by Alison Janssen
When I was younger, I thought it might be really awesome to be an inventor. I think this desire was mostly due to the fact that when I stayed home sick from school, commercials like these aired during The Price is Right:
Yes, I was tempted to do that Art School drawing test, too.
But anyway, I had a STELLAR invention idea that would make me millions: You know those little bean-filled eye mask pouches that have relaxing-smelling herbs in them, and they're soft and you can microwave them for a few seconds to make them warm before you put them on your face? Ok, so that same filling and material, only instead of being an eye mask, this is a steering wheel cover. It slips on and off your steering wheel easily, and before you leave for work in the morning, you pop it in the microwave and voila! Warm hands on your way to work, and you don't have to wear your mittens or gloves in the car. And since lots of offices have microwaves, it works for your commute home, too.
Genius!
Well, instead of growing up to be an inventor, I grew up to an editor and part-owner of a publishing company. (Though "grown-up" is perhaps a loose term when applied to me.) And I feel pretty good about that. I may not be creating handy household items or gadgets that make good stocking-stuffers, but I am bringing quality crime fiction to eager readers. That's certainly something to be proud of.
And because Tyrus Books is small and independent, we can be inventive with our publishing strategies. So I guess it's kindof like a grew up to be an inventor AND an editor!
Our latest inventive publishing experiment is our unique partnership with author Seth Harwood. Tyrus employs a multi-format publishing strategy -- that is, we usually publish a hardcover and trade paperback version of each title simultaneously (and we're working on near-simultaneous ebooks, now, too!) It works for us because libraries prefer hardcovers, while retail outlets often prefer paperbacks, especially for debut authors.
And now, with Seth, we're trying another format and order structure:
A special edition, with limited availability. You can ONLY get this version of YOUNG JUNIUS if you preorder online, starting May 5th. Because Seth has such a stellar fan following online, and because his fans are such a talented bunch of folks, the special edition will feature an all-artwork cover, and it's artwork provided by the fans.
We're encouraging all kinds of online evangelism for the book, and Seth has set up some great opportunities to make spreading the word as easy as changing your Twitter avatar.
What makes this experiment extra-exciting for Tyrus is the blend of tactics we're using. The special edition preorders will generate revenue for us before they're printed -- and the special edition print run will be dictated by the number of preorders (not to exceed 1,000, since we want the special edition to be, you know, special!). The special editions will be printed at the same time as the regular editions, allowing us to benefit from the economies of scale and high product quality offered by offset printing. It's like the best of all worlds!
Seth has really been a pioneer in terms of online marketing and novel-podcasting -- you can listen to the full, pre-edited YOUNG JUNIUS at his site, and that's only added to the hype and excitement for the finished book to be in fans' hands!
I'll certainly let everyone know the results of this project, and I'm sure Seth will be blogging and podcasting like crazy as well.
The publishing landscape these days is wide open -- there are so many opportunities for unique experiments and innovations. What strategies have YOU most excited for the reading future?
