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Social Media Power a Novel – WSJ.com
Last Monday, David Mitchell‘s eight-year-old novel “Cloud Atlas” was ranked 2,509 on Amazon.com Inc.’s [AMZN +7.87%] best seller list. On Friday, it was No. 7.
The surge of sales was thanks to a trailer for a film version of the novel that debuted on Apple Inc’s [AAPL +1.79%] website Thursday, combined with the power of social media.
“Almost as soon as the trailer went up, we saw chatter on Twitter and sales on Amazon really jumped,” said Jane von Mehren, publisher of trade paperbacks for the Random House Publishing Group, a unit of Bertelsmann AG‘s Random House Inc.
To cash in on the renewed interest, Random House has ordered a new paperback printing of 25,000 copies, to hit stores before a special movie-tie in edition of the book is released in September. Currently, “Cloud Atlas” has 227,000 paperback copies in print in the U.S.
It isn’t unusual for a movie version of a book to spark fresh interest in an old title, of course. What’s uncommon in this case was the speed at which a mere trailer of a film had an impact.
The book features a group of related stories that span a wide time frame and involve romance, adventure and a dark vision of the future. It didn’t hit the national best seller lists when it originally came out, despite selling more than 100,000 copies, says David Ebershoff, Mr. Mitchell’s editor. It did briefly hit the lists in 2010 after another title by the novelist was published.
The movie version of “Cloud Atlas” features an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon and Halle Berry. Released by Time Warner Inc.‘s Warner Bros., it is slated to open Oct. 26.
via Social Media Power a Novel – WSJ.com.
Strange Random Novel Quote:
“In writing a novel, when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns.” ― Raymond Chandler
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The Environmental Case Against Cheap Coffee – Forbes
I drink prodigious amounts of black coffee daily and have done so for more than two decades. Indeed, I cannot remember the last day I went without a solid dose of the strong stuff. On more than one occasion, I have resorted to drinking tepid tap water laced with half-crushed coffee beans – or, “cowboy coffee” – rather than endure the slings-and-arrows of reality unmediated by caffeine.
Needless to say, I was saddened to learn that coffee makers are among the most profligate energy hogs in the contemporary workplace.
In a recent analysis prepared for the California Energy Commission Public Interest Energy Research PIER Program, Ecos Consulting found that the typical coffee makers in a California office building consumes nearly twice as much energy as a normally used desktop computer annually.
California’s office plug loads consume more than 3,000 gigawatt‐hours annually, costing business owners more than $400 million each year and producing a whopping 700,000 metric tons in annually carbon dioxide emission, which is roughly equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions produced by 140,000 cars during one year.
via The Environmental Case Against Cheap Coffee – Forbes.
Strange Random Coffee Quote:
“No matter what historians claimed, BC really stood for “Before Coffee.” ― Cherise Sinclair, Master of the Mountain
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BBC News – Man Booker Prize: Judges back ‘innovation’ on 2012 longlist
The 12-strong longlist for the Man Booker Prize has been announced. What do this year’s choices tell us about the literary landscape in 2012?
This year’s Booker longlist has its fair share of surprises.
While many expected Hilary Mantel to make the final 12 with Bring Up The Bodies, her sequel to 2009 Booker winner Wolf Hall, it is the omission of several other big-name writers that has raised eyebrows in literary circles.
Among those who failed to make the longlist were Martin Amis, John Banville, Pat Barker, Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith and Rose Tremain.
Smith’s NW – her first novel since 2005′s On Beauty – had been widely expected to make the list after strong advance buzz. It is due to be published in September.
However, the 12 nominees do include high-profile authors Will Self (Umbrella) and Michael Frayn (Skios).
As last year, this year’s longlist features four first-time novelists – Rachel Joyce (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry), Alison Moore (The Lighthouse), Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis) and Sam Thompson (Communion Town).
Tom Tivnan, features editor of The Bookseller, told The Independent: “It’s a nice mix of young gunslingers and some of the old guard. It’s a bit more literary than last year.”
It was last year that the Booker judges were criticised for putting a focus on “readability” in their choice of shortlisted novels.
When the final six novels were announced in 2011, ex-MI5 chief Dame Stella Rimington said: “We wanted people to buy these books and read them, not buy them and admire them.”
