Hardback campaign Marketing and Publicity Presentation
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Marketing and Publicity Hardback campaign
Presentation
2019: The Year of Cally
We think it’s safe to say that 2019 was a phenomenal year for you,
Cally! It was a year which saw you publish your first ever hardback,
Sleep (which reached #4 on the Sunday Times list and has sold over
12,000 copies), make your first ever television appearance on the Sara
Cox show, win an Amazon readers’ award, and enjoy your first ever
outdoor marketing campaign with the paperback of Sleep – oh, which
was also your first ever Richard & Judy selection!
You made us incredibly proud in 2019, Cally, and 2020 looks set to be
even better. We’re all ready for The Year of Cally – Part 2!Recap on our Consumer Insight
As part of the last campaign, we did a deep dive into your consumer insight. This
highlighted key areas for us to target with our marketing and PR efforts, both in
driving your sales amongst fans, and in reaching new readers. Here’s a brief recap to
remind you of those core goals:
• Garner as many reviews online as possible
• Maximise use of Amazon page and Amazon on-site advertising opportunities
• Put social media outreach at the centre of our campaign
• Target fans of comparative TV series
• Two-pronged campaign strategy:
• Specific pre-order incentives to drive audience to physical
• Clear signposting on publication when readers most likely to buy
• Secure print and online coverage – focusing on reviewsObjectives • Make this your most reviewed novel EVER! We want your readers to love this book and to tell everyone about it. • Launch you and your brilliant book with a bang in Ireland, engaging their audience like never before and showing them the author behind the books. • Turn Strangers into a Top 10 Sunday Times bestseller – we always aim as high as possible for you, Cally, and we feel the top 10 is well within our reach. • Cement your position as a high-profile name in the hardback space.
The Sales Picture
Supermarkets and High Street • After the breakout success of Sleep in hardback and paperback (not to mention 100,000 ebook sales!), our intention is to continue building you as a major commercial brand. • We are aiming to secure another Top 10 Sunday Times chart position, and will do all we can to make that a reality. • We will be positioning Strangers in key slots in top store-bases with a competitive price point in all key retailers across the UK and Ireland. • We will continue building upon the momentum from the hardback and raising your platform for the key Autumn paperback release.
Physical Sales – UK
A snapshot of the early sub indications below, and we will of course be keeping you updated!
TESCO: Initial order – 3.5k TBC
• Confirmed for HB Try Me promotion in 400 stores (up from 300 for Sleep HB)
• Price promoted at very competitive instore price of £5 for life in chart
ASDA: Initial order – 3.5k TBC
• Confirmed in all 500 stores in HB chart space
• Price promoted at £5 for life in chart
SAINSBURY’S: Initial order – 3.1k TBC
• Confirmed in 350 stores in HB chart space
• Price promoted at £5 for life in chart with shelf marker to highlight promotion
AMAZON: Initial order of over 1000 copies.
WATERSTONES: Initial order of 450 copies, which is double their sub for Sleep HB!
WHOLESALE: distribution by Gardners + Bertrams across the trade, including independents + gifting accountsPhysical Sales - Ireland Current early indications suggest an Irish sub of c.2500, up from 1800 for the Sleep TPB sub. Full details below, and we will of course be keeping you updated! • Eason: Spring Multi-Buy promotion • Argosy: Euro Price Promoted • Callistoy/Bookstation: Euro Price Promoted • Newspread: Placement in Tesco; Euro Price Promoted • Indies: Dubray Books, Irish Library Supplies • Euro Price Promoted in Book Centres and O’Mahony’s Booksellers FINAL IRISH TPB SUB: c. 2,500 COPIES
Digital eBook • Our ambition with Sleep was to drive higher priced sales to maximise revenue, combined with lower priced promotions to drive volume and chart position. • To date, we have sold 100k units of Sleep in ebook – up 27% on volume and a huge 53% on value on The Fear. • We are promoting Sleep in a Kindle Monthly Deal this month to help drive pre-orders for Strangers, along with a March Bookbub that saw it climb into the Top 100 once more. It is one of the top performing March titles across the whole of HarperCollins! • Apple have launched a ‘10 Great Deals on Books We Love’ promotion this week featuring Sleep, again driving pre-orders to Strangers. • Apple are featuring Strangers in their Thrill List: 2020’s Must Read Crime and Thrillers (see right). • Strangers pre-orders are currently at 1,073 copies, at the higher price point of £4.99. Digital Audio • Sleep has so far sold 3,322 units in audio and was supported on all retailers on launch. This is higher than average for crime and thriller books. • Apple have been very supportive including running targeted price promotions. They have a 16% share of sales. • We have pitched for an Audible Daily Deal for Sleep ahead of the publication of Strangers. • Strangers currently has 20 audio pre-orders; we had 31 for Sleep at this stage, so just a week behind but we’re confident this number will grow.
International
• In 2019, our ambition with Sleep was to use our HB/TPB outing to break your
name out in international markets with the widest distribution and largest ever
campaign in order to reach new readers and establish you as a major
international brand author.
• In Australia we secured three DDS retailers at a high store base, introducing Sleep
to an enormous new readership and hugely surpassing all prior TCM
performance. 6000 AUSTRALIA TCM
5000
• With Strangers our ambition is to secure and 4000
maintain our new reader base while also 3000
finding new readers and maximising sales in all 2000
formats. 1000
0
The The Lie The The The Fear Sleep
Accident Missing EscapeInternational
Australia and New Zealand
Australia eBooks
• We are subbing 3,600 copies to ANZ publishing 23rd March.
• In eBook Strangers will benefit from a Digi Lead Campaign
• This includes support from two DDS retailers, Target and Big including strategic backlist price drops in the run up to
W, as well as distribution to bookshop chains and publication.
independents.
• We are also pitching for Apple’s What To Read This Month
• WH Smith airport stores confirmed support, following on promotion, the biggest volume driver in the market.
from their Summer backlist campaign featuring The Escape,
The Fear and Sleep.
• The drop in our sub from Sleep is down to securing one less South Africa
DDS channel, where unfortunately the sell through of Sleep • In South Africa we are looking to locally print the preferred
did not meet their extremely high KPIs. format Trade Paperback in order to match the UK pub date
• Our priority with Strangers is to continue to promote long – allowing the team to benefit from UK publicity and chart
tail brand loyalty with consumers, reengaging the new readers positions.
we reached with Sleep while also appealing to new readers
with strong distribution across two major footfall retailers. Open Markets
• The success of Sleep has taken your subs to the next level, • Strangers was a lead title at Frankfurt Book Fair and
with our Strangers sub +200% from The Fear’s 1.2k. presented to retailers from across the international trade.The Campaign
Fan Acquisition Strategy: Brand building
Publishing you isn’t just about the latest book, Cally, it’s about constant
brand building in order for you to have the most engaged and widest
audience to speak to.
You already do a fantastic job in managing this, and our focus now is how
we can optimise this activity for maximum results.
To that end, we have analysed each of your core channels: Facebook,
Twitter and the newsletter, in order to determine what is currently
performing well and what content you might want to consider doing more
of or introducing in order to make these channels even stronger.
As always, you know your audience best! So these are suggestions that we
are very happy to discuss in more detail.Facebook: who are your readers? Your Facebook stats: • 5,329 followers – 3,599 based in the UK • 86% women and 14% men • 50% aged between 35-54 years old • Average of 12% engagement per post since March 2019 – March 2020 • Fans most active on Tuesday and Wednesday • Fans most engaged between 4pm-7pm GMT • Fan least engaged between 9pm-6am and between 10-11am GMT • Fans are also following fellow, similar authors including Clare Mackintosh, Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell and Adele Parks. • Knowing these statistics means we can work to target them as closely as possible, giving them absolutely no excuse not to buy your brilliant new book…
Facebook: what’s working? Top performing content • Any and all book news i.e. proofs, cover reveals, awards, book tour, price promotions etc. • Giveaways – understandably! • Writing updates are also very popular. Suggestions for increasing engagement • Upcoming events where fans can meet their favourite author • Asking readers questions for organic engagement i.e. Who has read… Which name do you prefer… • Consistent book visuals, which we can provide, across the platform, including the About Me page and the page header.
