About literature for social change, about the publishing industry...my musings

[OneGrassRoot]

I love to give books as gifts. As with all purchases, I also like to feel comfortable with the company selling and/or making the product. If they are known to give a portion of proceeds to reputable nonprofits, that's even better.

When it comes to books, I don't recall seeing cause-related marketing on a large scale.

I just finished ghostwriting a novel, partially set in New Orleans, and this thought came to mind once again. But it's my interest as a consumer that keeps bringing me back to this issue of cause-related marketing.

What are your thoughts as a potential consumer about a book (or, better yet, publishing imprint) associated with reputable local and/or national/international nonprofits? Each sale would benefit a nonprofit and corresponding educational information could be found on the book/publisher's website for more involvement.

If anyone is familiar with Participant Productions (producer of "Good Night and Good Luck," "Syriana" and other "message" movies), the idea would translate over into the publishing industry.

There are many ways this could develop to increase interaction and awareness, all based around the marketing of each book released by such an imprint (and depending upon the message of each book), but what is your initial reaction to such an approach? Positive, negative or neutral?

I would greatly appreciate your thoughts. I've had this idea in mind for the last 10 years and have recently begun to research the possibility as it pertains to the publishing and bookselling industries. I'm not a purist. I would like to see much less consumerism in general, but would settle for more thought going into what is purchased and how the product affects this world from cradle to grave.

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Based upon an interaction in the Fiction Group, the following are my opinions and observations about the publishing industry, a take-off from my question about cause-related book publishing above.

With the advent of the Internet and self-publishing, there certainly are many more options for authors nowadays. However, the self-publishing industry is now so large that one must have a brilliant way to stand out from the crowd. Depending upon the genre, there are a myriad of ways to go. Marketing a self-published nonfiction book is much easier, as it's easier to do niche marketing based upon the topic. For that same reason, traditional publishing has trended much more strongly toward publishing nonfiction for the same reasoon (and, to my dismay, simply by jumping on the celebrity bandwagon as the primary source of who they're publishing). HOWEVER, my experience has primarily been in nonfiction until recently, and I believe nonfiction is facing real battles. As more and more people learn to get information online, there is less and less of a need to purchase these books. I used to buy lots of nonfiction of all types; now, I spend an hour or so online and can get the same information.

Most agree that only the traditional large publishing houses have the marketing muscle and money to rocket a book to the top, so that's still the Holy Grail for most. HOWEVER, even then, they publish so few (in relation to the manuscripts they purchase) that their marketing efforts are geared to essentially a handful; they'll eventually take a look at any promise shown by a not-so-heavily-marketed novel when they evaluate where to put their efforts when it comes to paperback release, so sometimes a diamond in the rough can get a second wind.

Niche marketing seems to be the key, even for novels...then broadening the marketing efforts through word of mouth. I'm a huge fan of grassroots efforts of all types, which is why I think in this direction and am trying to come up with a marketing plan - a rather generic yet focused plan which could apply to any books I'm involved with (editor, researcher, ghostwriter, etc.).

Another interesting point is that, regardless of whether an author/agent is approaching a small, mid or large publishing house, having a marketing plan already developed is often required before they'll really look at your manuscript.

So, after a writer has poured blood, sweat and tears (literally) into a novel, nowadays it's largely up to him/her to develop a marketing plan. Even if a world-class agent or publisher expresses an interest, the reality that it could be purchased yet never published is very real unless the author has a very proactive plan in place.

Granted, if one has time and patience (which, admittedly, I no longer feel I have at this age and this particular time in my life...I'm extremely tired), one could slowly develop an online campaign (myspace, a presence on messageboards to tout the book/author, etc., etc.).

I'm typing these thoughts out, hoping for an "aha" moment about a marketing plan, a completely novel (no pun attended) approach.

Since what I speak of is essentially literature for social change (the literature itself, as well as the way it is marketed and sold to the public), I Googled those four words. It is what I have an interest in: it's what I like to read and what I like to write. The novel I just finished is entertaining, yet hopefully thought provoking. There is an overarching social message. It's set up to be a four-part series, with the first novel taking on the parallel between the African diaspora and what many call the Katrina diaspora. White power against people of color which is now a centuries-old theme. (There's an interesting thread in GD about the world view and how Obama being elected would be a seismic shift in how the world views the US.) The other three address longstanding conflicts (male vs. female, ancient wisdom vs. modern thought, East vs. West).

Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors, one of my favorite people. She is a huge proponent of literature for social change. See the Bellwether Prize.

http://www.bellwetherprize.org/change.html

I thought you might want to check out this site and any links it may provide if you have an interest in reading and/or writing such novels.

http://www.socialit.org /

As always, thanks for reading and allowing me a space to ramble!

:hi: