Finding money for marketing has always been a tough task in the adult book market.

High costs associated with author advances, production, and distribution have traditionally left little in publisher coffers for advertising and promotion.

The standard strategy involves allocating some money for print media buys (with perhaps a little radio for good measure), sending the author on a 12-city publicity tour, and throwing the rest at retailers to gain upfront or endcap positioning in stores — and doing it only for the handful of titles with a good chance of hitting best-seller lists. “There aren’t many authors we’d do this for,” says Barb Burg, vp-director of publicity for Bantam Dell Publishing, in reference to a one-million-book giveaway the New York City publisher ran last October for star author Danielle Steel (see pg. 91).

While tie-ins with consumer packaged goods makers and in-house sweepstakes and contests are staples in the marketing of children’s books (in large part because most successful kids’ titles are based on media properties), big promotions are few and far between on the adult end of the market. “There’s kind of an indifference about promotion in this industry,” says Stephanie Oda, editor of trade newsletter Subtext, Stamford, CT. “Publishers either don’t have or don’t want to spend the money.”

Part of the skittishness is based, understandably, on how well large-scale promotions would work. After all, even the great Stephen King failed last fall to stage his own promotion online. (The author offered his latest work, The Plant, in downloadable installments last July with the caveat that 75 percent of readers would cough up $1 per installment; he abandoned the effort in November. “The idea was a bit before its time,” says Oda.)

Meanwhile, industry growth has been sluggish, with sales of adult hardcover and paperback books rarely showing more than low single-digit growth this decade. In the first 11 months of 2000, hardcover sales were down 14.3 percent and paperback sales were down 6.9 percent, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Washington, DC.

Reading Out Loud

Enter the AAP and Get Caught Reading, an initiative modeled after the milk industry’s successful Milk Mustache campaigns.

Launched in spring 1999, the effort centers on print ads depicting celebrities from various entertainment segments — Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Jake Lloyd from Star Wars Episode I — reading one of their favorite tomes.

The idea was spearheaded by AAP president (and former Congresswoman) Patricia Schroeder, who identified a need for a publisher-driven campaign soon after taking her post in early 1998.

Efforts thus far have relied heavily on pro bono work from agencies and publishing executives, gratis work from the featured celebrities, and free ad space in such publications as Vanity Fair, Business Week, Good Housekeeping, People, and Playboy. Ads run in May, which has been dubbed Get Caught Reading Month.

“We’ve had wonderful cooperation from the industry,” with publishers using the initiative’s logo in catalogs, trade shows allowing free signage space, participation from various literacy organizations, and both chain (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Follett’s) and independent book stores hanging P-O-P and hosting events, says AAP vp Kathryn Blough.

Last year’s effort featured branded T-shirts for retail staff, print ads featuring Robin Williams, Dolly Parton, and Nickelodeon’s Rugrats, a PSA starring Goldberg, and a piggyback on Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger balloon tour, which traverses the country visiting elementary schools and retail outlets.

This year’s plans are still being worked out, although the advertising side of things should be boosted considerably by a new partnership with the Magazine Publishers of America, New York City. Celebrities include baseball star Sammy Sosa, actress Jane Seymour, and Donald Duck. New York City publisher HarperCollins this year takes over from ad agency Ogilvy & Mather on the ad production; New York City-based Goldberg McDuffie Communications continues to handle p.r. Activities will kick off with a Capitol Hill media event on May 9.

Although the jury is still out as to whether or not the effort is having any effect — “They’re doing this on a shoestring,” says Oda — AAP points to a rise in sales after the 1999 campaign as evidence that it is. “We think it has definitely had an impact,” says Blough. “A lot of the activity has been grassroots so far, and people are really starting to hear about it.”

Next step is to have them reading about it as well.

NOVEL APPROACH

Book publishers generally aren’t in the habit of giving away best-selling titles. It’s not often that they stage a large-scale promotion, either.

Random House division Bantam Dell Publishing flouted both conventions last October when it dished out one million free copies of three backlist Danielle Steel novels through trade accounts in one day. The paperbacks featured cover copy announcing the reason for the giveaway: the hardcover release of Steel’s latest work, Journey, her 50th book.

Bantam’s goal wasn’t really to boost sales of the new title. With 430 million copies of her romance novels in print, Steel is always a shoo-in to hit No. 1 on industry best-seller lists. “But we wanted to do something really special for this extraordinary milestone,” says Barb Burg, vp-director of publicity for Bantam Dell. “It called for a landmark event.”

Burg thinks the number of books doled out is a record for the industry — and understandably so. “We give books away sometimes,” she says. “But they’re usually the ones we can’t sell.”

MOVE OVER, KING JAMES

Country Inns & Suites by Carlson is offering guests a more edifying alternative to the $9.95 movie.

In January, the Minneapolis-based chain (part of travel and marketing giant Carlson Companies) held a New York City media event to announce Book It and Return, an in-house program that will establish hotel “libraries” in all 230 North American properties.

Guests can check books out at one location and return it the next time they stay at a Country Inn. As an incentive to guests who may not work so well under the honor system, the chain will donate $5 per return to Syracuse, NY-based Laubach Literacy (up to $20,000 annually). “We’re very confident that, like our guests, the books will return,” says Yvonne La Penotiere, Country Inns vp-marketing. The chain boasts a 98-percent return rate.

The library will be built slowly. In fact, the program was launched with a shelf of one: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (who was on hand at the Gotham event). Four to six more best-sellers will be added each quarter.

La Penotiere says the chain was looking for a p.r. program “that would create brand awareness and reward loyal guests.” Carmichael Lynch Spong, Minneapolis, handles.

