Monday, November 30, 2009

Just Call Me James.

This weekend, I was in a big city and able to visit some bookstores.  This is a luxury for me considering the tiny bookstore in our town. 

I love walking down the aisles and smelling the books around me, which is what I was doing when I came across James Patterson's wall.  Yeah, WALL.  I almost fell over.  I've never seen anything like it before.  Not only did his books fill every shelf in that section, but there was clear plastic on the edge of each shelf with a printed tagline label stuck to it.  In-cre-dible.  What the publisher must be paying for that display, I can only imagine.

And have you seen James Patterson's commercial?  A TV commercial for a book.  I can't say I've ever seen that before either.  Have you?  Check it out on his website.

After witnessing all the publicity put behind James Patterson, I've decided to change my name.  Just call me James.

Seriously though.  Have you ever seen this kind of marketing for Stephen King, Nora Roberts, or any other big time best selling author? 

11 comments:

  1. Yep, I've seen the commercial. I think there was another one this past summer for SWIMSUIT. Did it make me buy the book? Nope. But it did make me question the marketing angle. I wonder, is this the future?

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  2. I haven't seen teh commercial!! Thanks for sharing!! That sounds like a phenominal display. WOW!!

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  3. I heard he just signed a huge deal for something like 17 books. So the publisher is really invested in marketing his work, but I have never heard of something like that.

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  4. I've heard radio commercials for Patterson too. He's got a publicity machine backing him up. I can't say I'm a fan.

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  5. After that HUGE book deal he just signed, I guess his publisher wants to make sure they sell some major books. LOL

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  6. Wow, hopefully it'll be me someday :)

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  7. That's crazy. I'd be happy with a spot on a shelf, but a whole wall, wow.

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  8. I haven't seen the commercial.. but I can only imagine!

    My middle name is Jean... Jean, James... close enough right?!

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  9. Does that actually help sell the book though? Though I guess it would encourage the casual reader to have a look. To me it would be like the vampire wall they now have in most book stores. I like fantasy and horror but I won't go near that wall.

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  10. I haven't seen the commercial.

    Not being around big bookstores, I've never seen such a display.

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