It’s no secret that retailers are scrambling for the precious (fewer) holiday dollars. While flat screen TVs and larger ticket items may have to wait until next year, the book industry and those who love it, are hoping people will remember books make great gifts. Here are several campaigns to get that message across:
Authorbuzz.com, operated by MJ Rose is creating a holiday campaign to run for a month, starting right after Thanksgiving, that will “deliver a half a billion impressions across some of the most popular blogs and reach over 10 million people.
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Book bloggers are promoting books as gifts, too, including buybooksfortheholidays.com with book recommendations in all age ranges and genres, and a unique pledge to buy books as gifts.
And of course my husband and I are getting in on the act, too! Athena’s Bookshelf and Bookgasm.com are co-sponsoring Jingle Book Rock, he ultimate holiday book party on Facebook. The fan site is for authors to promote their 2008 releases and readers to learn more about their titles and have a chance to win free books on Dec. 15th, simply by “fanning” the site. Each week I’ll give you an update about the books featured on the site. Come see what all the buzz is about!
It makes perfect sense for a publishing house to do a huge push for the holidays, and I’m surprised they don’t ALL do it, but biggie Random House is doing it up big with their “books=gifts” campaign that will run in a range of consumer publications such as the New York Times Book Review and the New Yorker , web site promotion, ads on Facebook and YouTube and in e-mail blasts to various lists.
Authors including Bill O’Reilly, Dan Brown, Deepak Chopra and Chris Paolini will be part of the campaign. Dean Koontz will say, “Books make great gifts because your friends and family need something thrilling to read other than their 401(k) report.” Maya Angelou’s message is: “Books make great gifts because they’re a celebration of family and friendship.”
Which books do YOU want Santa to stuff in your stocking?
Which books will you be GIFTING this year?
