How National Geographic Books turned a TV movie into a book in just three months

By Matt Steinmetz

“We’ve had quite a bit of success with this technique. It yields up to 5 million impressions,” says Chamblee. “The nice thing about it is the actual radio host is the person that reads your advertising. So you’re sort of connecting with the listener, because their own host is [talking about the book]. And if the host likes your book, they might go on and on talking about it.”

Getting visibility in the academic and library markets was the next key, she says. NGB reached out to professors of religious studies at universities across the country. As a result, the book appeared in an April e-newsletter for religious colleges. Chamblee adds that it also will be included in a religion brochure that goes out to the academic market, and the book will be featured at the American Academy of Religion Conference in November.

In the library market, the book is being included in a May e-newsletter that goes out to about 5,000 U.S. librarians. NGB is also in the process of sending out review copies of the book to the top 50 library system collection specialists. “These are the libraries that really have purchasing power,” says Chamblee.

Nontraditional Marketing Efforts
Chamblee acknowledges that the unprecedented turnaround time of “In God’s Name”—the quickest ever for any NGB book—forced her to get creative with the title’s marketing campaign. Because there wasn’t enough time to advertise in print magazines to effectively support a March release of the book, Chamblee turned her attention to the Internet.

For starters, her team has successfully pursued a number of arrangements with national religious organizations featured in the book, like the Southern Baptist Convention, which will permit e-mail blasts promoting “In God’s Name” to be sent to their members.

But what truly sets apart the campaign of “In God’s Name” from other NGB books’ marketing efforts was the launch of a Facebook page. “As we were doing our research, we were amazed by how many religious and spiritual organizations are reaching their followers and other interested people through Facebook,” Chamblee says. “So … we thought this would be a great way to reach out and leave no stone unturned.”