‘The Green Book’ Uses Celebs, Tips to Appeal to the Public

In addition, Crown has partnered with a number of mainstream Web sites to offer content from the book in the form of tip-a-day features. Dow Jones Online and Seventeen.com are among the partners promoting the book by incorporating these tips into their sites’ offerings. Choteborsky says Crown also has planned “extensive cross-promotion” with a new environmental Web site, Sprig.com—a sister site of MSNBC, Slate.com and The Washington Post.

A signature effort
“The Green Book” features a carefully crafted cover design in which its logo—a white, cursive “g”—is the only element of the cover appearing in a color unique to the rest of the cover.

“The idea is that people will recognize that the logo has something to do with the green movement and pick up the book because of that connection,” Choteborsky says. “When we saw the logo, it was kind of an ‘ah-ha!’ moment, where we realized we could use that logo in our e-mail blasts, signature campaigns and on all of our publicity materials to make it something that’s recognizable even outside the book. We think the logo is something that screams earth, unity [and] green … and we want people to see it and wonder, ‘What is that about?’”

Additionally, Crown hopes to partner with businesses looking to embrace their own environmentally sound initiatives.

“There are so many companies going green right now that we think this is the perfect book for them to support their initiatives by giving the book to their employees and spreading its message,” Choteborsky says.

She adds that the publisher has high hopes for “The Green Book,” and that its initial print run was 100,000 copies. “We want to reach as broad an audience as possible in order to help make a difference and make an impact on this global crisis.”