The Twitter Of Hype

Knopf is going to launch Dan Brown's new book with an enormous bang.

Publishing has been hurt by the recession, by readers who can't dish out their precious dollars or euro or pounds sterling for a book that only gets read one time. A book has to be more outstanding than ever to earn a purchase, and outstanding is a condition that must be created with hype.

Given Mr. Brown's one past success that boosted sales of his earlier efforts, Knopf is prepared to capitalize on the author's reputation and put their marketing money fully behind The Lost Symbol. To that end, Knopf's publicity company has been twittering.

Of course there's much more than just twittered trivia question for those who tweet. There'll be author appearances on major television programs (any word yet on a Dan Brown guest appearance on The Daily Show?) Amazon made a huge fuss about their stockpile in the warehouse, under careful guard so that no one could have a look prior to the lay-down date.

The book has been talked up at every turn, using every publicity venue available.

Booksellers are chomping at the bit, ready to open up their boxes from Knopf and run with what they hope is a winner. Fans of Dan Brown will be at the doors, credit cards in hand, eager to make a purchase, to boost the bottom line of Knopf Doubleday.

Knopf will be following the Twitter feed closely, to get the first impressions of success or failure. Don't be surprised if the publicity folks tweet like mad once the book is available, touting its utter brilliance. Book sales are driven by word of mouth, and that's what social networking is all about.