Robert Ferrigno was having a little trouble with the commenting apparatus on CN (and who hasn’t?), but he was kind enough to send me some enlightening updates & clarifications (with permission to print them) concerning his great web-based campaign for Prayers for the Assassin:
I can take little credit for the site, Level 10, a net marketing company in Dallas, Texas did most of the work. I mostly gave ideas on what the fashions would be like, what special features the cars would have, what products would be popular. Then I reviewed all the copy that their ten writers churned out, and made a few changes. It was very very odd. Definitely deepened my sense of the book —- like having people come in and rearrange the furniture in your brain and you discover they have made some nice improvements.
As to if it, the net campaign, will work —- like you, I also wondered. I also wondered after my publisher spent almost six figures on the campaign if I would be stuck with the bill if the book tanked…
… as of a few days ago, with only one review, the Philadelphia Inquirer, we were at #38 on the Barnes and Noble list and had moved to #400 on Amazon.
I think not every book lends itself to this kind of treatment, but as we all know, publishers are desperate to attract new readers, and the best publishers are willing to take risks. I was very fortunate to be at Scribners, and to present them with a book they want to make such an investment in.
Glad you liked the map —- my only contribution was to mark South Florida, where I grew up, as Independent Cuba.