John Meyer Books
The Not-So-Subtle Art of Selling Books
“Bullets, Butterflies, and Italy: The Subtle Art of Selling Books”
Saturday mornings in downtown Toronto, I invariably buy the Globe & Mail newspaper from some newsstand and eat a sizeable breakfast at one of the six or seven bars & restaurants in my neighborhood. It’s about the only time in the entire week that I consciously catch up on the news of the world that has nothing to do with entertainment and celebrity gossip.
So, over time, I see some familiar bartenders and waitresses. They recognize me and often correctly guess what I want to eat. We never exchange names and we never chitchat, but it’s all done rather efficiently and agreeably.
Finally, this past Saturday morning, the blonde bartender at one of my favourite haunts asked, “So…what are you going to do today?”
“I’m going to go to the beach and revise my book.”
“You’re a writer?”
Within two minutes, she had my business card in her hand and promised to visit the Kobo website to download my book.
Maybe she will. Maybe she won’t. But she will be visually reminded of that promise ever time she now serves me my Saturday morning brunch. And that’s okay, because the sales pitch was done in a pleasant and non-aggressive environment.
This is how the book sales are occurring right now. The initial flurry of sales from friends and work colleagues is long over. The sales peaks after each of my TV appearances are also over.
Now selling books truly is about word-of-mouth – from me, from others – and discoveries made on the e-book sites where I’m listed.
I have other friends who work in sales who mention their products relentlessly. And with that relentless push invariably comes a boast that they are also doing very well in their business. Maybe so. Maybe the boast is simply to justify their verbal actions. “I talk about it so much because I’m successful. And the only way to be successful is to talk about it so much.” Maybe. But I’ve long tuned them out and see them less and less.
So, rightly or wrongly, I prefer a softer approach. I’m a writer. And I have a product to sell. I will talk about it all day long if you want… but you have to ask me about it.
And then sometimes, I have to step out of that soft approach and mention my product at a suitable opportunity – like the ET Canada 2000th Episode Party.
“Bands, Bulls, and London: The Not-So-Subtle Art of Selling Books”
In a previous post, I mentioned that I daily provide some pop culture trivia to our staff as we count down the days & episodes until we reached our magical number of episode #2000.
I equated the episode numbers with the corresponding year. I discussed movies, TV shows, but especially music – because I knew there would be chances to also mention my upcoming book, Bands, Bulls, and London, where music (and especially Britpop) was a featured element.
And so on Friday, we reached episode #1993:
“Mariah Carey’s Music Box sold the most albums with 10 million sold.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Greatest Hits also sold 10 million.
(Fun fact: Did you know every episode in Cougar Town is named after a Tom Petty song?)
3 WTF moments from 1993:
1. A year after marrying Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown is arrested in Georgia for simulating a sex act onstage.
Sign #1 that your marriage is a gong show?
Your new husband is arrested for simulating a sex act onstage.
Sign #2? When you and your husband do crack.
2. Kurt Cobain is taken into custody after a domestic dispute with his wife, Courtney Love.
The argument? Cobain had guns inside his house.
This is called foreshadowing.
3. Prince changes his name to an unpronounceable symbol.
This is called being a douche.
In 1993 – the biggest movement in music was ignored in America and Canada. It happened overseas in Britain – and the music was Britpop.
‘Part of what made this brand of music so special was that it was completely born and bred in Britain, without any direct American influence. In the 1950s, the States had Elvis, the Brits had his pale imitator, Cliff Richard. The British hard rock explosion in the ’60s was really just a rock ‘n’ roll re-interpretation of American blues. In the ’70s, the UK anarchy of punk music was born in the dingy clubs of New York City. And in the ’80s, the rise of the pretty boy British bands was largely thanks to American MTV which needed all the available videos they could get their hands on.
However, the early to mid-’90s Britpop didn’t directly trace its creative origins to an American master. Yes, it was somewhat of a response to the formulaic and pessimistic grunge music in the U.S., but its formation was completely British. Thatcherism was over and John Major would soon give way to Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street. British pop stars didn’t feel the need to be so overtly political anymore. A brighter future was forecast and the country was optimistic.
The music industry was ready. Bands like The Stone Roses had already brought back the guitar sound that was sadly missing in the synthesized ’80s. It was time to celebrate being British with a little bit of a rock ‘n’ roll swagger—and Britpop accomplished that.
And it wasn’t even about the quality of the music. It wasn’t necessarily better; it was just so colorful and so damn fun! London in the 1990s was never gray and bleak. It was sunny and sparkling. London was Blur’s “Parklife.” People walking hand in hand through Hyde Park with John suffering from “brewer’s droop” and a “gut lord” who needs to cut down on his “porklife.” It was about the Londoner who was “rudely awakened by the dustmen,” who “puts his trousers on, has a cup of tea and thinks about leaving the ‘ouse.” Revolutionary lyrics? No. But a quaint slice of life in a faraway land that I was desperate to be part of…’ An excerpt from John Meyer’s upcoming book, Bands, Bulls, and London.”
Subtle? Hardly.
Will my colleagues buy my upcoming book? Many will. But at least everyone has had a preview of it… in a pleasant and non-aggressive environment.
For more posts on book marketing, check out:
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/book-festival-categories/
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/book-launch-party-2/