BESTSELLERS & BEST FRIENDS
My book publishing blog, with murder mysteries woven through it.
If this is your first visit, be sure to start with “1. Let’s do it!”
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In October 1992, Addison Wesley published Touchpoints: The Essential Reference: Your Child's Emotional and Behavioral Development by T. Berry Brazelton.
You know how you thought Brazelton must have been the kindest and sweetest guy ever?
He was.
Touchpoints sold well, but short of bestseller rate. That was OK. Our publishing was solid, and we were proud of it.
Then in late November, I casually asked Brazelton’s editor, Merloyd Lawrence, how Brazelton was doing.
“Well,” she hesitated, “he always imagined having a New York Times bestseller, I was hoping Touchpoints might be the book. He’s not getting any younger.”
I got to thinking. Next day I had an impromptu conference call with the marketing team. I started the meeting, “Let’s make Touchpoints a bestseller. I think we can use the week between Christmas and New Year’s to kick it up to the list.”
Everybody burst out laughing.
“Jess! Nobody buys books after December 24th. Because nobody’s in stores.”
I hate declarations like that. I pushed back, “But aren’t customers returning and exchanging? Using gift certificates? And driving their kids to the mall?”
“But Jess, there’s no way to promote the book,” somebody chuckled, “Nobody’s paying attention to media that week.”
I hate declarations like that. I pushed back, “Come on! You’re saying this is the one week in the entire year that people run around their homes constantly shutting off their radios and TVs?”
“But Jess, no decent author does media that week!”
Argh! “That’s the point! Brazelton will be the best possible guest. You’ll book him as the lead guest on all the top shows. The timing is actually perfect. I’m thinking four cities in seven days. New York for sure. Probably Chicago and LA. And maybe Houston.”
“But Jess, does Brazelton want to do it? Is he even available?”
A couple of days later Merloyd, my boss David, and I went to Brazelton’s home in Cambridge (MA) for tea with Brazelton and his wife. We explained the idea.
Brazelton smiled, his wife smiled. They held hands, they whispered. There was reluctance. Merloyd whispered to us, “They’ll miss each other. It’ll be the holidays.”
David and I looked at each other, nodded “yes,” and agreed without saying a word. I turned to the Brazeltons, “We’d like to send both of you. All flights will be first class. We’ll do the best hotels and restaurants; it’ll be a lovely holiday.”
They agreed.
The publicity team booked a week of media that any author would kill for. Our amazing sales team got even more books into retailers at a time when stores are actually returning books (after the holiday and before year-end inventory).
It worked! Two weeks later, the over-sized book about caring for babies hit the New York Times list and stayed there for months.
Brazelton and his wife have both died. But I easily see them in their lovely Cambridge home, holding hands, smiling to each other, saying, “Let’s do it. Should be a lovely holiday.”
NO other bestseller ever felt so right and so good.
Tomorrow: Helpful Marketing Hint #34: Piss off L.L. Bean
The Brazeltons