First, a confession: I have not read Jennifer L Armentrout\u2019s latest novel, The Primal of Blood and Bone. Nor have I sniffed it, or licked it. Which might be an odd thing to do, but for the fact that a special edition of the romantasy book has been released with garlic-infused ink.<\/p>\n
Armentrout is a hugely-successful \u201chybrid\u201d author, both self- and traditionally published, and has made the New York Times bestseller list on numerous occasions. She writes in the currently insanely popular romantic fantasy market, and her new novel, the latest in a series, features vampire-analogy monsters called the Craven.<\/p>\n
Enter stage right: Hellmann\u2019s, which despite having exactly the sort of name you might find in a romantasy novel, is in fact a purveyor of mayonnaise and other table-top squirty condiments. Hellmann\u2019s has teamed up with Armentrout and her publishers, Blue Box Press, to release a special edition<\/a> of The Primal of Blood and Bone which is printed with ink mixed with their garlic aioli \u2013 the Craven being vampires, remember, and so averse to a bit of garlic.<\/p>\n This is, of course, is an attempt to grab the TikTok generation by the throat. Understandably so: the video-sharing social media platform has become one of the biggest book marketing opportunities<\/a> for publishers in modern times.<\/p>\n And it is here, dear reader, that I heave a world-weary sigh and reveal myself to be yet another grumpy, middle-aged, largely unknown author waving his fist at the clouds in the style of Grampa Simpson and raging against the dying of the light \u2026 or at least, against the shift away from the seemingly outmoded idea of publishers just trying to sell books because, y\u2019know, they\u2019re books, and they\u2019re good.<\/p>\n Just hold off typing that takedown in the comment box for one second and let me explain. Do I sound bitter? Of course I\u2019m bitter. All writers are misanthropic sociopaths at heart. We\u2019re bitter about everything. That\u2019s why we make stuff up all the time, trying to imagine worlds we might not be quite as bitter about as this one.<\/p>\n But in this case, I\u2019m not bitter at Armentrout \u2013 may her book fly, garlic aioli-infused edition or otherwise \u2013 or at other writers, or at any of my publishers. Rather, I\u2019m bitter at a publishing industry model that seems weirdly averse to selling the majority of books it puts out.<\/p>\n Of course, marketing budgets are limited at even the biggest publisher. There\u2019s only so much money sloshing around. But there seems to be an odd system at work where the books that don\u2019t actually need much promotion get all the money thrown at them.<\/p>\n You know the ones I mean. The ones that zoom to the top of the charts on the day of release, the ones written by pop musicians or reality TV stars or Strictly judges or whoever, who get a nice spot on the BBC Breakfast or One Show sofa to plug them.<\/p>\n The irony being that these are the books that don\u2019t need marketing \u2013 they\u2019ll essentially sell themselves. It\u2019s all the other books written by, well, by people like me, who don\u2019t get the benefit of big PR campaigns that really need this marketing push. If people don\u2019t know about a book, they can\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n There he goes again, being all bitter and shaking his fist. I am a realist, though; nobody wants to see Dave from Wigan awkwardly trying to flog his latest horror novel on the BBC Breakfast sofa between Taylor Swift and Kemi Badenoch when they can book erudite, entertaining and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 recognisable faces such as Richard Osman and Bob Mortimer and that lad from the boyband.<\/p>\n However, a little anecdote from a Facebook authors\u2019 group I\u2019m in (Misanthropic Sociopath Writers, if you want to join): an author gave her publisher a list of press reviewers, booksellers, fellow authors and social media book influencers who said they would be happy to receive an advance copy of her forthcoming book. When several messaged her to say they hadn\u2019t received a copy of the imminent publication, she checked with her publishers who sheepishly admitted they hadn\u2019t sent any out.<\/p>\n Which is why using gimmicks to sell books somewhat irks me. I have to admit, putting garlic in your ink is quite a topper wheeze, though it\u2019s by no means the first time someone\u2019s had this idea. Back in 1977, Marvel released a comic book about the flamboyant rock band Kiss<\/a>, which was marketed as \u201cprinted in real KISS blood\u201d after the band members did indeed add <\/strong>vials of their own blood to the red ink vat at the printers.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Matters of Opinion<\/p>\n Guardian columnists and writers on what they\u2019ve been debating, thinking about, reading, and more<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n But I wish these sorts of ideas would occur to publishers after they\u2019ve fulfilled what seems to me to be one of their basic obligations: promoting \u2013 by the usual marketing means \u2013 all the books they have coming out. Otherwise, how will you, the reader, know about them?<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the danger of too much hype. Self-published author Audra Winter embarked upon a massive TikTok pre-release marketing campaign for her fantasy novel The Age of Scorpius. The anticipation reached fever pitch, with millions viewing her promotional videos<\/a> and thousands placing pre-orders. Then when the book eventually came out earlier this year \u2026 people hated it<\/a>. TikTok user and author LCGallagher posted a two-and-a-half minute takedown of the book with the words \u201ca piece of shit with glitter on it is still a piece of shit\u201d. On the book review site Goodreads, Age of Scorpius earned an average rating of 1.52 stars<\/a>, with one user opining: \u201cThis is why when someone tells you your book isn\u2019t ready, you don\u2019t just dismiss it because it\u2019s not something you want to hear.\u201d <\/strong>And what had been a masterclass in TikTok marketing became an author\u2019s nightmare as the platform\u2019s users turned on Winter and her book.<\/p>\n Still, it all does give me a bit of an idea. My next horror novel, out next year, is set in the coalfields of Lancashire. Most printing inks are carbon-based, aren\u2019t they? So my book could be said to be \u201cprinted with real coal!\u201d<\/p>\n Now, can anyone do me a TikTok<\/a>?<\/p>\n