Henry Holt Experiments With Online Marketing: A Q&A With Marketing Director Richard Rhorer
In addition to generating interest in the title, Rhorer also pulled focus-group information from those in attendance. He tells Book Business Extra that the event was just one of several new digital options Holt is utilizing to help create buzz for its upcoming releases.
Book Business Extra: What did you get out of the recent experience on MeetUp.com?
Richard Rhorer: [This] was just a … small experiment we were conducting. If we offered the book early, how many people would take us up on it? How many people would show up beyond just getting a book [in the mail]? … We had hoped that these people would have Facebook or MySpace profiles and blogs. We did see people who went to that [MeetUp.com event] writing on their blogs about it. That was one outcome we hoped would happen. In terms of the focus group, it helped us as we prepare the final book descriptions for the back panel of the jacket. It was very instructional.