The next big idea
This entry was posted on 3/13/2008 11:22 AM and is filed under On promotions.
I've been asking and looking around, trying to figure out what the next big promotional idea will be for authors. Right now, there seems to be a little flurry of T-shirt giveaways for special promotions. As readers, do you want T-shirts with our book covers on them? A decade or more ago I was in the computer field, and we received T-shirts all the time. I don't remember prizing vendor shirts, though wearing clothing with my own company's logo was considered cool. These days, I don't wear T-shirts much at all. If you receive a romance novel T-shirt, are you going to wear it? Do you think it's cool to have such a collector's item?
Now, onto the world of book trailers, which may be turning into video trailers. Some people like books, some like TV and movies, some like both. Often we're both excited and cringing when one of our favorite books gets made into a movie (The Other Boleyn Girl, anyone?). But what about when a book you haven't read is made into a two-minute movie? Do you want to see it? Is it going to ruin the world of your imagination to have images placed in your mind for a book you haven't read? Will it make you want to buy the book?
Next, we have podcasts and radio. In fact, I'm supposed to be doing my first on-microphone interview pretty soon. I'm the most excited about this option. The big fear of course is that we authors sound like idiots and the other part of the equation is whether the interview questions are interesting. What do you want to know about authors?
