Tag: Platform

As an author (SUGAR SHOCK!), I’m often awed and intrigued by the brilliant marketing moves of fellow authors.
To pay homage to my fellow Author-Preneurs (a word I coined to convey or entrepreneurial stance) — and to help these authors build a buzz — I plan to periodically feature the clever marketing gimmicks of savvy authors in a new feature here, on my Sugar Shock Blog.
Today, I invite you to learn about David Mathison, author of the hot-selling book, Be The Media, who has launched an outrageous campaign to beat former Vice President Al Gore’s book sales record at a particular northern California bookstore.
BeTheMedia_Cover_Animation3.jpg Currently, Gore holds the record for book sales at an author event at the popular Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California. But this Sunday, March 28, 2010, Mathison is setting his sights on breaking Gore’s record.
“If George Bush could beat him, so can I,” declares a confident Mathison, who self-published Be The Media in 2009 to help teach the secrets of independent media to authors, musicians, filmmakers, bloggers, TV/radio hosts and vloggers so that they can inexpensively and widely distribute their message.
To create a buzz for just one book signing by seeking to rival a celebrity’s turnout is brilliant book marketing in action. Because, let’s face it, many authors dread or fret about book signings, because they never know how many fans will show up.
What’s especially clever about Mathison’s marketing ploy is that he’s also encouraging fans based outside of California to help. He invites anyone — from around the world — to buy Be the Media right at his website. He even promises to personally autograph each book. And if you buy a bunch of copies of Be the Media (i.e., be a contributing donor), you can even win lunch with the author, take a photo with a life-size Al Gore, or discuss the invention of the Internet.
According to Mathison, “Diehard Be The Media activists and special guests will rally from noon to 4 pm outside the bookstore. From 4 to 5 pm, Mathison will deliver the same keynotes he gave in December 2009 and January 2010 to the United Nations.”
As if that wasn’t original enough, Mathison is now live streaming the pre-book-signing goings-on at his website, BeTheMedia.org, so supporters from across the globe can cheer him on and support his cause. The author even “promises to eat, drink, sleep, talk, and filibuster until he beats Gore.” He even confidently proclaims: “Once Gore sees me closing in on the record,” he says, “I’m sure he’ll concede.”