Scott Kirsner’s book, Friends, Fans and Followers, is a must read for any filmmaker, distributor, or person in the film industry, or for that matter, anyone in PR, marketing, advertising who wants to market a product in the New World of distribution. The two big challenges this book aims to address are: how do you build a fan base online, and how can that fan base support your career?

Scott has been at the heart of the industry and provides many recent examples of successful campaigns. We are in the middle of writing a business plan for a film project and found it completely changed our entire strategy.

From Steal this Film to the most popular video on YouTube (Evolution of Dance), Scott helps us understand why these efforts worked and reached millions. In the Internet age, consumers with little time to focus and several windows open on their computer screen only give us a few seconds before deciding whether or not to invest their attention with us longer. If they do stop to watch or read about our project, hopefully in its entirety, its then up to us to ask for help – a donation, a review, or a mention.

Another key is that you have to be present in the online community that you are promoting your content in.

He interviews 30 visionaries in film, music and publishing who have had real success online in finding their audience and continuing to, for the most part, make a living at something they love.

Finally he lists a number of online tools – websites, etc. that was enormously helpful for us as we look to plan a film and book launch in the next half of 2009. We are feeling a lot more confident having had the opportunity to read Scott’s book before cementing our strategy. You can go to this page for the first 35pp of the book.Congratulations, Scott on a great resource.