Monday, April 17, 2006

Kanner Lake Marketing Project


Dear BGs (for you newcomers, that stands for bloggees, or blog readers):

As many of you know, my Kanner Lake suspense series launches in August with Violet Dawn. This series is a departure from my current Hidden Faces series, injecting elements of my Seatbelt Suspense into a small-town community with eclectic and colorful characters. Each of the three books will feature a different protagonist from within this group.

The Story Behind the Story

Kanner Lake is a fictional town, population 1700, around a fictional lake of the same name, in the panhandle of Idaho--a pristine area of mountains, lakes and forest. A friendly town, a great place for community. Tourists stay in the B&Bs around the lake, coming for snow sports in the winter and water sports in the summer. The first few blocks of Main Street host numerous shops, patronized by locals and tourists alike. The fave hangout is Java Joint, run by Bailey Truitt.

Some interesting folks hang out at Java Joint. There’s Ted Dawson, known as S-Man, aspiring science fiction writer who’s so buried in his world of Sauria that the cafĂ© could practically burn down around him and he wouldn’t realize it. S-Man looks like Stephen King in his early thirties. Wilbur Hucks, seventy-seven-year-old town curmudgeon, is mighty proud of his lengthy scar from recent heart surgery—and insists on showing it off to everybody. Good ol’ boy Hank Detcher is pastor of New Community Church. Carla Radling, a savvy realtor in her late twenties, is forever arguing with Wilbur. Retired Jake Tremaine, buggy-eyed and big-eared, loves to gossip. Leslie Brymes, twenty-year-old newspaper reporter is gunning to go TV national—and ain’t nothin’ gonna stop her. And of course there’s mother hen Bailey, Java Joint owner in her fifties.

In June of 2006, young newcomer Paige Williams quietly slips into town, looking to build a new life.

Bailey’s wonderful husband is unable to work due to health reasons. And she desperately needs more business at Java Joint to pay the bills. In early July she hits on an idea to draw more tourists to her beloved Kanner Lake and thereby increase her business. She sets up a blog, Scenes and Beans: Life in Kanner Lake, Idaho, brought to you by Java Joint coffee shop on Main. Bailey enlists the help of her Java Joint regulars and other town denizens to write entertaining posts about their lives. The first post, written by Bailey, goes up Wednesday, July 5.

Then, on July 22, tragedy strikes.

Back cover copy to Violet Dawn:
----------------------
Something sinuous brushed against Paige’s knee. She jerked her leg away.


What was that?

She rose to a sitting position, groped around with her left hand. Fine wisps wound themselves around her fingers.

Hair?

She yanked backward, but the tendrils clung. Something solid bumped her wrist.

Paige gasped. With one frantic motion she shook her arm free, grabbed the side of the hot tub, and heaved herself out . . .

Paige Williams slips into her hot tub in the blackness of night—and finds herself face to face with death.

Alone, terrified, fleeing a dark past, Paige must make an unthinkable choice.

In Violent Dawn, hurtling events and richly drawn characters collide in a breathless story of murder, revenge and the need to belong. One woman’s secrets unleash an entire town’s pursuit, and the truth proves as elusive as the killer in their midst.
----------------------------

Suddenly Kanner Lake becomes national news, all right, but hardly in the way Bailey had hoped. People across the country, fascinated with the Kanner Lake trauma, become avid readers of Java Joint’s Scenes and Beans. Bailey is more than a little upset about the negative publicity. She doesn’t want the blog to become a lurid reporting place for insider news on the crime. She lays down the law to all her friends who write posts—they’re not allowed to comment on any of the crime events in Kanner Lake, other than obliquely. “Life in Kanner Lake goes on,” she tells them. “Write about your own experiences.”

And so they continue to write their posts, in real time according to events in the three books of the Kanner Lake series. These posts, while they may vaguely mention the triple traumas that eventually hit the town, major on the bloggers’ own escapades—whether recent or in childhood. In no way do they give away any of the plot points within Violet Dawn or the next two books in the series.

Of course, much of the above backstory does not appear in Violet Dawn. That story is far too busy with . . . other things. Some of it will become clear, however, through the Scenes and Beans blog.

Your Part and Perks

The Scenes and Beans posts will be written by readers of the Kanner Lake series (with final editing done by me). Posts will be fun, creative, highly entertaining. In the beginning, ten or eleven characters will trade off writing Monday through Friday, meaning each will post about twice a month. The blog will look completely real. It will have a link to the Kanner Lake Web site, which will feature information on the suspense series and blog.