Twitter : what’s working? Top performing content • You pre and post event pictures create lots of buzz. • Proofs and books arriving as well as any bookish or publishing industry content. • Your dog! • Funny, personable and seasonal stories, like the image of your sister and her wife dressed as Santa, and selfies before an author party etc. Suggestions for increasing engagement • Include a range of visuals in your posts, e.g. consider posting short videos and GIFs (especially ones capturing event footage), as well as pictures. • Retweeting with comments on thought-provoking or news-worthy posts by book communities and bloggers in UK and internationally where possible (on Instagram as well as Twitter). • Posts with exclusive opportunities for fans and new readers to to sign up to your newsletter, i.e. a giveaway, an extract of an upcoming book, first looks at a cover reveal etc.
Newsletter : what’s working?
Top performing content
• You use a lot of wonderful photos in your newsletter –
brilliant!
• Events are always up to date and details are included.
• Exclusive insight into the printing process, audiobook
recording and writing of the next book performs very well.
Suggestions for increasing engagement
• Conversational elements that make the newsletter more
engaging for readers, and allow them to get to know you.
• An offer of some kind i.e. an exclusive giveaway, sign-up for
an extract or free short story etc.
• Consistent branding, with images that we can provide, and
consistent colours used in each newsletter so that readers
begin to recognise your brand.Going forward with your brand…
Your organic social media is key to informing and engaging with your
dedicated fans.
We’re keen to keep looking into developing fan acquisition strategies for
you, and to work with you directly on ways to make this manageable, if you
would like to of course.
If you want to have a phone call or meeting to discuss ways to continue
building your brand organically through social media, we would be more
than happy to organise a time, and we so appreciate the hard work and
dedication you already put into growing your following and connecting with
your readers and your fans.Pre-Awareness
The Cover Reveal…
Teaser Campaign
• We wanted to launch the cover with an
eye-catching and distinctive GIF that was
designed to be shared.
• We ran a coordinated cover reveal across
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on the 18th
December as a pre-Christmas surprise.
• We reached over 200,000 social media
followers, a fantastic start to the Strangers
campaign and a clear sign that readers were
waiting for your next book.
• We secured support across both Avon and
HCUK to ensure maximum reach.An exciting exclusive extract…
Teaser Campaign
• Post-Christmas we shared an exclusive first extract of Strangers
from both your author newsletter and Avon’s newsletter.
• The Avon newsletter had an open-rate of 54.9% - an incredibly
high percentage!
• On the 8th January 2020 we also released a free e-sampler for
one month including the first seven chapters of Strangers. This
was the perfect opportunity to do copy-testing in the pre-
awareness campaign and perfect our messaging before pushing
for pre-orders across the complete ebook and hardback title.
• In total we had 2,548 downloads of the e-sampler; again, this is a
really high number and shows clear appetite for the novel.
• We also ran copy-testing Facebook ads, testing 18 different lines
to inform our messaging for the entire campaign and discovered
that reader reviews, character profiles and the line: Three
strangers. Two secrets. One terrifying evening… were the most
engaging to readers.Proofs and endorsements
Proofs arrived in December and were swiftly sent out to authors for reviews.
The responses came thick and fast, and we were delighted to see some big
hitters coming through with key endorsements…
‘This is REALLY good. Read it in a day.’ Jane Fallon
‘Utterly addictive.’ John Marrs
‘It’s clear to see why she's a million copy bestseller.’ Sarah Pinborough
‘I was glued to this one from start to finish!’ Shari Lapena
‘Complex, absorbing & brilliantly plotted.’ Louise Jensen
‘Shocking, compelling and entertaining.’ Liz Nugent
‘Absolutely LOVED Strangers. ’ Claire Douglas
‘A masterfully woven story.’ Fiona Cummins
‘C.L. Taylor is at the top of her game.’ Gillian McAllister
‘Her best one yet!’ Mark Edwards
‘She’s done it again…brilliant!’ Cass Green
We could go on…!Building buzz online Bookstagrammers • A #DontTalkToStrangers themed, bespoke pack will hopefully be sent to a team of 30 thriller bookstagrammers, with a combined reach of over 240K+ followers, featuring stress balls and headphones [this will re-route to PB if needs be]. • We are hosting a giveaway on The Book Club on Facebook – a Facebook group with over 8,000 highly engaged users – for 10 hardback copies, one month before publication. • We are utilising Hashtracker, a website to monitor the usage and results of a hashtag in a campaign, to track the chosen hashtag #DontTalkToStrangers and find the most engaged followers.
