For Immediate Release
Contact: Tina Jordan
Ph: 212.255.0200 ext. 263
tjordan@publishers.org
From Jon Stewart and Martha Stewart to John Lithgow and Rachael Ray,
Authors Lend Support to Unprecedented Campaign
Promoting Book Gifting During the Holidays and Throughout the Year
December 11, 2008, New York, NY — Book publishers and their authors have collaborated to create a first-of-its-kind multimedia book campaign, “BooksAreGreatGifts.com.” “BooksAreGreatGifts.com” offers a host of entertaining, funny, and thoughtful reasons why books make the perfect gift for every holiday throughout the year. An industry-wide effort facilitated by the national publishing trade organization, Association of American Publishers, the campaign was established in response to the economic downturn and changing climate in retail-driven markets as a way of stimulating traffic to retail and online booksellers.
The centerpiece of the campaign is a video produced by Random House Inc. featuring the well known public figures above, joined by fellow authors from a number of AAP member publishers, including Maya Angelou, Jonathan Lethem, Frank McCourt, Christopher Paolini, Jim Cramer, Alec Baldwin, and Barbara Walters, amongst others. The website will also aggregate links to industry resources which include publisher sites that spotlight other creative content marketing books as great gifts, bestseller lists, Facebook pages, and reading group networks. The effort signifies a collaborative “first” in trade publishing, bringing multiple publishers and their authors together with the retail community. Participating publishers include Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Hyperion Books, John Wiley & Sons, Penguin Group (USA), Random House, Inc., Simon & Schuster, St. Martin’s Press, and W.W. Norton.
The video can be viewed through a link on the BooksAreGreatGifts.com website or streamed here on YouTube. Retailers across the country have already begun sharing the video with their customers to drive consumers into their virtual and physical stores. Expanded Books, a media distributor connecting publishers and booksellers to potential clients, has also agreed to distribute pro bono the author video to major online resources such as MSN and Yahoo, and leading Spanish television outlet Univision will promote book gifting at upcoming programs hosted by Jorge Ramos.
Acting as a springboard for promoting book gifting year-round, the “BooksAreGreatGifts.com” campaign will promote video PSAs featuring additional authors participating in the campaign in 2009. Special events and supplementary activities and events are being planned for next year.
“BooksAreGreatGifts.com is like the best political campaigns—the industry and the nation are getting caught up in the momentum of a simple message that can be shared and embraced with overwhelming support,” says Pat Schroeder, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers.
Mrs. Schroeder adds, “Consumers have their budgets in mind this holiday season, and we want to remind them that books provide one of the best values in entertainment hours per dollar spent. They’re larger and cheaper than an iPod, smaller and cheaper than a flat screen TV, and there is no shortage of great stories—from romance, to mystery, to politics, to cooking.”
“The BooksAreGreatGifts.com campaign is certainly not your typical awareness campaign,” says Mrs. Schroeder. “Our advertising budget is limited, so we are fortunate to have great publishing houses, fabulous authors, and other talent pooling their resources to launch this campaign on a dime to get the nation reading.”
A transcript of the Author Video can be accessed here.
About the AAP
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.
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