2.5 Minutes With Rusty Shelton

[ 0 ] March 14, 2011 | Rusty Shelton

From March 11 through 15, genConnect.com is on-site in downtown Austin, Texas conducting personal interviews with speakers slated to appear at the innovative South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference in Austin’s Convention Center.

We are at the event as credentialed press, hosting “2.5 Minutes With genConnect” in the Chevy Volt ReCharge Lounge during the conference.

Yesterday we sat down with Rusty Shelton, President and CEO of Shelton Interactive, a interactive agency focused on authors and publishers. See what Rusty had to say to genConnect’s Kelly Hayes in the video below:

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RUSTY SHELTON: Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. KELLY HAYES: Now, I was intrigued. We interviewed a number of authors who have worked with Shelton Interactive. What does Shelton Interactive do for book writers? RUSTY SHELTON: At Shelton Interactive, we are an interactive agency. We work with authors to create strategies for a new publishing environment. So one of the things that really shifting on the PR side of things is media members, as opposed to just waiting to receive pitches– the old publicity process. Increasingly, we’re seeing that they’re looking on their own for sources. So in many ways, Google is becoming more and more a publicist for authors. And so we work with authors to create strategies, in terms of what to blog about, which journalists to connect with on Twitter. And really, finding a way for them to empower themselves as their own PR reps. KELLY HAYES: So really what you’re doing is, your taking an old medium and you’re helping to promote that old medium in a new way. RUSTY SHELTON: We are. We are. We really are. The publicity process is as old as publishing. But from our standpoint, we believe over the last, particularly, two years, everything has shifted just dramatically. And so again, instead of just waiting back for pitches, in many ways, journalists are looking for their own sources. There’s a recent Cision-George Washington University study that said 89% of journalists, right now, when they’re researching stories, they look to social media. And so we feel like that’s a huge opportunity for authors, particularly ahead of publication to start getting media. KELLY HAYES: So Rusty, are you kind of making this up as you go along, in the sense that things are changing so quickly, you’re learning how promote authors in a new way? RUSTY SHELTON: Well you know, before I started my agency last summer, I was with a traditional PR agency. And one of the things that I saw the last two years that I was there, we get to the end of campaigns, and sometimes 50%, maybe 60%, of bookings would be as a result of authors connecting with journalists on Twitter blogging about kind of the key news within their topic area. So we feel like it’s really growing. But yes, in many ways, it’s changing by the day. And we feel like it really comes down to great content, smart authors, and funny, creative ways to find that audience. KELLY HAYES: Do you love books? RUSTY SHELTON: Love it. Absolutely. Yeah. I’m passionate about books. KELLY HAYES: That’s great. Rusty, thank you so much. Good luck. We’ll be interviewing a number of your authors during the course of the next couple of days. And we’re looking forward to helping get the word out about some of those books. RUSTY SHELTON: Excellent. Thank you very much for having me. KELLY HAYES: Thank you, Rusty.

genConnect Heads to Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference

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Tags: Austin’s Convention Center, genConnect.com, Kelly Hayes, President and CEO, Rusty Shelton, Shelton Interactive, Southwest, SXSW, Texas

Category: SXSW2011, Videos, Views on the News

About Rusty Shelton: Rusty Shelton first spoke at Harvard on the changing world of public relations at the age of 23. As President + CEO of Shelton Interactive, an interactive agency focused on authors and publishers, he works [...]
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2.5 Minutes With Rusty Shelton

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