Man Booker Prize – 2012 longlist
- Nicola Barker – The Yips
- Ned Beauman – The Teleportation Accident
- Andre Brink – Philida
- Tan Twan Eng – The Garden of Evening Mists
- Michael Frayn – Skios
- Rachel Joyce – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- Deborah Levy – Swimming Home
- Hilary Mantel – Bring Up the Bodies
- Alison Moore – The Lighthouse
- Will Self – Umbrella
- Jeet Thayil – Narcopolis
- Sam Thompson – Communion Town
via BBC News – Man Booker Prize: Judges back ‘innovation’ on 2012 longlist.
Strange Random Book Quote:
“What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore it knows it’s not fooling a soul.” ― Neil Gaiman, American Gods
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Advertisers compete for the online podium – The Globe and Mail
The London Olympics officially open Friday, but just like the athletes that will parade through the opening ceremonies, the most aggressive and savviest advertisers began staring down their competition far in advance of this moment. In the ad world, the Games began months ago.
In a sign of a broader trend, Procter & Gamble has been targeting pre-Olympic advertising as intensely as it would ads during the Games. P&G has gone hard on Web advertising, releasing ads online before they hit TV.
We intentionally chose to launch a digital-first campaign,” said David Grisim, associate marketing director at P&G Canada. “By launching digitally first, we found that we got a much higher level of engagement than we would in a traditional campaign.”
Olympic sponsors have collectively spent millions to be associated with the Games, and cannot afford to rely on traditional TV advertising to make good on that investment. P&G needed to encourage people to watch and share the ads so that by the time they are seen on television, they are well-known. Its campaign focuses on the mothers behind the athletes, and was promoted heavily on social media to create an early connection, especially with moms, who are a target market for many of its products. A video featuring Canadian triathlete Paula Findlay and her mother, part of a series of “Raising an Olympian” online videos, is a good example of the maternal tearjerker theme.
The results have been better than expected: In Canada, its “Best Job” commercial reached 150,000 views on YouTube in its first week after launching in April. Since then, 1.4 million Canadians have seen it. An even more important metric for P&G is that an average of one in three viewers shared the video with others.
“We’ve never seen numbers like that,” Mr. Grisim said.
via Advertisers compete for the online podium – The Globe and Mail.
Strange Random Olympics Quote:
“Here’s a good trick.
Get a job as a judge at the Olympics. Then, if some guy sets a world record, pretend that you didn’t see it and go: Okay, is everybody ready to start now?” ― Jack Handey
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Chicago record store has ‘do not buy’ list of unwanted music – msnbc.com Entertainment
Most music stores are all about telling customers what to buy. But Laurie’s Planet Of Sound, a Chicago-based retail and second-hand record store, has officially created a list of artists whose CDs it has no interest in buying or reselling.
According to the breakdown, Melissa Etheridge, Jessica Simpson, Soul Asylum, Jewel, and Perry Farrell are among the many musicians turned away from its shelves.
The list, established three or four years ago by an employee, has been officially dubbed “The Do Not Never Ever Buy List.” It itemizes over 50 artists and a few generalized collections — almost all soundtracks –- that the store refuses to purchase in CD format.
Manager Nick Myers told NBC News that the list was created specifically for CDs, not records, due to waning sales of that format.
“You begin to reflect what your customer base is looking for. In our case, it’s a lot of indie rock and classic rock; classic music of the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s until now,” Myers says. “I’ve been here for 10 years and a lot of that stuff we used to sell, no problem, but over time, it falls out of favor…It’s just kind of specific for us, being in Chicago, in a dense, urban demographic.”
Meant as a guide for employees and also a joke for customers, “The Do Not Never Ever Buy List” has been posted behind the register desk until recently, and continues to grow over time. Also included with the undesirables are artists like Fuel, Macy Gray, Journey, Foreigner, and “60s/70s Artists’ CDs from the 80s/90s/2000s.”
via Chicago record store has ‘do not buy’ list of unwanted music – msnbc.com Entertainment.
Strange Random Bad Music Quote:
“If one hears bad music it is one’s duty to drown it by one’s conversation” – Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)
Related articles
- ATTN: Employees – Do Not Buy These Used CDs (stereogum.com)
- VIDEO: The end of New York’s record store to the stars (bbc.co.uk)
- Guess you’re stuck with that Spin Doctors CD, or ‘The Do Not Never Ever Buy List’ (toddpack.com)
- Record Companies v. Record Stores v. Integrity (treadingfire.wordpress.com)
- Say Goodbye to Record Stores and Physical Albums [INFOGRAPHIC] (mashable.com)
- Tower Records: It Was More Than Music (popdose.com)
- Death Of A Music Industry? New Statistics Details An Industry’s Fate! (dabxblogger.com)
- Vinyl: Back Again for Another Spin (991.typepad.com)
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