Introducing a beloved author to TikTok and making his book a New York Times Bestseller
INDUSTRY: media
ROLE: copywriter, senior marketing manager
TEAM: Justin Cook, associate director-video; Brianna Yamashita, VP executive director of marketing
Overview and Results
Colm Tóibín has written 11 novels, been a Booker finalist three times, and had his bestselling novel Brooklyn adapted into an Academy-Award nominated film for Best Picture. Brooklyn was his last big hit, and that was published in 2009. As lead marketer and copywriter on his newest novel, Long Island (Scribner, 2024) I was responsible for the copy across all components of the campaign, including scripts for a book trailer and author interviews, social captions, email and web, and a paid digital campaign. I collaborated with the Oprah Books marketing team as well, supporting the announcement that Long Island was their May 2024 book club pick, and strategically targeting their audience through paid advertising.
Our goal was to get Colm back on the New York Times bestseller list, a feat his work hadn’t achieved since 2015. My work was an integral part of this campaign that sold over 200k copies of Long Island in eight months, increased sales of his backlist hit Brooklyn by 89% from 2023 to 2024 (2024 sales reached 75k), and introduced this charming author to a younger audience via his first ever appearances on TikTok.
Social and Video
Despite his storied success as a literary author, Colm Tóibín hadn’t reached a wider commercial audience since 2009, when Brooklyn was published. A few months before the publication of Long Island, we were notified that this book would be an Oprah’s Book Club Pick. Because we knew there would be incredible buzz on social, I pitched the idea for our own content with Colm that would be distinct from the Oprah Media package and be memorable enough that it would play well with a younger demographic on Instagram and TikTok.
Results
Views: 600k | Likes: 47k
Comments: 500 | Shares: 6k
Email and Digital
The Oprah’s Book Club announcement was under wraps until publication day, May 7. In preparation, I worked with the email and digital teams at Simon & Schuster to create a homepage takeover, a publication email to a segmented list of readers, and a book trailer that we launched before the announcement, to give readers a preview of the dramatic plot and return of the incredible female protagonist Eilis Lacey before the Oprah news was announced.
Advertising
Because we had two months’ runway to prepare for the Oprah’s Book Club news, we strategized a comprehensive advertising campaign that would reach fans of Brooklyn and prompt them to re-read an old favorite while tipping to the news that Tóibín’s popular protagonist from Brooklyn was returning in Long Island.
At publication for Long Island, we ran ads across Amazon, Goodreads, Meta, and more, highlighting key quotes from media praise that resonated strongly with readers. I selected media praise, wrote advertising copy, and briefed designers. I also wrote an eblast in the voice of Tóibín to his fans on Goodreads.