To launch this real-time “play,” I’m looking for actors who are willing to commit to writing no more than two posts a month for a particular character from July to December of this year. After that time, the blog will open up to readers of Violet Dawn and subsequent books in the series, and any reader can submit a post for possible use on the site.

Zondervan is providing 50 galleys of Violet Dawn to be sent to those who’d like to audition for a character role by submitting a post. These galleys are now ready, which means those 50 who audition will get a three- to four-month-early read of Violet Dawn. Those who land a role will also receive:

1. a cobalt blue coffee mug with the Java Joint logo
2. two signed copies of Violet Dawn when it releases
3. credit for the role on the Kanner Lake Web site, with a link to their own Web site or blog

Auditioning posts will be judged on creativity and entertainment factors. It’s possible that a character role could be awarded to more than one auditioner, which would mean less posts for those actors to write. However, the perks mentioned above would remain the same.

Zondervan is highly committed to nationally publicizing the Kanner Lake series. They have hired an outside publicist for Violet Dawn. (One of the possibilities the publicist and I have discussed is a catered, invitation-only launch party in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in late August.) Much of the media attention for Violet Dawn will center around the “real-time” Scenes and Beans blog. The more that publicity drives people to read the blog, the more those “actors” involved will benefit by having their names and personal sites listed as participants on the linked Kanner Lake Web site. So--want your name and Web site/blog noticed by new people? Write some dynamite posts for Scenes and Beans that get folks talking.

The Scenes and Beans blog will continue through publication of all three books in the Kanner Lake series.

Scenes and Beans is now up with a temporary look until it goes live. (Once the Kanner Lake Web site is professionally designed and launched, Scenes and Beans will have a similar appearance.) You will see the Java Joint logo at the site now—that much will stay. If you’re interested in auditioning, please go to
Scenes and Beans to see additional information and the steps involved. Step one, of course, is reading Violet Dawn to get a feel for the characters. I promised you BGs first chance at participation in this idea. That means you’ll be the first to request the 50 galleys for auditions. After a few days I will open up auditions to others if there are any remaining galleys.

Wanna step into the Kanner Lake experience? See you over at
Scenes and Beans.

10 comments:

Stuart said...

Ok so it's not really ghost writing, but I think the lucky fan writers should call themselves "The Ghosts of Kanner Lake". Ya know, just to go with the whole suspense thing. ;)

Really look forward to seeing how this all works out.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go catch my brain and stick it back in my head.

Jason said...

Congrats S-man (Stuart). You've got your part.

I think this is an awesome idea. Where did this marketing campaign come from, Zondervan, or yourself?

I think I wore out my "refresh" button this morning.

Val said...

Woah! Fantastic idea, Brandilyn! This is going to be a blast, both to participate in and to watch.

:-)

Southern-fried Fiction said...

How much fun! I'm on my way over to the Java Joint to audition!

Scrambled Dregs said...

Great idea.....


Let's nominate Forensics and Faith for Writers Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers.

See instructions below.



Best Web sites for 2005

It's our annual roundup of Web sites you'll want to bookmark to improve your writing skills, find new markets and get the word out about your writing.

You use the Internet for fast access to the information you need. So don't spend hours searching for the perfect writing Web sites—read our list of sites to find the best the Web has to offer, then get back to your own writing.

Here's our seventh annual listing of the 101 best sites for writers. We read more than 400 nominations, visited the sites and chose our favorites in 12 categories: articles, tips and discussion boards; creativity; general resources; genres; jobs; just for fun; media resources; niches; online writing and critique groups; online writing groups offering classes; organizations; and publishing resources. New this year: We've added a "YW" symbol if the site offers something for young writers.

Check out our list, then send your comments or nominations for next year to writersdig@fwpubs.com with "101 Sites" as the subject line.

Domino said...

Scenes and Beans? This is so extremely cool!

Love it!

David Meigs said...

This looks like so much fun.

Bonnie S. Calhoun said...

This looks fabulous...Brandilyn you did it again!I wish I had your ability to think these kind of things up! Wow....how cool!

M. C. Pearson said...

Oh boy! This sounds like fun. Bonnie Calhoun sent me over here to joing up...so I better get to it, eh?

Anonymous said...

I'm new to F&F, and in fact to Brandilyn as well. I just heard about her from an interview done by Eric Wilson who gave her high praise for her writings.(And just when I was looking for something new to read.) I love the S&B blog tie in concept! What a chance for the series to grow in to something more and offer more "hooks" to Christ and tring to live in the real, and imaginary, world!

What fun! Thanks!