High-Tech Awards, Low-Tech Contest
By Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 4/21/2009 12:50:00 PM
While Unbridled Books is hoping booksellers will use some old-fashioned skills to win high-tech instruments, NetGalley is hoping to encourage them to read e-galleys, as the two companies partner to promote Last Night in Montreal, an Unbridled June release. As part of the contest, a Sony Reader will be awarded to each of three U.S. booksellers who creates the best handselling pitches for Emily St. John Mandel’s debut novel. The contest runs from May 1 to June 1, and the three best pitches will be posted on Unbridled’s Web site, as well as shared with media and on social networking sites.
“This is a book that lends itself well to e-galleys,” Caitlin Hamilton Summie, Unbridled’s marketing director, said. “It had a lot of bookseller support, and a lot of those booksellers expressed their support on Twitter. They’re interested in technology.”
Summie told said that the press posted Last Night in Montreal on NetGalley’s Web site six weeks ago after running out of 560 print galleys; so far, there have been 30 requests for the e-galley from media and booksellers. Last Night in Montreal is Unbridled’s first foray into e-galleys; all of the press’s six new fall releases are now available on NeGalley, though print galleys are not yet available.
