Bill Maher to Stephen King: You’re anything but a scary guy.
Stephen King: I have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.
Stephen King doesn’t need any introduction, which makes a lot of people think that Stephen King also doesn’t need a marketing plan. Don’t the books just sell themselves?
This is the great fallacy about blockbusters. The blockbuster exists because people know about it, they talk to their friends about it, it captures the collective imagination, it’s human powered. But behind that is still a plan.
Any publisher with a blockbuster likely paid a lot of money for that book. There’s the enormous advance that goes to the famous author. There’s the fat cheque that gets paid to the printer for the thousands (or millions) of copies printed–usually paid for before the books have sold. And then there’s the marketing budget.
Why do you need a budget, it’s human powered?
Well, yes, but the fan base still needs to see the book in the stores, still needs to hear about it online or in a newsletter or from a friend. From the publisher’s side this means paying for in-store placement, paying for ads, paying for advance copies or reviewer copies, paying for some gimmick that fans will love–kind of like throwing the beads at Mardi Gras. This all requires a plan because the publisher also wants to pitch the media on stories, it can’t just be “bestselling author publishes yet another book”. The publicity, the advertising, the in-store promotion–the blockbuster–needs to happen big and all at once. Just like the opening weekend of a movie.
So Stephen King. I saw his new novel Cell advertised somewhere (ok everywhere) and here it is on Amazon.com’s front page. “Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher”. The Fishbowl is a really solid promotion. There’s the link to buy the book above the video, which means the call to action is clear. But aside from that the Fishbowl clip is short enough that I don’t get bored or distracted but long enough to let me see what a funny and human guy Stephen King is. To me the video is a better chance to reach a broader audience because there’s the novelty factor–he’s on the very first show and he’s Stephen King–plus it’s cool technology and it’s funny. Perfect for viral marketing. I’m not a Stephen King fan, but the video captured my interest, I watched it, and now I’m thinking about buying Cell.
What I didn’t like: 1) My brain appears to be very maleable. 2) Bill Maher is a funny guy, but the audience explodes with laughter–how many people are in the audience and how over-excited are they?
I haven’t read a Stephen King novel since high school and even then I think I read it second-hand over the shoulder of my friend. But now, cool promotion, interesting concept, I might buy this book. Actually, I probably will buy this book. According to the Amazon.com review: Cell is “the king of horror’s homage to zombie films (the book is dedicated in part to George A. Romero).” Who doesn’t love zombies?
Apparently it will tap into my fears of technological warfare and terrorism, which is just great because I bought a cell phone and read that using a phone at a gas station could cause the phone to spark or ignite. Perhaps I should stick to the horrors of the owner’s manual.
If you’re Canadian and want to support the Canadian distributor rather than the American publisher, which you do by default anyway, here’s the Amazon.ca link. There is no video at .ca
Amazon.ca: Buy the Cell
If you’re just after the video, or live in America, here’s the direct link:
Amazon.com
Heather Cornell, founder and director of Manhattan Tap, is in Vancouver for two weekend workshops. 
Instrumental Feet and Support the Artform present workshops with Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards.