What Book Publishing Can Learn from Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Confess, Fletch

You don't need an astronomical marketing budget to be successful, but you do need to know your audience.

Over the past few months, ignoring the hype surrounding Barbie and Oppenheimer has been almost impossible. I’ve never quite seen the level of marketing executed as it has been for the Barbie movie. Granted, Warner Bros. had enormous intellectual property to work with and a seemingly “the sky is the limit” promotional budget. It paid off: the film has surpassed the $1 billion mark at the box office. The director, Greta Gerwig, is a genius.

Oppenheimer, on the other hand, is a buzzy film because it is “cinema.” Meaning, classic star power, a male director attached to superhero movies, an awards season bait kind of story, and stunning cinematography. It didn’t hurt that it was made public that Tom Cruise was said to be furious about its release date being so close to MI:7 and that Oppenheimer had been specifically filmed to be shown on IMAX screens—which meant MI:7 couldn’t dominate them.

You’re probably asking yourself what this has to do with book publishing. My answer is: everything.

I: The Consumer Equation:

One of the most under-marketed films of the past year was “Confess, Fletch.” I don’t recall how I learned about it, but I was left scratching my head after watching it (and loving it). What happened with the marketing of this gem of a movie? Who doesn’t want to watch Jon Hamm as Fletch?

The answer lies within an all too common problem in book publishing: knowing the exact audience for a book and figuring out how they’ll discover it. The folks in charge of marketing Confess, Fletch, didn’t know its audience. Here’s a great interview with the film’s director. Funny enough, Jon Hamm wanted to do the movie because he read (a stolen copy) of the book. Many of us in Gen X grew up in the 80s and saw the original “Fletch” starring Chevy Chase. Add to that a certain percentage of the “Mad Men” audience (for those who don’t know, Jon Hamm starred in the series). Now, is that crossover big enough to smash box office records? No, but identifying and targeting this audience wouldn’t have broken the bank. However, it would have required much time and effort, which is not a luxury many creative endeavors are afforded due to chronic understaffing and a focus on big hits.

While it’s true that book publishing has a discovery problem, it is also true that it has a problem identifying the specific consumers who will buy non-blockbuster books. Whenever I read promotional copy that says, “With the same sparkling prose as (insert popular title here), comes (insert title of the new book here),” along with blurbs from people I may/may not have heard of, it is problematic for several reasons: 1) I’ve already read the popular title and want something different. 2) You aren’t telling me what is unique about this book. Instead, you’re telling me the book is like something else. 3) If I’ve never heard of the people who blurbed the book, you’re making me feel inferior and put off. You’re making me feel that perhaps this book isn’t for me. In this case, my question is, do you know your consumer? Maybe you know them as you would someone you met at a cocktail party but can’t quite place their name when you see them again. If this is how you’re acquiring and promoting books, you’re doing it wrong.

Your consumer must become your best friend. You know their taste, how they spend their time, what they like to eat, where they get coffee, what music they prefer, the beauty products they use, and the movies/shows they watch. If your only answer to “Who is the audience for this book?” is based on the audience for a previously published book by a different author, you’d have to know mediocre sales are afoot.

II. Back to Barbie, with a dose of Jennette McCurdy:

I’m not writing about Barbie’s marketing campaign to insinuate that publishing mimic it. Instead, I’m trying to make the point that the film is a fresh take on a known quantity without relying on outdated ideas about Barbie. Further, it has captured a large swath of an audience who never had or played with Barbie dolls. Its message resonates with Gen Z—the toughest marketing demographic. But the movie has achieved something broader, creating a bigger audience for Oppenheimer. “Barbieheimer” is a thing. What’s not a thing is MI: 7. While the film has made a cool $450M, it’s also the second-lowest-grossing installment of the franchise. It’s not exciting, and it’s certainly not Top Gun 2. Gen Z is not going to sit through six previous Mission Impossible installments. They did, however, watch the first Top Gun movie, no doubt partly because their Gen X parents told them to…and they listened.

When we consider other parts of the entertainment industry, it’s sometimes easy to see why one project succeeded when another flopped. In other cases, such as marketing for “Confess, Fletch,” we can see and learn from a missed opportunity.

