Last fall, Clerisy Press, a fledgling Cincinnati, Ohio, house run by publishing veteran Richard Hunt, decided to go Hollywood. Excited about a biography of two local pioneering sportsmen/businessmen brothers, Clerisy took a page from the film industry and orchestrated a limited publicity release—not of the New York—L.A. variety, but in Cincinnati and Sarasota, Fla., venues tailored to the book's subject matter. And it has worked beautifully. More than 45,000 copies of Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire That Transformed a Nation by Rusty McClure, with David Stern and Michael A. Banks, have been sold in the past 10 weeks, with 30,000 copies sold in the Greater Cincinnati metro region, 4,000 copies in the Sarasota metro area and the rest sold elsewhere, including 700 copies to date in New York City. Joseph-Beth Booksellers reports that its Cincinnati store alone has sold more than 1,800 copies of the book. Crosley has just gone back to press for a third print run of 15,000 copies. Hunt says he expects to sell "at least" 100,000 copies of Crosley.
"We've got a first-class bestseller on our hands," Hunt said, comparing Crosley to Seabiscuit as "a rich historical portrait of turn-of-the century America."
According to Hunt, Rusty McClure, a grandson of one of the Crosley brothers, drew on his background in retail business and came up with the strategy of jump-starting publicity in Cincy and Sarasota, and then building upon the momentum created by the regional buzz to draw in a national audience for the book.
Crosley "opened" in Cincinnati and Sarasota because of Powel and Lewis Crosley's close ties to both cities. The brothers, both inventors and pioneers during the golden age of radio, lived in Cincinnati, where they ran Crosley Manufacturing, which initially made radios, later expanding to build refrigerators, automobiles (aficionados will know the Crosley Hotshot Roadster) and aircraft. The Crosleys also launched WLW radio out of Cincinnati, which was at one time the most powerful broadcast outlet in the world, broadcasting Voice of America during World War II.
Powel Crosley also owned the Cincinnati Reds baseball club, and he established the Reds' spring training headquarters in Sarasota, near his Florida mansion.
The publicity campaign took full advantage of the Crosley family's connections to the Reds. Pre-publication excerpts were included in the Reds' spring training programs, as well as in the team's regular season yearbook. As the November pub date approached, the Reds proclaimed its September 23 home game against the Chicago Cubs as "Crosley Day." Spectators received 20-page book excerpts inserted in their programs.
Six weeks later, Clerisy took its publicity campaign to the general public. For two weeks in November, billboards all over Cincinnati asked, "How do you know Crosley?"
The first billboard was followed by a second billboard, which declared that Crosley was Cincinnati's "#1 Bestseller" next to a photo of Santa Claus reading it. At the same time, Clerisy saturated the local airwaves with advertising and author interviews.
"Everything was aimed at getting everyone to think of Crosley as this year's Christmas gift," Hunt explained.
Despite a lack of pre-pub attention from the trade (Clerisy did not send out galleys and is only now sending out review copies to consumer media), Crosley landed on the Wall Street Journal's bestselling business book list at #14. Last week, it made Business Week's bestseller list of hardcover business books at #7.
Crosley is only the third title from Clerisy Press, which was founded by Hunt in May, after Emmis Books, which he'd headed for three years, was shut down in March by its Indianapolis-based parent company, broadcast and publishing media giant Emmis Communications. Crosley was originally under contract as an Emmis title, but Hunt was able to bring the book with him.
As many as a dozen other titles that were in production when Emmis shut down will be released as Clerisy titles by the end of this year. As of January 1, Clerisy is partnering with Menasha Ridge Press, a publisher of outdoors and recreation titles. Clerisy will take the lead in marketing and sales while Menasha will concentrate on production and back-office operations. "We'd like to have the [books] we do under Clerisy complement those done under Menasha," said Hunt. The equal partnership, under the name Keen Communications, will be headed by Hunt and by Bob Fehlinger, the founder of Menasha Ridge.
Both presses are distributed by PGW. Obviously, the bankruptcy of PGW parent AMS has been an ordeal for all PGW clients. "It's been relatively grim the last couple months," said Hunt, who addded that the company has signed an agreement to the Perseus offer but is now considering NBN's offer. "We're hanging in there because we trust a resolution is on the horizon. I'm as confident as I can be."
A bankruptcy court is due to pick one of the offers on Feb. 12.
