An Interesting Book Promo Offer

Not much different than Seth's promotion for his book, Tribes. With a preorder, you were granted access to a ning supported community.

I would have bought a copy anyway, but the promotion did cause me to preorder several copies though.

I guess Willie Wonka knew what he was doing when he created the all access golden ticket.

Great work Chris, you are one of my new favorites.

Intriguing, certainly, but I'm not sure the promotion has been pitched quite right.

In order to qualify to go to a film premier, you have to buy a new copy of the book that has been filmed. To get to the promotion you have to be a fan of Ms. Woolfolk Cross. Given that she has only written one novel, if you are a fan, you have probably already read it. In that case the only way to enter the promotion is to buy something you already own. Ugh.

Alternatively, you find out about the promotion through a link like this and you haven't read the novel. If you haven't read the novel then the prize is less exciting as you don't know if you're going to enjoy it or not. Meh.

I may be over-analyzing, but there just seems to be a disconnect here. If she had written other less popular books and the promotion required you to buy one of those, then that would be good.

As it stands, I'm not excited by a promotion to buy a full price (plus sales tax) version of a book that I can find online second hand for a buck (plus postage) in return for a slim chance of seeing a movie with no release date and every chance of going straight to DVD.

OK, now there's no question. I definitely over-analyzed it. Sorry folks.

Thanks, Michael! Somehow, knowing what you and I share in common, I didn't ask your opinion on this one. : )

Eye View's analysis sums it up for me and I'm a fan of the Pope Joan story and I didn't know there was a book nor a movie.

It is generating buzz, because you picked up on it, but how far will that carry the cost of the promo?

Do I want to buy this book? No, I'll get it from the library. I don't buy books, often.
Do I know who might be at the primere? No, that wasn't told to me.
So am I gaining access? Maybe but to what, again I don't know.

Naw, not a good use of resources.

I would spread the love a bit. Instead of making the focus of the promotion her book, why not open it up to any book of historical fiction, or any book at all with the word “Pope” or “Joan” in the title.

For promotion of the promotion, you have to look beyond the author's fansite. Books are great because there are existing communities that will welcome you as an author and that actively look for new reads and promotional opportunities. Try bookarmy.com for an example of a place where authors are mingling with readers to everyone's benefit. There's also meettheauthor.com, but there are costs involved for an author to be listed there.

The alternative route is to pitch the promotion to movie fans. This is going to be a limited arthouse release (if it gets released at all) and I'm sure there are communities that embrace those and the opportunity to read the book first. The movie stars David Wenham, who has a bit of a LOTR heart-throb following, and John Goodman, who probably appeals to someone, somewhere. Perhaps they have communities that would appreciate a good read.

You put me on the spot here. How am I doing?

I read the book (in fact, I own it), and recommend it.

However, I agree with Eye View. There's nothing there to entice me to join her club, and why would I want a second copy of the book?

Pope Joan is indeed one of my favorite books, especially for book clubs — though I do think it would make an amazing graphic novel for you comic book geeks! Hmm, Michael should get on that …

Thanks again for the shoutout, Chris.

Hello, Eyeview! Donna Woolfolk Cross here, the author of Pope Joan–here to disagree with your analysis of this promotion.

To take your comments in order:

1. “to get to the promotion, you have to be a fan of Ms. Woolfolk Cross.”

Not true. Alas, my poor orphaned novel was abandoned by its previous U.S. publisher, so though it was a bestseller in other countries, it didn't even register on the Richter scale in the U.S. My “Walk the Red Carpet” offer–and Chris' mention of it–is alerting many who have never heard of my novel–or of Pope Joan, whose story is surely one of the great lost “mysteries of history”.

2. “If you haven't read the novel then the prize is less exciting as you don't know if you're going to enjoy it or not”.

Sorry to say this, Eyeview, but you don't know diddly-squat about the movie business! Many people attending a movie have never read the book on which it is based. Millions read “People” magazine and similar “gossip rags” to find out about the stars who attend a movie premieres, and millions more watch these events on television.

There's a powerful “draw” to such a special occasion–dressing “to the nines”, walking a red carpet, meeting the stars, attending the after-party, etc. Who cares what the heck the film is–it's the experience one wants! This is what I'm offering–and all for the price of a book purchase (or multiple purchases–for each book bought qualifies as a separate entry).

As for books: sales are driven by “name recognition”–that is, people buy books that they've heard about –exactly the way they buy “Shredded Wheat” or “Firestone Tires.” “Walk-by” sales in bookstores are driven almost entirely by this principle.

“Ah, yes,”, you think when you see a familiar title, “I've heard something about that”. Thus: the Red Carpet offer–and the welcome publicity it's getting (of which Chris's is the best so far. Make no mistake about it, guys: Chris is an influential blogger!)

3. “I'm not excited by a promotion to buy a full price (plus sales tax) version of a book that I can find online second hand for a buck (plus postage)”

Fair enough. But then you're not the “target audience” for this offer. If you only buy books second-hand, or rent them from a library, good for you! (and certainly I support libraries, to whom I owe my entire professional life).

But if you buy Pope Joan second-hand, then you won't get this brand-new and significantly improved edition by a new publisher. It has larger print (no need to squint to read it anymore), corrections and additions (every writer's dream of going back to “fix things”), an updated “Author's Note” with new evidence in favor of Joan's historical existence, and a list of “Best of the Best” reading group questions, based on on my many years of chatting by speakerphone with groups all over the U.S. and Canda.

