…from Quirk Books (publishers of “Worst-Case Scenarios” and nothing else I have heard of) has sold almost 14K copies since its release on Saturday! Perhaps more amazingly, only one of those was to me!
What is Quirk doing right about word-of-mouth book marketing? I initially heard about the P&P&Z weeks ago on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” and one of my coworkers reports it was covered on the BBC world news this morning. I certainly Twittered about it when I preordered, and got the most RT’s I’ve ever had (ok, like 3, but still). I’ve even written a blog post about it! (Ooh, so meta!)
Is this just a case of good author track record (I hear Austen’s pretty hot right now…and for the past two centuries), a catchy title and idea, or are they actually doing something other publishers can emulate (perhaps in their own nice, brand-appropriate way)? Check out the publisher’s website – http://irreference.com/ – they’ve got plenty of space for reader feedback, tons of tschotschkes, quizzes, and much more. It’s not all stuff that every publisher can do from a brand perspective (not all of us are publishing irreverent humor books), but there’s certainly community-building inspiration here for all of us.
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