Hypothetical: book promotion for lottery winners

MarlynnOfMany · Mar 26, 2016

Here's a thought experiment for the hivemind: if you were suddenly wealthy, what might you do to promote your book?

And more importantly, as a reader, what kind of wacky scheme would actually catch your interest?

Professional cosplayers handing out flyers? Superbowl ad book trailer? Put a single page apparently torn from the book in the mailbox of everyone in the country? Get an ad on Netflix? Product placement in the next big Marvel movie!

(I'm curious to see what people come up with. Both as an amusing diversion, and as a may-inspire-actually-useful-strategies brainstorming session.)

Kerosene · Mar 26, 2016

Buy a super rare car and tempt Jeremy Clarkson to review it only if he'd pitch my book. Oh wait, that already happened.

In all honestly, I would pay off all debts and invest the rest. With the trickle-in I would hire a publicist. Throw money at them to see what happens.

Old Hack · Mar 27, 2016

The first thing I'd do to promote my work, if I had a huge amount of money, is take all the writing classes and workshops I could find.

Second? I'd make sure my books were published as well as they could be, no matter what route I'd taken. So if I wanted to trade publish I'd look for the best agent I could; if I wanted to self publish I'd hire the best editors, the best cover designers, and so on.

Finally, I'd hire a professional PR agency to help me promote. They know what they're doing. (ETA: probably these people.)

Polenth · Mar 27, 2016

If I won lots of money, the biggest gain would be writing without any money pressures. Right now, everything is about money. I know I have to get things finished to certain deadlines, and hope this project will be the one someone else cares about, and basically it's endless worries about money. Not having that would be a huge relief.

I wouldn't see the point in fancy promotion if I was rich. Just using the money on good book production, sending review copies, and the usual stuff. I wouldn't enjoy the fancy stuff, and if I didn't need to earn back on the book, why do something I wouldn't enjoy? I'm not someone who thinks book tours and signings sound fun. If I never needed to do that sort of thing, that would be great.

MarlynnOfMany · Mar 27, 2016

Those are some fine points about publicists and simply being able to write without worrying about money! Man, if I didn't have to work, I'd be able to write so many things. I'd have to battle procrastination & laziness, but still. So many things.

In other news, my husband says he'd pay to have his main character added to a popular video game, as a surprise out of nowhere, which would make people curious enough to look into the backstory. And given the kind of MC his is, that would actually fit pretty well.

WriterBN · Mar 27, 2016

Polenth said:
If I won lots of money, the biggest gain would be writing without any money pressures.

This, times 1,000.

Captcha · Mar 27, 2016

I can see myself hiring a personal assistant to do almost all of the non-writing parts of writing for me, including promotion.

Hell, I can see myself hiring someone to do most of the WRITING for me! "This scene is driving me up the wall - give me a first draft, will you, and I'll take it from there"! I want my characters to have adventures, but daydreaming about them is much easier than actually writing them myself. And if I had loads of money I could afford to hire someone whose writing I really loved!

(Yes, I'm a little bit lazy)

MarlynnOfMany · Mar 28, 2016

Ooh, new idea! Commission a related song from a big-name singer/band.

...In my case that would be interesting, since the book's already based on a song. But if I could get the band to acknowledge it, people might pay attention!

Hypothetical: book promotion for lottery winners

MarlynnOfMany

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Polenth

Mushroom

MarlynnOfMany

WriterBN

Captcha

MarlynnOfMany