Marketing: LDS book club updates
By Wm | 4.04.05
When I first posted about Time Out for Women back in July 2004, I noted that its book club had yet to include a work of fiction among its primary and secondary selections. I’ve been monitoring the situation and (unless I missed something), for the first time since its inception (May 2004, I believe) the TOfW Book Club will be reading a work of fiction — The Great and Terrible, Vol. 1: Prologue, The Brothers*. The book is the first novel of a Last Days-themed series by Chris Stewart. Following in the footsteps of Nephi Anderson, Stewart actually sets Vol. 1 in the premortal life.
For more, check out the reading guide. My favorite question: “In chapter 4, we see Lucifer directly for the first time. What do you think of the author’s portrayal? How does he use the physical setting to portray the emotional mood of Balaam’s encounter with Lucifer?”
In my July post, I also noted that Deseret Book’s emphasis on devotional works left the room open for other LDS publishers and booksellers to start book clubs of their own. Cedar Fort has finally followed suit — teaming up with Deseret Saints Magazine to start the Deseret Saints Book Club. While TOfW’s book club is organized via e-mail and an online forum (with some clubs meeting in non-virtual settings i.e. the old school way), The DSBC will take the form of a live online chat to be held on the fourth Thursday of the month. April’s featured book is Mafia to Mormon: My Conversion Story by Mario Facione. He will be part of the April 28 online book club chat which will take place 7-8 p.m. PDT.
Having the author involved like that is very cool — although it means that Cedar Fort is limited to featuring books that it publishes. Of course, since CF is solely a publisher, that only makes sense. Deseret Book has mostly featured its own titles, but when it doesn’t, it still makes money on the retail end.
* I have no idea what this may mean, but the TOfW promotional code to get the discount on The Brothers is “Ratatouille.”
5.05.05 | 2:11 pm | comment permalink |
So how’s this for a book club. We at Signature Books want to post some (ok, a lot) of our out-of-print books on our new website. I think we would like to do some fiction. Here is my question. Does fiction read well on the web? Or should we leave it to the used book stores to find hearts and homes for these lost titles?
Tom Kimball
Signature Books Library (free book club)
Posted by Tom Kimball
5.05.05 | 2:36 pm | comment permalink |
Tom:
If you ask me, I’d say post all of them, but I’m greedy that way and certainly an atypical Mormon reader.
I’d say this:
Short fiction and poetry works better on the Web. If I were you, I’d start with the anthologies — Bright Angels & Familiars, Harvest, Washed by a Wave of Wind, Tending the Garden. I’d totally review and post excerpts from works from each of those anthologies.
In terms of novels, I’d start with those that are short and ‘lighter’ in tone. _The Marketing of ‘Sister B’_ for example — although that particular title may not have completely run its course yet.
Finally, this is great stuff that you are doing, but you really aren’t marketing it much. Perhaps that has to do with the nature of the titles you have posted [and certainly those are of value Justin. B. has posted about them over at Mormon Wasp , a history-themed blog].
But if you do take the time to post this stuff, you may want to come up with some ideas on how to reach your readers (and potential readers). For example, make sure that the Mormon Literature Database includes links to the full text in its entries. Make sure that English faculty at BYU and UVSC and other colleges know that you now have fiction titles available online. I’m not sure what’s going on with the AML these days, but there may be opportunities to target their membership.
And, obviously, you should have an RSS feed that sends out a notice everytime a new story, poem or novel has been posted. And you should feature this program more prominently on your Web site.
Of course, you don’t want to cannibalize your current titles. But if anything, if more Mormons became acquainted with your backlist of fiction titles [many of which are, imo, comfortable reads for Orthodox (but literary-minded) members], they may be more inclined to pick up your newer stuff.
And if you really want to do this in book club format — set up an actual Book Club [or clubs -- one for fiction/poetry and one for nonfiction]. Create a forum where particpants can discuss the work or offer a live online chat with the author or at the very least have an e-mail that you send out monthly with links to that month’s selection and some background and reading questions on the work(s) being featured i.e. check out what DB and Cedar Fort are doing.
How’s that for some free marketing advice? And feel free to e-mail me if you have specific questions — see the gmail link at the top left.
Posted by William Morris
5.05.05 | 2:38 pm | comment permalink |
I should add that speculative fiction is a field where online short stories really works — i.e. stories are read, discussed, linked to, etc. So with Washed by the Waves you’ll get reach beyond the Mormon arts community.
Posted by William Morris
3.19.06 | 4:10 am | comment permalink |
…might want to proofread the accuracy of your acronym, as TOFW would not only be more accurate but certainly less condescending, sexist, & borderline profane.
L.B. (M.A. English Literature)
Posted by L Boggs
4.02.08 | 8:48 pm | comment permalink |
Just saw LB’s comment which I had missed two years ago when it was posted. Wow. I *was* way off — that shows the problem with not doing a copy edit/fact check before you post a post. I apologize.
My acronym was not intended to be offensive or condescending at all. It was just supposed to be an acronym [originally I had TWOT above -- I honestly have no idea where that came from, but I do know that once I made the mistake I simply repeated it because that's what I do when I write quickly -- I'm always scanning up to pull down what content I need. It's why if I misspell a name it also gets repeated throughout.].
I’ve made the correction.