Read with interest, and much envy, about
Margaret Atwood’s book tour, christened by Maclean’s Mag as her
“Traveling Salvation Show.” Forget stodgy in-store readings or dreary “behind-a-table” encounters, the great dame of Canadian literature has taken to the road with a “show” that features singing, recitals, a full costumed choir and even some eye-popping dance moves (hey, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Maggie get down) in churches and other non-traditional venues.
Surprise, Surprise indeed, but what was really impressive about Queen Margaret’s tour was that is was more old-school rock ‘n’ roll (tour to sell recorded music) than new-school bookselling (let’s do something different, for Christ’s sake!).
And this got me to thinking… Like great rock tours of yore, when a headlining act would bestow its blessing on a newcomer and expose them to an audience much greater than they could possibly dream of reaching at that stage in their career, why don’t the elite power-authors (
Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Mitch Joel et al) use their reach to “break” new writing talent?
Stay with me here.Let’s say that each copy of Brown’s latest opus was appended with two chapters from a writer that he, and/or his publisher, is particularly enamored with. Read those chapters, like ‘em, and you can download the rest of the book for a fee. Or for free. Or download a mega-deep discount coupon to pick up said new book in store, generating much-needed traffic and the possibility of picking up something else once you’re there. Or, for a limited time, do a big mofo BOGO promo, where the Brown book is physically bundled with another one, or your choice of three, with a huge honking rubber band.
Anyway, you get the drill. This is more than Amazon recommendations or bookstore shelves proclaiming
“If you like this (Harry Potter), you’ll like this (The Hunger Games)." This is a sampling program with hard product…or at least digital versions of same.
Does it work? Well, back in my teen days, thanks to the
*generosity* of bands like
Kiss and
Bad Company (or, more likely record company pressure or greed, but I digress), I got to discover then-just-breaking bands like
Cheap Trick and
Lynyrd Skynyrd (yeah, I know…a long time ago). More recently, without headlining
Damien Rice, I would’ve never gotten to know
The Frames.
Movies do this all the time, albeit at the "front of the book” with a series of trailers. I think the book biz, one that’s in the doldrums, can benefit from seeding the marketplace this way...or some way like this way.
Yeah, I’ve seen some “added bonus” chapters in books, but the follow-up was passive at best…if anything at all. What I’d like to see now are the weight-carriers throw their weight around in a way more aggressive, uplifting and “discover this!” manner.
So if any mega-selling author is willing to take up the challenge, I’ve got
a perfect book to start with…