Powell's Launches Film-to-Book Promo Series
by Judith Rosen, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/26/2007
It's not easy to measure the effect of Powell's Books' new Out of the Book program, a series of short films on authors and their books, which launched with a 23-minute DVD on Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday). The Booker Prize-winning author's novel landed on PW's June 18 hardcover fiction bestseller list at the #8 spot even before all 54 independent bookstore events clustered between June 13 and 19 took place. By June 17, it had sold 36,158 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan.
Making DVDs was never just about sales for Dave Weich, Out of the Book creator and Powell's director of marketing and development. He also wanted to develop a new way to get people talking about books. "Reading is cerebral and solitary. And way too often the marketing for a book is cerebral and solitary, too. It lacks a viral component that every other media has now. Out of the Book is about creating dialogue and getting excited and not being wedded to the person behind the podium."
Just how viral a film can be, no matter how creatively made, is hard to say. But a number of booksellers posted an Out of the Book YouTube clip on their Web sites. In addition, Powell's created some distinctly predigital add-ons to market the novel and film, including placing an ad in the fiction issue of the New Yorker and providing booksellers with copies of the movie poster, signed book plates and the DVD.
In return, many booksellers did more than just show the film. Carol Grossmeyer, president of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee partnered with a local theater company, the Boulevard Ensemble, which put together a dramatic reading based on McEwan's novel. Sixty people bought tickets to get a copy of the book and attend a showing of the movie and reading. "It was just perfect," enthused Grossmeyer of the event, which was held at the theater. "We would probably do this again."
At Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass., more than 100 people (including Weich's parents) paid $10 apiece to see the film and hear John Papernick, Pamela Painter and Elizabeth Benedict read original short stories written expressly for the event about the first night of a marriage. Moderator Christopher Castellani also read a story by Tufts lecturer Ted Weesner, whose 600-word piece won first prize in the store's "First Time" writing contest sponsored in conjunction with the film.
Random House underwrote production costs for Ian McEwan: On Chesil Beach, which was a collaboration between Weich and music video director and producer Doug Biro (Herbie Hancock Possibilities and Dave Matthews Band: The Central Park Concert). The Out of the Book film includes interviews with McEwan; his editor, Nan Talese; book critics both American and British; and bookseller Jessica Stockton at McNally Robinson Booksellers in New York City.
Now that the first wave of showings has taken place, more bookstores will be incorporating the film into their events series, and Emerging Theaters movie houses will also be showing it in the coming weeks. In addition, Powell's is selling the DVD on its Web site and in its stores, and is acting as a wholesaler for interested retailers.
Weich is not saying what's next for Out of the Book other than that a film is planned for the fall and another for the winter. He is already talking with interested publishers to find the right holiday title.
