WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Fifty Shades of Hype





As a noun, we now consider hype to mean ‘extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion’ and as a verb, ‘to promote or publicize a product or idea intensively, often exaggerating its importance or benefits.’ I think that we can all basically agree with those two definitions. But how many of you have ever heard of the ‘Hype Cycle’?

It consists of a trigger, peak, trough, slope and plateau. Naturally the trigger is what sets the whole thing off. This is followed by a rocketlike climb to the ‘peak of inflated expectations’, which in turn is followed by the ‘trough of disillusionment’. You hear about a thing…you love a thing…then you are disappointed when the reality of what it is, sets in.

But while reality is part of our minute-to-minute existence, so is realization and that realization is usually contrary to our two knee-jerk reactions: first climbing the peak and then plummeting to the trough. So we realize that maybe that thing wasn’t a great as we had hoped but it surely isn’t as bad as we thought, so we begin to climb the ‘slope of enlightenment’ until we reach the ‘plateau or productivity’ or in other words the ‘mudflats of the mundane and the mediocre’.

Such has it been with many of the ‘mega-sellers’ in the book world. Some start with word-of-mouth, others with a good review or even a great review in a well-respected newspaper or magazine like The Times or The New Yorker.

Bloomsbury in London was so entranced by J.K. Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that they only printed five hundred copies of it. Stephen King gets three times that number for his Limited Editions! But word-of-mouth and reviews—the odd award thrown in for good measure—made the rest of the seven-book series sell almost half-a-billion copies worldwide. The hype surrounding the final four instalments was monumental with people lining up for hours to be able to get one of the first copies when they went on sale, sometimes at midnight on the release date.

The bookstores were delivered the book in advance but there was actually an embargo placed on the books under a severe threat—that they not be sold until the release date. When it’s a book about wizards, you don’t play around with breaking embargos.

Dan Brown had published three books (Deception Point, Digital Fortress and then Angels and Demons) before he hit the motherlode with The DaVinci Code. The hype around DaVinci was worldwide even to the point where author Lewis Perdue accused Brown of plagiarism for allegedly copying his books Daughter of God and The DaVinci Legacy. Perdue lost the lawsuit launched by Random House (Brown’s publisher) but the ideas of the books are strikingly similar.

That is what keeps many writers plodding along when they see a single mother who had to write her book in a coffee shop—because she couldn’t afford the 50p for the gas heater in her apartment—become a billionaire and a relatively obscure thriller writer increase his net worth to over than $100-million!

There’s always that hope, that thin chance, that one of us will hit it big. A few years ago, a woman with absolutely NO writing experience had a dream about a girl and a vampire falling in love. She wrote down her dream at it eventually became Twilight and Stephenie Meyer also became astoundingly wealthy. The hype about Twilight spawned another three books along with films (that’s where the Hollywood hype machine takes hype to another level).

And now we have Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (the pseudonym of Erika Leonard), a woman who had read history at the University of Kent and who had been in television production since then. When she read Twilight she became a fan and under the pseudonym ‘Snowqueens Icedragon’, she began an episodic story using Meyer’s characters Edward Cullan and Bella Swan. Due to the sexual nature of the story, including bondage and sado-masochism (he IS a vampire after all!!) she removed her story from the fan-fiction websites and created her own website.

While initially titled Master of the Universe, James changed the names of the main characters to Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. She then reworked and expanded the story and broke it into three parts. Fifty Shades of Grey (being the first part), was initially published by an Australian print-on-demand publishing house, The Writers’ Coffee Shop (with no nods to Joanne Rowling I imagine).

So a year ago in May 2011, it was released but with a limited publicity budget, most of the hype here was word-of-mouth. The second volume, Fifty Shades Darker was released in September 2011 and the final volume, Fifty Shades Freed followed in January 2012.

The Vintage imprint of Random House picked up the rights to all three books and in April 2012, the three were released with great fanfare and massive hype to an eager thirty-or-forty-something female population. That target audience is the primary reason for the tag ‘mommy porn’ which has been attached to this trilogy almost since the print-on-demand copies were first reviewed.

Finally, hype has other things that it creates, apart from the initial trigger, peak, trough, slope and plateau. It also produces copycats. Sometimes it can create an entire sub-genre like The Hunt for Red October when it created the ‘techno-thriller’ in the mid 1980s. When the Harry Potter series became super-popular, there was an avalanche of young adult fantasy books, most nowhere near as good as the originals.

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series had many copycats and most, if not all, using the same style for the cover art: black and white soft focus with usually only one predominant colour. So over the next months expect to see tons of ‘mommy porn’, some better-written, some not but all riding the coattails of Fifty Shades of Grey and the ever-present hype machine.

I can even seen food guru and butter-lover, Paula Deen bringing out her next book…Fifty Shades of Gravy.



