The Stories Behind Some Autumn Hits
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By Sally Lodge -- Publishers Weekly, 11/5/2009 12:05:00 PM
In this busy fall selling season, several recently released children’s books are moving quite quickly out of the gate. Here we’ll take a look at factors fueling the early success of five titles: Blood of the Witch and Fang of the Vampire, which launch Tommy Donbavand’s Scream Street series (Candlewick); Ruined by Paula Morris (Scholastic/Point); Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster); and Day Is Done by Peter Yarrow, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Sterling).
The stories behind these successes vary, but early in-house enthusiasm about the books appears to be a common thread. Smart marketing has also played a role in effectively spreading word of the books, as most publishers are aggressively pitching the titles where they know tween and teen readers are: online. Authors are also doing their part, both by crafting plots with kid-enticing themes and characters and by promoting their works through various venues.
Scream Street
British author Tommy Donbavand is an energetic master of digital marketing initiatives, blasting news online about his Scream Street series, which Candlewick launched in August with two titles. This middle-grade series centers on a boy who turns into a werewolf on his 10th birthday and moves to Scream Street, where he befriends a vampire and a mummy.
Donbavand wrote the content for Candlewick’s dedicated Web site, which includes numerous interactive features and links for kids to subscribe to monthly “Screamcast” podcasts and “Terror Times,” a monthly e-newsletter. The author also promotes Scream Street prominently on Twitter, on his own Web site and on a new Web site that also offers news of other authors writing in the same genre.
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Donbavand signs book for a fan |
The books are reportedly moving well in both the trade and mass market and Candlewick has accelerated its publishing schedule for the next two books: Heart of the Mummy is due next February and Flesh of the Zombie will pub in April. Two additional Scream Street titles are due in late summer or fall 2010.
“We feel there is a real desire in the marketplace for a fresh alternative to Goosebumps, which Scholastic continues to do well with,” says Mendelson. “Scream Street is targeted to a slightly younger audience. It’s funny and scary, but not too frightening.” Indeed, Donbavand seems to do a good job of balancing the funny and the scary: in one of several online videos he has created, he himself appears to morph into a werewolf as he explains Scream Street’s premise.
Ruined
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Paula Morris and her novel at |
In another successful viral campaign advertised on two radio stations and on the stations’ Web sites, readers were invited to enter a sweepstakes for concert tickets by reading and blogging about Ruined. This initiative delivered 9.6 million impressions. A video featuring an interview with Morris was distributed via several Web sites, including YouTube.
Scholastic, which initially printed 15,000 copies of Ruined, has returned to press twice, for an in-print total of 25,000 copies. Scholastic Book Fairs will carry the book beginning in August 2010, which will account for a paperback printing of some 150,000 copies.
A New Orleans resident, Morris has made appearances at local bookstores and was interviewed by various media outlets in that city. Commenting on the novel’s promising start, Leslie Garych, Scholastic’s v-p, trade and marketing, says, “Paula Morris’s expertise of New Orleans history and setting combined with strong characters, mystery, romance, and paranormal elements make Ruined a stand-out YA read. The online community seemed a perfect fit to embrace such a multi-faceted YA title, and regional events and media interest helped to get people talking.”
Hush, Hush
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Becca Fitzpatrick. |
The publisher has been anything but hush-hush about the novel from the start. Early in-house excitement led executive editor Emily Meehan to acquire the book at auction. “From the moment people read the manuscript in-house, we knew we had something special,” Meehan recalls. “And when it started selling in country after country—I think rights have now been sold in 13 countries—we really knew we were on to something.”
In May, an in-house e-book buzz campaign alerting all S&S departments about the novel was followed by a teaser mailing to
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S&S Canada brought Hush, Hush to Toronto in October with a chalk-art mural drawn by local legend Chalkmaster Dave. Pedestrians at the corner of Yonge and Dundas watched Dave recreate the jacket image while wing-wearing assistants handed out feather-shaped bookmarks. |
S&S’s considerable outreach to the library and education markets will continue at the NCTE conference in Philadelphia later this month, where Fitzpatrick will sign books. The author made a handful of bookstore appearances in October and will embark on a tour of Houston, Dallas and Austin in January; and on a joint tour with Lisa McMann. author of Gone, to Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego in February. And fans of Hush, Hush will be happy to learn that a sequel, Crescendo, is scheduled for fall 2010 release.
Day Is Done
Author and illustrator publicity is clearly driving the success of Peter Yarrow’s Day Is Done, illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet, which Sterling published in October. The book, which has already returned to press, currently has 125,000 copies in print and debuted on PW’s picture book bestseller list in the top slot on October 19.
Derry Wilkins, Sterling’s manager of children’s publicity, is currently on the road with Yarrow on the second leg of his tour for Day Is Done, which—well, at the end of the day—will have brought him to some 25 markets across the country. Some of Yarrow’s bookstore appearances have attracted hundreds of fans, reports Wilkins, many of whom remember Yarrow as a member of the 1960s trio Peter, Paul & Mary. “Part of the draw is certainly that people want to come see this person who was part of such an iconic music group,” she says.
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Peter Yarrow, performing at a reading |
Yarrow’s 2007 picture book with Lenny Lipton, Puff the Magic Dragon, illustrated by Eric Puybaret, is also likely feeding the impressive size of the audiences on his current tour, according to Wilkins. “Booksellers, educators and librarians fell in love with that book when it debuted and I think many people are coming to these events because of that book,” she says. “And now they are embracing Day Is Done as well.”
Scream Street: Fang of the Vampire and Blood of the Witch by Tommy Donbavand. Candlewick, $5.99 each paper ISBN 978-0-7636-4607-3 -4608-0
Ruined by Paula Morris. Scholastic Point, $16.99 ISBN 978-0-545-042145-4
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Simon & Schuster, $17.99 ISBN 978-1-4169-8941-7
Day Is Done by Peter Yarrow, illus. by Melissa Sweet. Sterling, $16.95 ISBN 978-1-4027-4806-6
