With the books printed and event dates confirmed, it might be tempting to think that the work for a specific project is nearly done.
Tempting, sure, but also misleading and inaccurate.
At this point, the Ninth Day team is still knee-deep—or possibly even waist-deep—in the middle of our marketing and sales push. We are in the process of confirming new readings and events for Ruth (more details coming soon!), and we have started planning out games and activities for the launch. Since any event with Ruth tends to involve interactive presentations and exciting costume changes, we want to capitalize on that and host something a little more than your average launch.
In addition to continuing outreach efforts with the identified audience for the book, the team and I are busy creating brand new spreadsheets full of reviewers and other contacts we might have missed the first time around. We are incredibly fortunate that John Hartman’s Transmedia Marketing class has taken on The Ninth Day and corresponding Blue Thread universe for their final project assignment, which means that we have an entire extra classroom worth of marketing-minded Ooligan students thinking about the most effective ways to engage Ruth’s audience with her book. This week, I have the pleasure of sitting in on that class with Ruth and brainstorming new strategies for the books. Stay tuned for all the details on this meeting and more later on this week!