"Mockingjay: Part One" Making a Marketing Splash

As any Hunger Games fan will be, I'm super excited about the freshly released promo trailer for Mockingjay: Part One. While the video doesn't actually show any scenes from the upcoming film (in theaters Nov. 21!), it gets the excitement brewing! (As do the recently publicized District posters!)

People.com has the scoop:

Although the third film based on Suzanne Collins's novels in The Hunger Games franchise won't be released until Nov. 21, the Capitol is determined to make sure you're on its side way before then.

After recently revealing their propaganda posters, the Capitol has now released an "official Panem Address" urging its people to remain "together as one."

"Your hard work feeds us," says Panem's President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland). "And in return we feed and protect you." 

Snow knows that war is coming and is prepared to do whatever it takes to win – including using Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), who was captured by The Capitol at the end of Catching Fire, as a prop in his propaganda campaign. 

See the original post HERE 

Guest Blogger, Allison Pang: Cover Me

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

We hear that all the time, but the truth of it is that covers *do* matter. Like it or not, many readers often use covers to determine the “quality” of a book, even if what’s on the outside isn’t indicative of the inside. I know when I browse bookstores, my eye is usually drawn to particular types of covers, and on a shelf with hundreds of potential stories, I’m going to go to the ones that attract my attention first.

Not that it’s always a match.

I’m sure we’ve all found books with fabulous covers that were dogs inside…and discovered gems with lousy covers. Given the sheer number of books and eBooks out there, I do think that we tend to gauge the professionalism of a book by the care given to the outer shell.

This is probably particularly true in the self-published realm. You see a lot of advice given about editing, but it’s also fairly common to see requests to not skimp on the cover.

So what makes a good cover? What makes a bad cover?

The thing is, with some obvious exceptions, it’s hard to really tell. What one person finds appealing, another may not. What publishers are trying to bank on is finding a cover that will appeal to the largest range of potential buyers.

Which is great – but that’s when we start seeing trends. When I look over my bookshelves, I can almost immediately pick out which fantasy books were from the late 80’s – simply due to the style of the images, and the fact that they’re all done by 2 or 3 artists who were fairly popular back in the day. (Lots of dragons and scantily clad women, of course.) Or bodice ripper romances graced with manly men and women falling out of their clothes? (And random animals in the background and huge swirly fonts proclaiming Scarlet Something, or Heated Whatever.)

Take Urban Fantasy today – how many covers have kick-ass women in leather? Or shirtless men with abs of steel for Paranormal Romance? (and how many covers have we seen lately where it’s not even an entire person? Just an abdomen, glistening in the moonlight?)

And then there’s sometimes a bit of reader backlash. (And sometimes mockery. Just check out WTFbadromancecovers.tumblr.com if you want to see what I mean.)

They want something different, but how can they find that different book when they all start to look the same? And if I had to ask you, what cover have you seen in the last few years that instantly became a trendsetter? That you would recognize on sight?

For me, there are very few. Maybe Twilight, which I’ve never read, but the minimalist color scheme and stark background make for immediate recognition. (And a fair number of copycats afterward.)

It becomes a fine line, really. We want readers to know what sort of book they’re picking up because it makes it easier for them to choose what to read – I’d expect something sexy for an erotic romance, for example. But we also want to have them stand on their own. (God, it’s almost like high school, isn’t it? “Be yourself…but don’t be so different that no one will have anything to do with you!”)

So what are your favorite covers? Most hated covers? What is it about a cover that leads you to buy or read a book? Do covers matter at all?

Note about the blogger (from Danielle!): Allison's second novel in her Abby Sinclair series, A Sliver of Shadow, hits shelves Tuesday, February 28th! The sequel to A Brush of Darkness, it's highly recommended! (You can also read the first chapter excerpt HERE.)

Comment on this post for a chance to receive a set of Abby Sinclair novel bookmarks..and a copy of the new release!

The recipient will be picked at random one week from today--Friday, February 17, at 3 p.m.!

Best Cereal Box Reading EVER

Kids in the UK are very lucky this year. Soon they'll be able to read excerpts from Roald Dahl's award-winning children's books while they munch away on their breakfast. I would've killed for that kind of entertainment as a child!

The author of classic KidLit like Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, and James and the Giant Peach will be appearing on the back of cereal boxes throughout the UK. The excerpts serve as promotional materials for, well, reading.

GalleyCat fills us in:

Penguin UK’s Puffin imprint has cut a deal with Asda to print excerpts from several Roald Dahl titles on cereal boxes. Oddly enough, Dahl once wrote: “Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It’s made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!”

According to The Telegraph, the excerpts will appear in at least ten million Asda brand cereal boxes sold in Asda supermarket chains. The excerpts will be drawn from The Witches, The Twits, The BFG, Danny, the Champion of the World, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Penguin Children’s Books managing director Francesca Dow explained in the article: “There is a real awareness in the publishing world that there is an increasingly tight competition for children’s time, especially from digital activities such as games consoles, as they grow up.”

Read the original post HERE

A New Ploy for Amazon

Amazon's at it again as they try to rake in more Amazon Prime customers by dangling a free Kindle in front of their faces, according to techcrunch.com:

In January Amazon offered select customers a free Kindle of sorts – they had to pay for it, but if they didn’t like it they could get a full refund and keep the device. It turns out that was just a test run for a much more ambitious program. A reliable source tells us Amazon wants to give a free Kindle to every Amazon Prime subscriber.

Just as soon as they can work out how to do it without losing money.

Amazon Prime is a subscription product that gives customers free two-day shipping on everything they buy from Amazon. The current fee is $79/year.

These are Amazon’s very best customers – the ones who tend to make multiple purchases per month. And they are also likely to buy multiple books per month on their Kindle devices. If those users buy enough books, and Amazon gets the production costs of the Kindle down enough, Amazon can get Kindles into “millions” of people’s hands without losing their shirt. At least when the goal is to break even or better over the course of a couple of years, the expected lifetime of a Kindle.

See the article HERE

Now, given that I'm already an Amazon Prime member--and I just bought a Sony e-reader--I couldn't care much less about this potential promotion. (Don't worry, I don't pay to be a Prime member; I'm a member for free by having an Amazon.com Visa card. I couldn't pass up the free two-day shipping.) My initial thought when I read the above article, as uncool as it may be, was "Ooooh something to sell on E-bay!" It's likely that a good number of Amazon Prime members--who are constantly making purchases online, and thus are likely fairly supportive of new technology--already have e-readers, as well. So, I wonder how many of these babies would pop up on E-bay if they follow through with this plan.

But I'm sure for those who don't yet have Amazon Prime, the free Kindle would be a huge draw. Amazon sure knows how to hook 'em.