One of the most innovative of HarperStudio's innovative authors is Gary Vaynerchuk, the wine merchant who has built a worldwide following online via his video blog about wine, Wine Library TV, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Launched in 2006, the vlog has "an incredible following," as Miller put it, and has made Vaynerchuk's family's store in Springfield, N.J., a leader in the business. The first of his 10-book series with HarperStudio is Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash in Your Passion, which comes out October 13 and offers readers advice from his experience using the Internet to create a global brand and transform "his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand."
"Gary Vaynerchuk is using all the techniques he discusses in the book to sell the book," Miller commented. "And he's inventing some new ones." So much so that HarperStudio senior v-p and associate publisher Debbie Stier said that she has learned from Vaynerchuk and applied his lessons to other campaigns and authors.
Among the enticements on the site, which Vanyerchuk updates daily: a Crush It! overlay fans can use to put on their Twitter avatars (usually their pictures); a "street team map," on which fans sign up by area and pledge to support him and the book ("people call stores to order the book and report feedback"); sign ups for a newsletter with news about the book.
Vaynerchuk is running two contests for Crush It!. For the bookseller who "engineers the most compelling, creative, and successful marketing idea for the book," Vanyerchuk will offer a four-hour consulting session similar to the ones he regularly conducts for Fortune 500 companies. He estimates the session's value at $20,000.
For consumers who attend his book signings, he is offering the chance to go for free on a week-long Crush It! Cruise next March in the Caribbean, which includes daily business seminars led by Vaynerchuk as well as wine events and more. Fans will be eligible for a drawing that will be held November 19, at the end of the book tour, that will be conducted live on ustream.tv.
Vaynerchuk is streaming all his events, something Stier recommends for all stores.
"Gary Vaynerchuk is an exciting example of what publishers and authors can do together," Miller said. Debbie Stier added, "Gary's the perfect 2009 author. It's the best relationship between an author and publisher, like a great marriage with back and forth, give and take, riffing off each other, and no one's counting."
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For The 50th Law by 50 Cent and Robert Greene, which went on sale last week, the rapper author has used his site to promote the book "aggressively." His team is "very versed digitally in a way book publishing isn't," Miller said, and has done a lot of computer-to-computer and sharing sites. (As an up-and-coming rapper, 50 Cent was a fan of Greene's 2000 bestseller, The 48 Laws of Power. In this book, the two examine 50 Cent's belief that his ultimate success came once he learned not to fear anything. The book covers similar experiences by others.)
HarperStudio is also trying to bundle a song with the book and is interested in some special offers that allow purchasers of the book to download singles from 50 Cent's new album, which goes on sale in November.
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For Green Porno: A Book and Short Films by Isabella Rossellini, which includes a DVD, HarperStudio will use behind-the-scenes video footage that has never been seen before in an effort to get viral attention in the same way earlier Green Porno footage has. The division will run some Facebook ads, with landing pages that will offer "something special," Stier said. It's also working with Groupable, a new company that partners with sponsors--which Stier called "a great opportunity for authors." Already the company has gotten some sponsors for Green Porno.
Actress, model, translator, TV reporter and daughter of Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, Isabella Rossellini wrote, directed and starred in the Green Porno shorts, about "the reproducing habits of bugs and insects." The shorts are humorous and educational and feature Rossellini in costumes. Rossellini is involved in Wildlife Conservation and is a volunteer and trainer for the Guide Dog Foundation. The book goes on sale September 22.
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HarperStudio has also worked with Groupable on Organizing the Disorganized Child by Martin L. Kutscher and Marcella Moran and is linking with lots of mothers' groups online.
In the book, which published in late August, the ADHD expert and psychotherapist explain the roots of children's organizational problems and discuss how parents can help to fix them with the right organizational system for the child.
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For Strange Things Happen: A Life with the Police, Polo and Pygmies, the memoir by Stewart Copeland, drummer in the Police, the audio version will have musical interludes between each chapter, an example of HarperStudio "trying to push formats where we can," as Miller put it. Besides covering Copeland's experience in the band--"and, yes, there are chapters about Sting"--the book, which goes on sale September 29, tells the story of Copeland's life growing up in the Middle East the son of an agent in the CIA, his love of polo and his experience filmmaking with Pygmies in the Congo.
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Double Take is a memoir by Kevin Michael Connolly, who was born legless and at age 19 discovered photography, which has become his passion. He is best known for his Rolling Exhibition, consisting of pictures he took around the world while rolling on a skateboard. Often the subjects are surprised, curious, shocked onlookers. Double Take has already received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. (See excerpt below.)
Connolly has a strong following on Photog and Flickr, which, Stier noted, are not just places to post photographs but are communities. Connolly will promote the book there and make special offers that tie in with the book, such as giving purchasers framed copies of his photographs.
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HarperStudio's first New York Times bestseller was Emeril Lagasse's Emeril at the Grill. This fall Emeril is back with a collection of recipes to fit today's busy lifestyles. Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast includes recipes for everything from 11-minute Simple Italian Wedding Soup to the 60-minute Pork Loin with Apples and Prunes. Emeril 20-40-60 goes on sale October 27.
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This Is Why You're Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks by Jessica Amason and Richard Blakeley grew out of a blog on Tumblr, which Stier described as "an amazing community where things go viral really fast," in part because it takes only one click to re-blog something. Within two weeks of its start, the blog had millions of hits and is one of the top two or three blogs on Tumblr. HarperStudio will promote the book on Tumblr.
This Is Why You're Fat digs into what the authors call "the old stand-bys, the carnival foods of their childhoods, the sticky mess of a deep-fried candy bar, the indulgence of a greasy burger with all the fixin's." (See a recipe for Bacon Cinnamon Rolls (!) below.)
Incidentally the authors are a kind of new media power couple: she is the viral media editor at BuzzFeed.com, and he is the video editor for Gawker Media. "They are a generation who knows things in ways we don't," Stier said.
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I Am Neurotic (And So Are You) by Lianna Kong is another book that began as a blog. On the I Am Neurotic blog, Kong and her friends shared and joked about their neuroses; it quickly morphed into a site for confessional therapy by the neurotic masses. The book collects "the best" neuroses and includes photographs. I Am Neurotic goes on sale October 13.
For the book, HarperStudio is creating T-shirts and a video campaign that it will use on Facebook and the authors' blog.
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The Book of the Shepherd: The Story of One Simple Prayer and How It Changed the World by Joann Davis is a fable, HarperStudio's only fictional title. The story begins in a Vermont study, where the new owner of the house finds a rare book that takes a year to have translated because of its strange hybrid language. The book turns out to be The Book of the Shepherd, set in a mythical time, the account of a shepherd who is called by a dream to find "the new way." He goes on a journey accompanied by a former slave and a boy whom the shepherd first saw being beaten in a market. The group encounters more characters--the Story Teller, the Apothecary, the Blind Man and the Stranger--who impart lessons to them. In a cave, the travelers come to learn that "sometimes the treasure we seek has been inside us all along."
Paulo Coelho himself wrote: "The Book of the Shepherd, a timeless story about one man who is seeking 'the new way,' is an inspiring and moving fable."
For The Book of the Shepherd, Davis (see her Book Brahmin below) is "immersing herself in Paulo Coelho's community, blogging and sending out e-cards," Stier said. Davis created a video with the prayer that the shepherd finds at the end of the book. The story of the book is told on the person's hands. The division is doing at outreach to Unitarian ministers.
Miller added that the book has "terrific potential outside the mainstream review market."