Dean Koontz's Marketing

Before I get to Dean Koontz, a quick update on the Big Honkin' Chickens Club web page. I've now added html code for easy copy and paste of the logo into your own blog.

Now for the big DK. As someone who's always got an eye out for interesting marketing ideas, I think Koontz's email updates are very effective. (You can sign up for them here.) Koontz always displays his typical sense of humor as he tells about his upcoming book. Currently that would be Odd Hours, #4 about his popular Odd Thomas character, who sees dead people. Including some famous ones, such as Elvis. And just ordinary critters, such as a dog. (Although Koontz would surely contend with my calling any canine "ordinary.") Often Odd's dead people appear because they want some sort of justice.

Odd's a young, likable guy, quite self effacing. Carries deep pain of his own (the story in book #1.) Between book s3 and 4, Odd apparently had another adventure, one that his pal Koontz decided not to put into a book, but rather tell through a series of webisodes. Koontz's first e-newsletter about Odd Hours carried a link to the first webisode. Of course, it ends with a cliffhanger. The second was put up about a week later, noticed by a second email. Now there's a third. I'm waiting for the grand finale to go live.

Very cool marketing. An interesting tactic. Not even focusing on Odd Hours itself, but the character of Odd. The idiosyncrasies of that character are so compelling that it makes you excited for book 4.

You can view the webisodes here.