Raining Cats and Dog Contests for Booksellers

by Kevin Howell, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 10/16/2006

Two publishers have turned to cat and dog contests to get attention for their titles from booksellers.

Within the first month of release, Chronicle Books burned through its 45,000 first printing of Stuff on My Cat and has just gone back for a second printing of 15,000. Now, Chronicle wants booksellers to take a picture of their feline (with stuff on it, naturally) and submit it through the publisher’s Web site. Booksellers submitting the best photos have a chance to win t-shirts, mousepads and other Stuff on My Cat products. The winners will be judged in three categories: (1) funniest/cutest; (2) most literary and (3) the most shamelessly promoting Chronicle Books. The top winning photo will be featured in the 2008 Stuck on My Cat Daily Calendar. Rules and further information is available at www.chroniclebooks.com/bookstorecat. The contest ends December 15.

The Web site stuffonmycat.com began in July 2005. People were encouraged to submit photos of their cats with stuff on them. Since its launch, the site has received more than 17 million hits (100,000 hits per day) and was named one of the coolest sites of the year by Yahoo and GQ magazine.

"Once we saw the photograph of a cheeseburger perched on the back of a fat feline, we understood that this book had enormous potential,” said Matt Robinson,Chronicle assistant editor . “We're glad that other people see that stuff plus cats truly does equal awesome."

Booksellers who are dog owners also have a contest of their own. FSG wants all dog-owning booksellers to send in a snapshot of their dog for a chance at having their pooch immortalized in Cathleen Schine’s new novel The New Yorkers, which will publish in May 2007 under the Sarah Crichton Books/FSG imprint. Artist Leanne Shapton (Was She Pretty?), will select one of the submissions at random and turn it into a black-and-white line drawing to be included in Schine’s book. The winner will also receive the original artwork.

The contest is open to anyone who is a fulltime employee of a bookstore. The photograph submitted must be taken by the person submitting it. Be sure to include with the photograph your full name, address, telephone number, place of employment and your manager’s name and number. Please send all photos to: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Dept: DOG, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003. Entries must be received by December 15, 2006. The winner will be contacted by December 23, 2006.