New Breed of Authors Hustles Own Books to Clubs

When did book clubs become book clubs? That is, how did the book industry evolve from a business model defined by commercial reprinters like Book of the Month Club and The Literary Guild, to one heavily dependent on groups of book-loving - and book-buying - amateurs?

At whatever point we crossed the line from definition #1 to definition #2, the reading circle has become a driving force in book marketing, and the author who knows how to work the clubs has become a formidable promotional machine.

"The focus on book clubs has spurred the evolution of a new breed: the author-hustler, the writer who succeeds in large part because of door-to-door salesmanship," says Mickey Pearlman, a "professional book club facilitator" as Francesca Mari, blogging in The Daily Beast, describes him. In The Book-Club Hustlers Mari details Pearlman's very professional approach to what most of us thing of as an informal and loosely organized activity.

Pearlman offers four-hour book-marketing seminars (for $500), focusing on "how to creatively market your book on the Web and in other outlets"—one of those outlets being, of course, book groups. "You’re building an interest in you," Pearlman says, “so they’ll be very likely to buy your next book."

Mari cites the activity of a typical self-promoter, Joshua Henkin, who has made the rounds of more than 175 groups. “With 10 people in each group, that’s 1,750 books sold right there.” Another, Adriana Trigiani, works the clubs by phone, as does Chris Bohjalian. Laura Dave even does hers via Skype.

You can't fault authors for wanting to hustle their goods. But you might get a little squeamish to think that authors and publishers may deliberately be shaping books to appeal to book clubs. Mari reports how one author, Robert Alexander, hired an editor after his novel had been turned down fifteen times.

She told him to shoot for a book-club 'gem', to cut the manuscript from 460 pages to 250 and hone in on the historical fiction. Alexander did and got three offers in eight days. His Viking and Penguin contracts, he says, even state that his books should be around 250 pages. The Kitchen Boy is now in its 22nd printing, and was optioned to be made into a movie by Glen Williamson, the man behind American Beauty and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

We referred to book club members as "amateurs" - by which we mean, literally, those who love books more as a pastime than a profession. But in fact clubs have evolved far beyond the cliché of schoolmarmish intellectuals reading Proust over tea sandwiches. Chelsea J. Carter blogging on PaperBackSwap.com says, "Around the country, book clubs also have become networking tools for young professionals." There is even an instructional book for clubbers: The Book Club Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Reading Group Experience by Diana Loevy.

Richard Curtis

Everything You Need to Know About the Net Generation is in Your Kid's Bedroom with the Door Closed

They came out of the womb with keypads grafted to their hands, monitor cables trailing from their optical nerves, thumbs hyperdeveloped for texting, and umbilical cords terminating in USB's ready to interface immediately after weaning. They passed up electric trains for video war games, dolls for Facebook accounts, and Little League participation for YouTube and Craigslist.

They are the Net Generation, also known as Millennials. And if you don't understand them, or aren't sure you like them even if they belong to you, thank your stars that Don Tapscott does. And if you're a businessperson hoping to make a market on them, you'd be smart to listen very, very carefully to him. For proof of this assertion, ask the President of the United States. Barack Obama's juggernaut political campaign drew its power from the social networking values of Net Gen youth the way a hurricane sucks up energy and momentum from warm open ocean water. Here's a blurb on the book:

Poised to transform every social institution, the Net Generation is reshaping the form and functions of school, work, and even democracy. Simply put, the wave of youth, aged 12-30, the first truly global generation, is impacting all institutions. Particularly, employers, instructors, parents, marketers and political leaders are finding it necessary to adapt to the changing social fabric due to this generation’s unique characteristics. Within its comprehensive examination of the Net Generation, and based on a 4.5 million dollar study, Don Tapscott’s Grown Up Digital offers valuable insight and concrete takeaways for leaders across all social institutions.

Harry Hurt, who has written many an entertaining New York Times feature, is grateful to Tapscott for decoding his 11-year-old son. "How can an otherwise healthy boy like mine spend a sunny day playing World of Warcraft for five consecutive hours instead of playing soccer or baseball outdoors?" Hurt asks. His answer? Tapscott's book, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World, "gives parents from the baby boom generation — like me — reason for optimism."

Tapscott, an adjunct professor of management at the University of Toronto, writes a really interesting blog about the Net Gen, drawn in some measure from his observations of youngsters like his own children. His book cogently summarizes those observations, and for anyone hoping to bottle and monetize the Millennial zeitgeist, Tapscott's points are worth committing to memory. As Hurt summarizes them:

* They prize freedom
* They want to customize things
* They enjoy collaboration
* They scrutinize everything
* They insist on integrity in institutions and corporations
* They want to have fun even at school or work
* They believe that speed in technology and all else is normal
* They regard constant innovation as a fact of life

Paul Lynde's "Bye Bye Birdie" lyric asks, "What's the matter with kids today?" Actually, it sounds like the Millennials have their heads screwed on pretty tightly.

RC