There is a piece in today’s New York Times about Jennette McCurdy’s status as a bestselling author. Her book, “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” has been on the Times’ bestseller list for 51 weeks. It is mentioned in the article that “Several publishers declined to read the book proposal based on the title alone.” I’m sorry, what? I would’ve read the proposal BECAUSE of the title and because I know how wildly popular Jennette McCurdy was on the show iCarly (my kids and I watched endless hours of it). I’m also aware of McCurdy’s popularity with rap artists (there is a rap song called Jennette McCurdy). Simon & Schuster, who ultimately published the book, sold out of its first printing and left fans waiting for copies. When I read this piece in The Wall Street Journal about it, where a bookseller from Books are Magic said, “Simon & Schuster had not done much to promote it to the store,” I shook my head. Know. Your. Audience.

No rule states the publishing industry shouldn’t analyze how or why another form of entertainment did or didn’t connect with consumers. The problem seems to be that the industry is too caught up in preserving the idea of book publishing. Here’s the thing: you can’t make a profit by being a purist. As an agent, editor, or publisher, you can't operate in a silo of things that only speak to you and the literary community.

I’ve sat in far too many editorial board meetings listening to editors talk about potential books they liked without knowing what consumers like. I’ve also led publicity and marketing departments where, privately, we asked each other why a book was being published because we saw no opportunity or audience for it. Yet, we’d absorb a lot of blame if the book didn’t succeed. Of course, not all editors and publishers are like this, but far too many are, which makes no sense to me.

If you know anything about the internal politics of book publishing, then you’re aware of how difficult it is to argue against the acquisition of a book because you don’t see it working. This is especially true if you work in publicity or marketing. It is even truer if you are a junior employee (who, might I add, know a hell of a lot about the marketplace).

III. Looking Ahead:

Since starting this substack, many people have asked me to write about what does work in promoting books. I don’t write specifically about it because it is what clients pay me to do, and it depends on the book. That said, identifying a specific consumer prototype for various book genres is a place to start. It might look something like this:

Consumer age demographic/income range/geographic location/ethnicity

After identifying the above:

Movies & shows they’d watch/music they’d listen to/brands they’d love/

Don’t do this after you acquire a book. Use it as an exercise while considering an acquisition. You want a meaningful P&L? Use meaningful ways to identify specific consumers.

I’d go into more detail here, but again, I have a business that provides this service.

IV. For Writers:

Writers, I adore you. You make the book world go around. Nothing I’ve written in today’s newsletter should discourage you from starting or finishing your manuscript. But—you knew there’d be a “but”—when writing your proposal and thinking about the audience for your book, use the exercise I provided above, and be brutally honest with yourself about your book’s appeal to specific consumers.

V. Final Thought:

As a publishing veteran, I’d love nothing more than to tell you that every book has a broad audience. There isn’t. There is a specific audience for specific books and ways to reach them. Yes, discoverability is a problem, but perhaps, as a publisher, discovering your consumers is the biggest.

As always, questions/comments can be sent here: publishingconfidential@gmail.com

End Notes:

Where I’ll be: On August 17 at noon, I’m teaching a “Substack 101” virtual class for Women’s Media Group. You don’t have to be a member to attend and the fee goes to our annual scholarship fund. Register here.

Big Publishing News Brewing: Equity firm KKR is in advanced talks to purchase S&S, per The Wall Street Journal. This isn’t surprising to me because Paramount Global needs to offload S&S by the end of the fiscal year and can’t afford scrutiny from the DOJ. News Corp. had also been in the final running, but it would be too risky even with HarperCollins’ lesser market share. More to come.

A Pet Peeve: When you write an article about book publishing and state, “For the record, Americans bought over 788.7 million physical books last year,” please break that number down by format, genre, and author. This number includes everything in the kitchen sink (Bible word search puzzles, anyone? They do well!).

What I’m Watching: Survival of the Thickest on Netflix is the show I didn’t know I needed in my life this summer. What happens when a celeb stylist who isn’t a size 2 strikes out on her own? Watch it. You won’t regret it.

What I’m listening to: Please enjoy my Yacht Rock Bangers playlist on Spotify.

What I’m excited to try: Jeni’s Ice Cream has created Frose Sorbet. My pints arrived yesterday.

What I’m Reading: Case studies on digital marketing for my MBA program. It is as boring as it sounds!