Author Won't Publicize Book, Publisher Launches Marcomm Menagerie
To promote the John Twelve Hawks book, "The Traveler," Doubleday is using street teams at concerts and other events a well as an intricate online game and character integration sites. The game, which is very detailed, lets players sureveil characters from the book and a character blog will let readers inside the mind of one of the book's characters.
Other sites, which relate to the book but do not link to the main site are here, here, and here.
All this because the author lives off the grid and refuses to do publicity. You gotta love these artsy types who don't care whether their work gets seen or not.
Comments
I've long believed that fans of books/tv/film will embrace well written character blogs. This is slightly different, as it is promo for a new book, not a build-on to an existing franchise, but it will be very interesting to watch this play out. From my quick glance, the program looks very well done, and there is certainly no subterfuge.
As I just noted in my review I believe this game is going to do very well. They did a great job of nailing their demographic and providing them with something fun and entertaining that complements the product.
I wonder how long it will take for more authors/publishers to start doing this?
The game they're working on better be good, because the book is horrible. Maybe the reason Mr. Twelve Hawks lives off the grid is because he's a bad writer. Then again, what the hell is Random House doing publishing books as bad as this?
the book is excellent and gives us all something to do besides read the book. this is "convergence" at its finest. hopefully the movie version won't suck...
You maybe interested in this site Live Off The Grid which explores the implimentation of the ideas in John Twelve Hawks The Traveler.