Finding money for marketing has always been a tough task in the adult book market.

High costs associated with author advances, production, and distribution have traditionally left little in publisher coffers for advertising and promotion.

The standard strategy involves allocating some money for print media buys (with perhaps a little radio for good measure), sending the author on a 12-city publicity tour, and throwing the rest at retailers to gain upfront or endcap positioning in stores — and doing it only for the handful of titles with a good chance of hitting best-seller lists. “There aren’t many authors we’d do this for,” says Barb Burg, vp-director of publicity for Bantam Dell Publishing, in reference to a one-million-book giveaway the New York City publisher ran last October for star author Danielle Steel (see pg. 91).

While tie-ins with consumer packaged goods makers and in-house sweepstakes and contests are staples in the marketing of children’s books (in large part because most successful kids’ titles are based on media properties), big promotions are few and far between on the adult end of the market. “There’s kind of an indifference about promotion in this industry,” says Stephanie Oda, editor of trade newsletter Subtext, Stamford, CT. “Publishers either don’t have or don’t want to spend the money.”

Part of the skittishness is based, understandably, on how well large-scale promotions would work. After all, even the great Stephen King failed last fall to stage his own promotion online. (The author offered his latest work, The Plant, in downloadable installments last July with the caveat that 75 percent of readers would cough up $1 per installment; he abandoned the effort in November. “The idea was a bit before its time,” says Oda.)

Meanwhile, industry growth has been sluggish, with sales of adult hardcover and paperback books rarely showing more than low single-digit growth this decade. In the first 11 months of 2000, hardcover sales were down 14.3 percent and paperback sales were down 6.9 percent, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), Washington, DC.

Reading Out Loud

Enter the AAP and Get Caught Reading, an initiative modeled after the milk industry’s successful Milk Mustache campaigns.

Launched in spring 1999, the effort centers on print ads depicting celebrities from various entertainment segments — Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Jake Lloyd from Star Wars Episode I — reading one of their favorite tomes.

The idea was spearheaded by AAP president (and former Congresswoman) Patricia Schroeder, who identified a need for a publisher-driven campaign soon after taking her post in early 1998.

Efforts thus far have relied heavily on pro bono work from agencies and publishing executives, gratis work from the featured celebrities, and free ad space in such publications as Vanity Fair, Business Week, Good Housekeeping, People, and Playboy. Ads run in May, which has been dubbed Get Caught Reading Month.

“We’ve had wonderful cooperation from the industry,” with publishers using the initiative’s logo in catalogs, trade shows allowing free signage space, participation from various literacy organizations, and both chain (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Follett’s) and independent book stores hanging P-O-P and hosting events, says AAP vp Kathryn Blough.

Last year’s effort featured branded T-shirts for retail staff, print ads featuring Robin Williams, Dolly Parton, and Nickelodeon’s Rugrats, a PSA starring Goldberg, and a piggyback on Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger balloon tour, which traverses the country visiting elementary schools and retail outlets.

This year’s plans are still being worked out, although the advertising side of things should be boosted considerably by a new partnership with the Magazine Publishers of America, New York City. Celebrities include baseball star Sammy Sosa, actress Jane Seymour, and Donald Duck. New York City publisher HarperCollins this year takes over from ad agency Ogilvy & Mather on the ad production; New York City-based Goldberg McDuffie Communications continues to handle p.r. Activities will kick off with a Capitol Hill media event on May 9.

Although the jury is still out as to whether or not the effort is having any effect — “They’re doing this on a shoestring,” says Oda — AAP points to a rise in sales after the 1999 campaign as evidence that it is. “We think it has definitely had an impact,” says Blough. “A lot of the activity has been grassroots so far, and people are really starting to hear about it.”

Next step is to have them reading about it as well.

NOVEL APPROACH

Book publishers generally aren’t in the habit of giving away best-selling titles. It’s not often that they stage a large-scale promotion, either.

Random House division Bantam Dell Publishing flouted both conventions last October when it dished out one million free copies of three backlist Danielle Steel novels through trade accounts in one day. The paperbacks featured cover copy announcing the reason for the giveaway: the hardcover release of Steel’s latest work, Journey, her 50th book.

Bantam’s goal wasn’t really to boost sales of the new title. With 430 million copies of her romance novels in print, Steel is always a shoo-in to hit No. 1 on industry best-seller lists. “But we wanted to do something really special for this extraordinary milestone,” says Barb Burg, vp-director of publicity for Bantam Dell. “It called for a landmark event.”

Burg thinks the number of books doled out is a record for the industry — and understandably so. “We give books away sometimes,” she says. “But they’re usually the ones we can’t sell.”

MOVE OVER, KING JAMES

Country Inns & Suites by Carlson is offering guests a more edifying alternative to the $9.95 movie.

In January, the Minneapolis-based chain (part of travel and marketing giant Carlson Companies) held a New York City media event to announce Book It and Return, an in-house program that will establish hotel “libraries” in all 230 North American properties.

Guests can check books out at one location and return it the next time they stay at a Country Inn. As an incentive to guests who may not work so well under the honor system, the chain will donate $5 per return to Syracuse, NY-based Laubach Literacy (up to $20,000 annually). “We’re very confident that, like our guests, the books will return,” says Yvonne La Penotiere, Country Inns vp-marketing. The chain boasts a 98-percent return rate.

The library will be built slowly. In fact, the program was launched with a shelf of one: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (who was on hand at the Gotham event). Four to six more best-sellers will be added each quarter.

La Penotiere says the chain was looking for a p.r. program “that would create brand awareness and reward loyal guests.” Carmichael Lynch Spong, Minneapolis, handles.