Audio
• We recorded an exclusive audio Q&A with you and Clare Corbett,
discussing how Clare approaches her narration and how she works with
your amazing audiobooks.
• Following your studio visit, Strangers jumped up to #6 in the Google Play Audiobook Pre-
Order Chart – a fantastic result!
• We have been crowdsourcing questions via your channel for a special fan Q&A which
was planned to record on 31st March – we will hope to reschedule this as discussed.
• You also previously kindly recorded end ads for your entire audio backlist, so that we can
constantly push listeners onto the next book, and these really help us to sustain growth.
#6!Netgalley • We added an audiobook extract to the NetGalley page as an extra for your lovely fans. • Strangers was the 2nd most requested title on NetGalley UK the day after it went live on 18th December, which is a phenomenal feat when done organically! • It has been requested over 1,300 times, which is an unprecedented amount. • It has had over 250 4-5 star reviews with a 4.4 average star rating – another highly impressive figure, setting us well on the way to making Strangers your most reviewed book ever! • To re-target top reviewers of your previous books we sent an eblast out to 693 readers that have previously reviewed your books favourably on NetGalley. This got a great response on social media and caused much excitement amongst your fans!
Trade Engagement • We included Strangers in the video trailer at our London Big Book event – a HarperCollins evening where we showcase upcoming key titles to our booksellers and the trade. • POS has been offered to all stores including Waterstones and independent booksellers across the world and we will keep you updated with uptake. • To this end, we produced beautiful double-sided bookmarks, an A3 poster and a table header. • We also showcased you and your books on the HarperCollins stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair. After the success of Sleep in both paperback and hardback, we were keen to alert readers to the title of your next (soon to be!) bestselling book. • Having the holding jacket on the screen at Frankfurt was also a fantastic rights opportunity, as foreign publishers coming to the HarperCollins stand were met with your books and able to follow-up with Maddy. • Your position on our Frankfurt screens alongside HarperCollins’ other brand authors cements your place as a key writer for the company and makes your status very clear to other publishers, agents, and editors.
Engaging Ireland… • You were flown to Ireland to take part in a bookshop tour and a pre-publication dinner with key retailers, all of whom absolutely loved meeting you. • Proofs were sent out at an early stage to key media contacts – including Ryan Tubridy, the influential radio host. • Proofs sent to influential booksellers. • Strangers was included in the Irish Trade Marketing magazine to drive awareness. • Strangers was also showcased at our Dublin Big Book event, to ensure their retailers were aware of the publication in advance. • You and your books are the number 1 priority in our Irish monthly calls, enabling us to keep the HC Ireland team abreast of all activity and share our dual campaigns in order to drive sales on both sides of the sea.
Driving physical pre-orders • After your successful printer visit which we hope you enjoyed, we were keen to show off the gorgeous hardbacks we had in production to drive pre-orders. • The response across social media to the photography we had taken was brilliant, with over 30,000 impressions.
Hunt for your unique signed copy! • You kindly signed 5 copies of Strangers at the printer, which will be distributed to retailers which we know have a particularly strong fanbase for your books. • Whoever locates one of the special copies and posts a photo tagging @AvonBooksUK on social media wins a bunch of flowers – a thank you from us for being your fans! • We’re aiming to reward the stores that have previously sold a lot of your books with the chance to sell a bespoke copy and receive extra social media. It’s also a strong way to engage fans and drive footfall to stores.