4. “In return for a slim chance of seeing a movie with no release date and every chance of going straight to DVD”.

Wrong again, Eyeview. World-wide premiere of Pope Joan is already scheduled for October–either at the Rome Film Festival or in Berlin. No chance this baby is going straight to DVD. Date of the U.S. premiere is still indeterminate only because the European producers are unwilling to show anything other than the “final cut” to U.S. distributors, for they fear “artistic interference”. And the final cut won't be ready for another three weeks.

The movie WILL open in the U.S., probably this fall. It's possible that it will be a “limited opening” (as with a Woody Allen film) in “selected theaters only”–or it may open wide. That is still TBD. Makes not one jot of difference to my offer, for the winner will still get to attend the premiere!

5. “a slim chance” of winning. Wrong again. My agent (who is collecting the receipts and will send them to me at the end of the promo) tells me that not that many entries have yet been received. Why play the lottery, with its impossible odds, when this one is actually “winnable”?

“I don't buy books, often”

Again, fair enough. But again, you have to admit that this doesn't make you the target audience for this promo!

The “randomly selected” winners thing always speaks spammy database collection to me. If the book physically contained the “golden ticket” Iʻd be more interested. Not a fan of having to take a next step with my entry i.e. the soda bottle cap code trend. Did I win another soda or not, thatʻs all I want to know. I donʻt want to join anything, I donʻt want updates. If youʻre already a fan of the product than your perspective changes, you may be willing to take another step, itʻs all about who youʻre trying to reach.

Agree with Chris here re rules. Moreover, if it's not random, you have to be very clear that the UGC isn't a popularity contest — just ask the “Murphy Goode” winery folks.

FWIW, I'm glad that promo wasn't a popularity contest, ie, based solely on how many people liked an applicant's video, but MG wasn't clear about that from the start.

My experience is in marketing business/how to advice authors. I believe the promotion has to fit the author. We all know that it is imperative that an author build a platform through engaging his/her audience. Indeed, new author Gary Vaynerchuk “Garyvee” landed a deal with HarperCollins, Sept. launch, because of his online star power with the belief that his audience is poised to buy his book as an extension of his brand. For this reason, I usually recommend promotions that promote long term audience engagement. Like multiple book purchases for access to exclusive author downloadable content for iPods of Kindles, or contests for personal coaching sessions with authors.

Given Donna’s book genre, international best seller brand, and link to the movie, it is smart to leverage the timing of her release date and the cache of the movie red carpet event to inspire readers to purchase multiple copies of her book for its US release. The random drawing contest will create buzz and a short term spike in sales, but is unlikely to have an impact on the best seller lists if implemented in a vacuum.

Regarding the lists. In my experience, Franchise Whale is half correct, the lists are “time and volume” sensitive, but the degree of difficult relative to pub date depends on the genre.

I have one question for Donna. “What other activities are you doing to leverage the buzz and gain incremental sales within the same time period of the contest to optimize the promotion?”

Chris makes the point that book promotion is all about access. This means access to the author as well, not just red carpet celebs. Donna, already gets this concept because she offers to host “Reading Groups” on her site. A great way to leverage this is to book the “Reading Groups” by collecting pre-orders, in advance of the events and prior to launch date. The cost to readers is still the price of a book, and the author gets to take advantage of the sales in the time period that is most opportunistic for her.

The point is, it's never about just one promotion. It's about a combination of promotions, managed so that both audience and author win.

At the American Idol concerts, producers are running a contest to win backstage passes. It's run in conjunction with Ford. Several videos are played; audiences are asked to text answers about the videos, and several contestants win backstage passes to visit the performers after the show. Once again, the barriers between celebs and everyday people are falling.

As the author has responded here, I'd like to ask her why she persists in implying this novel is 'based on a true story' (as she puts it, one of the great “mysteries of history”). Pope Joan has been well and truly debunked as a myth by reputable medieval scholars and historians (a very interesting myth, though, as it tells us some intriguing things about medieval notions of gender and authority, and also about the medieval propensity for engaging in forgeries).

hi

I'd have to say the sources you quote here have obvious interests in proving this story true. The Catholic church being in the state it is at the moment, I'm sure they'd love the 'proof' of a Pope Joan to divert some of the heat from their other issues. I don't see the editor of the Catholic Herald as an unbiased scholarly source, and I'd also have serious concerns with a priest. Chronicle records are notoriously unreliable, and there have been plenty of forged documents amongst the archival records of the Church (and other medieval institutions), from the Donation of Constantine on down Try something like Alain Boureau's 'The Myth of Pope Joan' for a more scholarly approach. Also, I am well aware that King Arthur is mythical. As full disclosure, I'm a post-grad in medieval history.

I think it's great (and probably pretty interesting) to write a novel based on this myth, but it bothers me that publicity material continues to refer to it as based on truth (whether this is down to you or not, I don't know). This does a huge disservice to the the many medieval women who's existence is in no doubt, but who's history gets ignored because it's not as sensational as a fictional female pope.

Thanks for your offer. You have really written a nice blog.

This should be a really great book, I think I have read one of the author’s works previously and it was a good read. A friend at my free bible study class is planning on buying it soon and letting me read it after she is finished.

Good post and a fantastic read. You have raised some valid points.
Great work, keep it up. I love returning back to this site and reading the quality content you always have on offer.