Al Navis is the owner of Handy Book in Toronto for the past 28 years, a used and out-of-print independent bookstore. He was chairman and host of Bouchercon: The World Mystery Convention in 1992 and 2004. He has also been on and off Toronto radio for over 30 years. Books are his business and first passion. Other passions are most sports (except basketball), most music (except C&W and rap) and radio. More recently he has gotten back into editing and writing as well as appraising book collections for insurance or for loss.

TUESDAY BRINGS TROUBLE

Word of Mouth

“In a lot of ways, the greatest marketing tool we have in publishing – and probably that will never change – is word of mouth.” This statement on the NPR Book Blog comes from Heather Fain, Marketing Director for Little Brown & Co., so she knows whereof she speaks.

In a village, a tribe, or indeed any circumscribed community, word of mouth is a primary communication tool. Without it, Miss Marple would never have solved the alarming frequency of crimes in St. Mary Mead. Especially when it comes to new authors, the challenge is to foster “word of mouth” so that it spreads beyond a small circle into the wider community of readers. If you only had to sell your book within your town it would be a slam dunk. One book club would do the trick. But how is this achieved when you’re talking about nations, continents or even globally?

Fortunately we have some gaudy new tools whose raison d’etre is the very definition of word of mouth. Facebook and Twitter. When launching The Witch of Babylon I found Facebook particularly helpful. But only for one reason. The great good fortune of friends, relatives and other writers who generously shared news about my book. Facebook and Twitter are flooded with promotions now, and this has probably diluted their effectiveness, although they remain useful allies.

I’d thought of word of mouth as being principally focused on readers telling other readers about your book but when looking into the topic, learned that it begins much earlier on the publication arc. You may have a literary agent who initially talks the book up among industry colleagues. And publishing house staff who are enthusiastic about your novel and talk about it set the ball rolling in a major way. This is otherwise known as creating buzz. Marketing staff make strategic decisions about which ‘influencers’ to pitch in the hope their enthusiasm will catch fire.

Choosing those influencers carefully can deliver great results. One story concerns a novel we’re all now familiar with – The Red Tent – that had a slow start. Within four years it emerged as a huge bestseller. A key factor in the book’s success was word of mouth – the author wisely sent many copies of the book to influencers – in this case, Christian ministers, Indie booksellers and Rabbis - whom she correctly believed would love the book and spread the word.

Today we have Amazon and Indigo reviews, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari and a host of other enablers to help us. The rise of book clubs has been another great boon. Word of mouth has never had such a wealth of opportunities to get us started. The challenge is, deciding which are best targeted to the character of our book.

In Canada, D.J. McIntosh’s first novel The Witch of Babylon hits bookstores and online retailers as a mass market paperback, today. It will be released by Forge in the United States this fall. Any help to “spread the word” would be greatly appreciated.

D.J. (Dorothy) McIntosh’s debut novel The Witch of Babylon was first published by Penguin Canada in June 2011 and will be released by Tor/Forge in the United States in October 2012. It has been sold in twenty countries around the world. The novel was chosen by Amazon.ca as one of the top five mystery/thrillers of 2011 and by CNN International as one of six enduring historical thrillers.

Dorothy divides her time between her cottage on the shores of Lake Huron and Toronto where she indulges in two loves: live music and museums. She’s a strong supporter of Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

CRIME ON MY MIND

Putting together the Plan!

Let's start with two definitions in the writer's arsenal of necessary tools.

Publicity -- the deliberate attempt to manage the public's
perception of a subject.
Promotion -- the communication link between sellers and
buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing or persuading
a potential buyer's purchasing decision.

Publicity in turn is part of the Promotional Plan. The objectives of this Plan are:
a. to present information to consumers as well as others
b. to increase demand
c. to differentiate a product

Got it? Of course, you do. We've long known that the writer is not only a writer but a self-promoting marketer of books, as well. And still it comes as a shock at times, when faced with the actual task of getting out there and getting our books known.

That could be because we originally went for the basic job description of a writer. Had I wanted to be in promotion and sales, I would have gotten the education and pursued the job. But this is so much better, you say? I get to be a person of multiple talents? Think how this will jazz up a resume?

In the past two months I have become a web designer (ok, the basic technical design was there but I designed the content!)and a travel agent (I've already booked hotel rooms for two upcoming conferences and am now looking into flights). On my long 'To Do' list is coming up with a bookmark and lining up some gigs. I already am an old hand at the latter, it's the bookmark part that's still up in the air.

I'm extremely lucky to have a Berkley Prime Crime publicist taking care of much of the US promotion. She sends out the review copies and will line up some on-line blog stops for starters. In Canada, there's a Penguin Canada publicist helping with the onslaught. But there's still so much left in the hands of the writer and only so many hours in the day.

I think my Promotional Plan will focus on one key aspect -- connect with the reader.
The strategy involves reviewers, booksellers, conferences, signings along with the website, business cards, and bookmarks for starters.

What's part of your Plan? Any advice you'd like to share?

