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With the industry debate on the value of e-books, online marketing, free versus paid and the like I thought this would be a great time to rave about an example of how it can all be done well.

One of my prime time, never erase DVR picks of last year (and this) is the ABC show Castle. Crime novelist Richard Castle shadows NYPD Detective Kate Beckett- crime solving, snarky one liners and the requisite sexual tension ensues. Completely enjoyable. In a BRILLIANT move, it was announced that an actual Richard Castle novel would be released this fall from Hyperion (a company not so coincidentally part of the Disney-ABC Television Group).

Not only have the people at ABC and Hyperion taken advantage of an easy tie-in most networks have thus far overlooked or been on the other side of, they have also been doing a fantastic job of marketing the entire collaboration by releasing one chapter a week on the ABC site, and leaving the previous weeks chapters up (to which I want to give a hearty thank you!) I don’t know how many people are visiting the site and reading the excerpts besides myself, some reviewers I found online, and all my friends who watch the show- but I do know that where I don’t usually jump in line to buy a new release hardcover (however modestly priced at $19.95, ahem Dan Brown ahem), I will be swinging by my local indie bookstore of choice to pick this one up. Why? Because it’s good. And there my friends is the key. If you have a bad product, no amount of give away is going to make it good. In giving us all a taste of a Richard Castle mystery, Hyperion has, I guarantee, increased their sales dramatically, which is ultimately the goal.

In this week’s season premier of Castle they included scenes of of the fictional author gearing up to promote his no longer fictional book, due out September 29. I am hoping to see a few Richard Castle book signings (with actor Nathan Fillion of course) in my area soon… can Hyperion and ABC please work on that next?

And as I am plugging a book I sadly did not work on, but appreciate it when others say kind things about my titles:

You can buy Heat Wave by Richard Castle HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE.

– Erin

(Via Publishers Lunch)

Amazon Bought Two Locks to Keep LOST SYMBOL Secure

The New York Times won’t be obtaining any copies of Dan Brown’s new book from Amazon, where the e-tailer’s home page carries a note promoting the new release from Jeff Bezos–who insists that “even inside Random House, only a half dozen employees have been allowed to read The Lost Symbol in its entirety.” (Is it supposed to be reassuring that almost no one at the publisher worked with the author on preparing his book for publication?)

Amazon has “agreed to keep our stockpile under 24-hour guard in its own chain-link enclosure, with two locks requiring two separate people for entry.” All they know about the book is that “it takes place over the course of twelve hours” and features Robert Langdon. Of course if you want to pre-order it for delivery to your Kindle the morning of release, go right ahead. The print version is No. 1 at the site; the Kindle pre-order is currently No. 64 on the Kindle list.

Of the many coffee-spitting phrases I loved from this article the best, in my humble opinion, is the editorial commentary: “Is it supposed to be reassuring that almost no one at the publisher worked with the author on preparing his book for publication?” No, no it is not. I must admit- the attitude in the industry on this one is, of course they aren’t printing advanced copies or showing it to anyone before publication: it’s Dan Brown, it’s the follow up to The Da Vinci Code and even if it is as horrible as most people I’ve spoken to are predicting, it will still sell 200,000 copies minimum in its first month.

Happy Labor Day all- especially to the 6 people at Random House who have had to hold their tongues for the last 10 months. It’s almost over.

And in the name of full disclosure: I will of course be reading it at some point- Dan Brown is the perfect airplane read- and this will be out just in time for my 8 hr trip to Frankfurt next month.

As I was trying to think of a justification to buy the Amazon kindle when I already have a perfectly good Sony Reader, I noticed three excellent placements- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The New York Times, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers were each given a screen shot in advertising the kindle on Amazon.com, and I had to wonder- how much did that cost them?

Paid placement these days can be a tricky business- a celebrity carrying around your product to your standard newspaper or magazine ad. Prices range from cost per impression to mass one time payments for period long associations. A Facebook ad is going for more than a Google ad, but can be better targeted (women who have religious views as Christian, between the ages of 25-42, living in the Midwest is completely doable). Personally, online ads annoy me. I skim over, minimize, and scoff at them regularly, but the genius of placement in the kindle ad should be applauded.

Whether it was placement given gratis as a co-advertising venture, or they are being charged a onetime fee for inclusion for the length of the campaign, I would love to even be up for consideration. No matter what you think of the kindle, or any of the products highlighted in its ads, you have to admit- love it or hate it- the placement is brilliant.

If anyone is looking to have a cover shot of a book in their next ad campaign- call me, I will find a way to work something out. The placement that people don’t think you are paying for is always the most effective. And though I tend to stay away from the Oprah book picks until the initial dust storm has settled I must admit, having seen that Edgar Sawtelle cover everywhere these last few months has returned it to my reading list. Repetition works- its finding the right location that presents the challenge.

Today is my last day as the Beaufort Books intern. I’ve been here nearly 3 months and can now re-enter the pool of job applicants with the confidence of actually having work experience! No more scrounging through my high school experience to dredge up something that sounds productive and professional.

I’m going to close this brief venture into blogging the same way I began it: what are you reading?

I just finished The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. While I was recently watching the second (third?) season of The Wire, a prison book group reads The Great Gatsby and one of the members has a monologue about Jay Gatsby that I knew was rich with foreshadowing and parallels that I wasn’t understanding because I hadn’t read the book. So, obviously, I had to read it.

The book wasn’t what I was expecting. It has a delicate mood and a calm, organized approach to the material that I found appealing, if underwhelming. It certainly lends some insight into D’Angelo Barksdale of The Wire, if nothing else.

Only five more days until the new season of Mad Men! When I was lamenting the end of the school year, I consoled myself with the idea that Mad Men would be on all summer and that I would have something to look forward to every Sunday. Alas, it was not to be, and the premiere date was set for middle of August. In despair, I even went to Banana Republic to try on their line of Mad Men clothing.

For those who don’t know about Mad Men, it’s an AMC series focusing on the employees of a small Madison Avenue advertising agency in the early sixties. More broadly, it’s a look at the changing culture of the early sixties.

The summer has blown by, and finally the next season is upon us. I approach it with some trepidation; the directions the show might take offer a depressing, perhaps too timely, array of ideas. The delicate, elegant culture that the characters inhabit has a limited lifespan. Pop culture and politics of the time are approaching an upheaval: the Hollywood studio system is essentially over, The Beatles are coming(!!!), along with assassinations, riots, and Vietnam.

All current parallels and philosophical ramblings aside, dramatically the show could become very, very interesting.