such as a series), getting people to purchase a printed edition of the book, wanting to build buzz for a book that could lead to sales, speaking engagements, etc. Offering a book through BookGrabbr is a way to get people talking and talking leads to sales. The possibilities are as plentiful as one can imagine.

There are other companies offering some of the services you get from BookGrabbr but it appears that none are as comprehensive or tech-progressive as BookGrabbr. It’s a company worth looking at.