D J Connell Goes the Whole Hog in the UK

 New Zealand author D J Connell has taken a ‘hair-raising’ approach to selling her novel in the UK with a humorous interactive video called ‘Pimp That Hog’.  The video recreates a hilarious scene from the book and calls on viewers to participate in a ‘Hog’ competition.  It was produced by Blue Door, an imprint of HarperCollins, to promote Connell’s novel, ‘Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar’ and was released simultaneously with the book in the UK on July 8.

‘Pimp That Hog’ signals a departure from the regular author-interview promotional clips and highlights the growing importance of digital media such as the Internet, Facebook and Twitter in book marketing and sales.  The video has already been uploaded on sites such as Amazon UK and Book Army and advertised on Twitter and Facebook.  It calls on viewers to send their entries to the Hog competition to Julian Corkle’s Facebook page.  This page is open to the public and provides daily updates on the progress of the book and its virtual protagonist, Julian Corkle.
‘The video was a lot of fun to make and reflects the quirky humour of the novel and its character,’ says D J Connell.  ‘The response has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope to build on this with other interactive digital tools in the future.’

 
 ‘Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar’ appears destined to be a big summer hit in the UK where it was chosen as ‘Book of the Week’ last week by ‘Time Out’ magazine, which described it as ‘one of the funniest rites-of-passage novels in a long time’.  Prior to its launch, the book was listed in the top ten ‘Hot Future Releases’ on the Vine Programme chart on Amazon UK where it has maintained a four-star rating among reviewers. 
The novel is also rated as a four-star, top-rated product on the powerful Waterstone’s website. 

‘The book business is constantly changing and you cannot afford to ignore key websites and digital tools such as Facebook and Twitter,’ says Connell.  ‘I’m extremely lucky to be with Blue Door.  My publisher Patrick Janson-Smith recognises the importance of pursuing an innovative sales and marketing approach and has the support of a brilliant team of young professionals.’


View ‘Pimp That Hog’ on Amazon:
http://tiny.cc/42iqd

Join Julian’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000950817807