Ornate book tours, featuring first-class travel and hotel suites stocked to the gills with pomegranates and kiwis, are an expected perk for the Danielle Steeles of the publishing world. But for unknown writers published by small houses, the book tour more often than not winds up being a do-it-yourself affair.
Ornate book tours, featuring first-class travel and hotel suites
stocked to the gills with pomegranates and kiwis, are an expected perk
for the Danielle Steeles of the publishing world. But for unknown
writers published by small houses, the book tour more often than not
winds up being a do-it-yourself affair.
A small marketing budget didn’t stop Kevin McKeown, author of Your
Secrets Are My Business, from hyping his tome, in which he reveals ’how
your trash, license plate, credit cards, computer and even your mail
make you an easy target for today’s information thieves.’
In order to keep costs down, McKeown piggybacked onto a Delta promotion
celebrating the production of Boeing 757s, which allowed him to hit
Washington, Cincinnati, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles and Orlando over
the course of a week for a mere dollars 150. Upon reaching those cities,
he hyped his book to unsuspecting travelers in airport bookstores or
terminals.
’I plan to greet travelers looking to buy the paper at the airport
bookstore and surprise them with a ’If your competitor had me following
you today, I’d be taking the flight with you,’’ he wrote before
embarking on the trip. ’Yes, it may startle them, but I think they may
also be intrigued.’
While we’re big fans of the D.I.Y. spirit - and think that terrific PR
often emerges from such on-the-fly efforts - we wonder if McKeown’s
promotional exuberance might be a bit too much for edgy airport-goers.
No word yet on how the gimmick influenced sales of the book, or whether
his tactics resulted in any restraining orders being filed.
