Barnes & Noble promotes 'Matterhorn' release with e-mail-focused effort
Barnes & Noble is running a Web-focused campaign to promote the March 23 release of Matterhorn, a book published by Grove/Atlantic and El León Literary Arts. The retailer is employing e-mail, paid search, banner ads on BarnesandNoble.com, in-store signage and social media to promote the book, written by Marine Corps veteran Karl Marlantes.
Barnes & Noble will prominently feature Matterhorn in the March 23 edition of the weekly e-mail it sends to customers.
“We want to help this book reach as many readers as possible, and our e-mails are a great way to introduce new titles,” said Patricia Bostelman, VP of marketing at Barnes & Noble.
Although the retailer has promoted the book in e-mails since January, it will feature it front and center in the message for March 23, the day of its release. Barnes & Noble will also use its Twitter feed to promote Matterhorn.
The campaign targets readers of military fiction, Vietnam War-era fiction and readers of Barbara Kingsolver, who are interested in emotional and human-interest stories, said Bostelman. She declined to disclose other details of the e-mail portions of the campaign.
“Books that are successful in the marketplace are books that cross audiences,” she added.
Written more than 35 years ago, Matterhorn was published through Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers program, a 20-year-old initiative that encourages undiscovered writers to submit their manuscripts. El León, a small publishing house in Berkley, CA, released a small distribution of the book last May. The upcoming edition, however, will gain wider release through Barnes & Noble's program.
“The readers here fell in love with the book and recognized that we would not be able to support it unless it had a larger publisher,” said Bostelman, about use of the Discover Great New Writers Program. “El León knew they had a wonderful book but knew they didn't have the reach to get it out to all of the readers that would want to read it.”
