No matter how you feel about Sarah Palin, you have to admit that the book tour schedule for her Going Rogue: An American Life is pretty darn clever.Palin's publisher is skipping big cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Philadephia, and Los Angeles. Shucks. The durn liberals in those places can't properly appreciate a gal like Mrs. Palin. She's reaching out to "just folks" like me in the smaller cities of Middle America: Noblesville, Ind. Washington, Pa., Grand Rapids, Mich. Even my town, Rochester, N.Y., is on the schedule. Excited locals will greet the former candidate at a Borders on the less upscale side of the city on November 21. (You can bet that selecting that Borders over a Barnes & Noble and another Borders in the county's two most upscale suburbs was a strategic move.)
Her appearance here is guaranteed to generate a media frenzy -- and isn't that what you want at a book signing? Really, it's sheer genius. The TV stations will be hyping it for a few days before the appearance -- "A national celebrity visits Rochester tomorrow! We'll tell you who tonight at 11." -- and the newspaper will turn to politicians and pundits who will comment on whether this book signing campaign is a hint of what's to come in the next presidential election. Or maybe the daily will send a photog to snap pictures of members of Moose for a Safe America picketing outside Borders during Palin's appearance.
It will be a big whoop-dee-doo event here in conservative Western New York and it will not only sell books, it will help Palin connect with the Americans she hopes will elect her to national office -- a politician's equivalent of a BOGO (buy one, get one free).
I admire what her marketing team is doing here. This tour strategy guarantees far more media exposure for both Palin's politics and her book than her team could have generated among the jaded media outlets in big cities. It will be topped off by lots of national media news coverage because her appearances in these lesser-known and harder-to-reach markets is newsworthy for the big dogs, too.
It looks like this time, at least, Sarah Palin is listening to her advisors.
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3 comments:
I can't help but wonder how many of her fans are book readers?
I know that sounds harsh, but look at the demographics. Her supporters tend to be less educated than those who do not support her. They are more likely to have blue-collar jobs and live in rural areas.
I have no doubt they are good, hard-working people, but not exactly a target-rich environment when you're trying to sell books.
Good points, Dharma, but even people who don't read books will buy them in this situation just for the autograph. Even unsigned, they make great holiday gifts, especially when you're trying to influence a relative's perspective.
Besides that, I don't think the goal of the tour is simply to sell books. I think it's part of her platform-building process for the next election. She's the type who will be thinking "presidential candidate" even if the party is thinking "vice presidential campaign." She's looking to build grassroots support (because she equates "grassroots" with the hinterlands, not the urban areas) while she's out signing books and doing media interviews.
My, my, my, harsh ye is. Well, three fans in this household, who read, have earned degrees and support Ms. Palis 100%. Last time I looked our collars were white, buy heck! blue's my favorite color.
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