Launch
Press Our proofs went out in advance to over 120 national and consumer reviewers, along with Cally super fans. We know we can never guarantee reviews, however with the success of Sleep, people had been waiting for this one! Two long lead reviews so far ahead of publication is a brilliant result, and we’re keeping everything crossed for more to come through as we get closer to pub date. The Woman feature is a nice update on the piece you worked on for us last year, too. • Candis – April • Woman & Home – April • BBC Radio Bristol – 2 April • Woman – 18 April • Shots Magazine – TBC • Female First – TBC
Events As you know, we’ve been working hard on a publicity tour, however we can’t control things like Covid-19 which throw all plans out of the window! As such, and at your request, we have cancelled all festival appearances between now and June, and have managed to postpone all the book shop events to September, in time for the paperback release – when we will be going all guns blazing! • Proofs (250) at Killer Women Festival • Owl Book Shop (postponed) • Essex Lit Fest (cancelled) • Crimefest 2020 – June 2020 • Goldsboro Books (postponed) • Lyme Crime – 27 June 2020 • Noir at the Bar (postponed) • Bute Noir – 31 July 2020 • Waterstones Durham (postponed) • Waterstones Birmingham – September • Waterstones Leeds (postponed) • Capital Crime – 2 Oct • Waterstones Liverpool with Alice Feeney • Rochester Lit Fest – 3 Oct (postponed) • Maray Book Club (postponed) • Bristol Central Library – 23 April (TBC)
Tandem Collective Readalong • To engage readers in new and exciting ways we are coordinating an Instagram readalong in conjunction with Tandem Collective. • Tandem have organised for 30 Instagrammers to take part for one week from the 2nd April, sharing their thoughts and theories as they read the book – without spoilers. • The aim is to produce as much content on Instagram as possible, utilising the #DontTalkToStrangers hashtag and bespoke imagery made in-house. • We had initially budgeted for 15 instagrammers but the popularity was such that Tandem increased this to 30 instagrammers, with a waiting list of over 50 more! A brilliant sign of what’s to come…
Facebook Advertising • Due to copy-testing we are in a strong position to run launch-day and post-publication advertising on Facebook, where we know a huge amount of your audience are very engaged. • Our top three lines include narrative lines and reader reviews, so we will focus on pushing these out to show consistent messaging and engage new readers as much as possible. • We will also be using bright, externally designed assets to visually appeal readers to click and buy the book.
Blog Tour • There are 96 bloggers on the blog tour, including your personal, superfan bloggers. • Authors and readers have already started choosing their favourite character in Strangers, so we are using this insight and sending a character themed pack to each blogger on the tour, for everyone to get to know and love Gareth, Ursula and Alice! • We also sent out 20 proofs to your VIP readers, along with personalised gifts and notes.
Optimising Amazon
As we know from your consumer insight and past
campaigns, Amazon is a key retailer for your audience.
As such, we are making use of it in our campaign to the
maximum extent, as well as constantly monitoring the
way we use it in order that we achieve the best possible
results…
• A bespoke advert has been booked to appear for
three days from publication on the main Amazon
books page.
• AMS advertising will be running with targeted ad-
words to raise awareness and drive impulse
shoppers to purchase.
• A striking A+ design to showcase the incredible
author reviews is up on the site to secure pre-
orders and then push for sales post-publication.Reaching Irish Consumers • To ensure a maximum reach, for the first time on one of your books, we’ve run Irish Facebook ads geo-tagged specifically to Ireland in order to capture their market as effectively as possible. Working closely with the Irish team to ensure we are appealing to their readers, this has proved very effective so far. • Utilising an Easons pre-order link, we have seen a steady uplift in link clicks since starting the advertising at the beginning of March 2020. • The Irish audience is particularly responsive to narrative lines as well, including the Three strangers.Two secrets. One terrifying evening… line. • We are having weekly meetings to discuss ongoing plans for Strangers with HarperCollins Ireland and have confirmed that Irish stores will be taking Strangers bookmarks to offer in-store. We will keep you updated on other Irish plans and sales as we move through publication.
Internal buzz-building • We are presenting Strangers again at the HarperCollins Highlights presentation in March, and offering exclusive hardbacks to internal staff – you have lots of fans in the building who have been eagerly awaiting this moment! • We had initially booked the Main Lobby Screen in the News Building to welcome you to the office this week, but due to circumstances we have chosen to turn it into a ‘two weeks to go’ moment on social media instead. • We’ve also booked the lift lobby screens to celebrate Strangers hardback publication on the 2nd April, to ensure everyone in the company knows how important you and this publication are to Team Avon. • We recently marked 175k copies sold of Sleep, and made sure everyone knew about it!
Bring on Strangers…
We are so proud of you and everything you have achieved so far, Cally, and are so
delighted to be bringing Strangers into the world this April. It truly is an incredibly
special novel (Ursula is my favourite ever character of yours, closely followed by
Wendy!) and we know that your dedicated readers are going to absolutely love it.
We cannot wait to see their reaction!
Thank you for all the energy, passion, and hard work you put into your writing – we
love being your publisher and we hope our journey will continue alongside you for
many years to come.
With love,
Team Cally
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