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A Killer Read coming April, 2012
from Berkley Prime Crime
www.erikachase.com

CRIME ON MY MIND

Social Media & Marketing

That was the title of the Sunday morning workshop at Bloody Words. Three 50-min. long, back-to-back sessions. The first was Creating an Effective Web Presence. The second, Blogs, Podcasts, YouTube. Followed by Other Marketing Tools. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend all of them but the topics overlapped, so I got a good taste of what today's author needs to consider when it comes to promotion and publicity.

It's a tough market out there, as we all know. Traditional publishers are cutting back, not only on the new authors they're taking on board, but as importantly, the amount of time and money they put into promoting them. If you're on the A-list, in other words the established authors who really don't need the publicity, then you're sure to receive it. If you're just starting out your career, or even a few books in and selling enough to continue that contract, then you're mostly on your own. Writing the book is only the beginning of the job.

These days a web presence is a necessity, starting with a website. Tech savvy readers, and that's a large number, go to the web for their information and you've gotta be there baby. Basic content is a necessity -- your name, bio, book info, events, contact info and the cover of your latest would be great as visuals hype it up.

Taking it a step further, you could consider putting an author reading on your site or even posting it on YouTube. No, you don't have to sing to be on the Tube! Trailers are also popular but here you'd be wise to invest some bucks and have it notched up from an amateur attempt.

Blogs can be a great forum, especially if you keep them updated and of interest. A good way to do that is by inviting guest bloggers, I've found.

To Facebook or not to Facebook, that is the question. And many authors are finding it a good idea, even though it can be time consuming. Same with Twitter. It's name recognition, after all and that's the name of the game. Once you've set up your accounts, be sure to link to them from your website. Also, you can instruct your website to move information to Twitter or Goodreads. Don't ask me how. I haven't gotten that far in my own explorations yet but it's possible.

Too much information? Or maybe not enough?

It's just the start, if you're serious about marketing your product. But that's up to you. There are a lot of resources out there and a lot of people to ask...on Facebook and Twitter for starters.

But don't forget the tried and true, age-old method of just getting out there and meeting people. That contact with readers is what's important. Readers want to know the authors, to put a personality to the name on the cover. So book those signings, do those readings, attend conferences. And don't worry about numbers. This is step one in word-of-mouth promotion. But it's really a giant one. And, you'll have fun!

Anyone have any tips to add?


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase
A Killer Read coming April, 2012
from Berkley Prime Crime

LADIES' KILLING THURSDAYS

A Horse of a Different Wheelbase

Change is happening so fast in the publishing business, it's enough to give any writer a major migraine. In less than a year we've seen the demise of publishers and distributors such as H.B. Fenn and Key Porter Books, the mergers of other Canadian publishers and the closure of all but one of the mystery bookstores in Ontario. Just yesterday the huge American chain, Borders, filed for bankruptcy protection. One wonders where and when the next shoe will fall.

In the midst of all this turmoil I find myself reading Pierre Berton, A Biography, by A.B. McKillop. This is a fine read about a fine Canadian journalist, historian and author. But I'm gobsmacked by how different things were in the glory days of Canadian publishing. It's amazing to read that the author of a book called The National Dream would send blistering letters complaining about a launch for several hundred guests organized and paid for by his publisher, McClelland & Stewart. Not only was the champagne a trifle tepid, but the 10,000 very large candles for a cake the size of a pool table had to be snuffed to prevent setting the hotel on fire. Pierre Berton was miffed.

Now, of course, I'm talking about "mainstream fiction" here rather than mysteries and we all know that genre fiction don't get no respect, as Rodney Dangerfield would say. But today even the hottest mainstream authors are doing a lot of their own promotion. And while we're on the subject - what the heck does mainstream mean anyway? I've just completed four flights to and from Florida. Did I see copies of The Sentimentalist in peoples' hands? How about George Bush's Decision Points or Stephen Hawking's latest tome? No. I had a good look around and the books I could see were all mysteries and thrillers with a single romance novel in the hands of the lady beside me. So please don't talk to me about mainstream.

We in the crime fiction world have been doing our own promotion for years. Arranging signings and launches is up to us. We sign in malls and storefronts and goofy-sounding festivals, sometimes crouched under tarps in the cold and rain. We talk to book clubs and church groups and just about anyone who'll listen. Mystery writers sink or swim in this business according to how good we are at promotion and some of us are a lot better at it than others. I watch authors like Mary Jane Maffini and Violette Malan draw people to them on the strength of their warm smiles and easy banter. I, on the other hand, would rather be anywhere else than sitting at a flimsy table with a pile of books in front of me. It must have been fun in those glory days though. Imagine swanning through the Ballroom of the Royal York Hotel with paid publicists making sure you got to talk to all the right people. I'm not even sure you had to sully your hand with a pen in those days. Maybe the publisher took care of that along with the caviar and champagne.


Sue Pike has published nineteen stories and won several awards including an Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Crime Story. Her latest, Where the Snow Lay Dinted will appear in the January issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

Sue and her husband and an opinionated Australian Shepherd named Cooper spend the winter months in Ottawa and the rest of the time at a mysterious cottage on the Rideau Lakes.