The
other day I read about an English Bulldog rescue group holding a celebrity-filled
fundraiser to generate attention and funds for saving doggies. Could such an approach work if applied to
books, authors, bookstores, libraries, and book publishers?
Dogs are
cuter than authors and whereas they can’t speak or lobby for themselves,
certainly the book industry should be able to communicate its needs
better. But the pet adoption world is
very good at getting people to donate money and time to adopt, rescue, or tend
to the abandoned and unloved pooches of the community. Can – and should – the book industry go
begging as well?
Yes!!
Books
could be as endangered as our four-legged beasts if we don’t act now. Sure it seems strange to focus on helping a
for-profit industry that does turn a profit, and to steer funds and resources
that would otherwise support causes like fighting cancer, sheltering the
homeless, feeding the poor, and of course, saving Fido and his furry
friends. But the world of books goes
beyond balance sheets. Society saves
money when it rescues young minds and supports starving artists and
entrepreneurs who exist in a give-back-to-the-community industry.
The book
world that I believe needs to be rescued is the one that’s more important to us
than most stop to think about. I want to
preserve bookstores – the physical ones – and to grow the role they play in
nurturing learning, literacy, activism, and all facets of life, for all that we
are and can be will be directly correlated to the books we read and share. Books profoundly impact and touch us, not
only with their words and ideas and sharing of the facts, and but in how
they’ve launched discussions, debates, and dialogues among us.
The
bookstore is the bibliophile’s church, the adult’s college campus, and the
place of business for creative artists. We
need to fortify the value a bookstore has upon its patrons. It is the spouse to all of us, where as
online stores like Amazon act more as escorts, filling a perceived need but not
fulfilling on any other level.
So what
do dog rescue groups do to get their message out successfully?
1.
Hold
fundraisers and say what the money will go towards (feed 60 dogs a day,
vaccinate 30 dogs, help avoid killing 10 dogs this week).
2.
Tug
at your guilt and emotional push-buttons..
3.
Humanize dogs with references to love and physical needs that we can relate to.
4.
Use visuals to make us sympathetic to their plights.
5.
Get the attention of kids to sell it up within the household.
6.
Use the media to lobby their cause.
7.
Hold
events on weekends in populated locations to get people’s attention.
8.
Have
no criticism or second-guessers (who will argue we shouldn’t save the life of a
being that brings us joy?).
9.
They
sell the benefits of pet ownership and don’t show the drawbacks of it.
10. They demonize the enemy (a society
that abandoned dogs or the kill shelters), and force you to rally support out of
guilt, if not out of genuine compassion.
Maybe
the book world needs a dog mascot speaking up for it? This dog will need to do a lot of barking to
explain why:
·
It’s
important to shop at a bookstore
·
One
should get involved in helping others read.
·
Publishers
need to charge more for ebooks.
·
Books
need a home for discussions to happen -- and not just to make purchases.
·
We
must cherish books and not just worship The Internet.
·
People
need to read more books.
So
what will we soon see?
·
Book
telethons raising money to support publishers.
·
Authors
standing with signs saying “Will read for food”
·
Publishers
posting “adopt me” blog posts for unwanted books.
·
Bookstores
with posters saying, “Have you seen me?”
·
Little
children ditching lemonade stands to sell books on the street corner.
·
Costumed
characters posing for photos to raise funds.
·
Authors
with megaphones in stores asking people to save them from being irrelevant.
Ok,
maybe none of the above, although I like the telethon idea a lot, but we need to
craft a strong campaign that gets the word out: Books need your support, you
need books, and books about dogs make great gifts!
DON’T MISS: ALL
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Brian Feinblum’s
views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of
his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow
him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He
feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted
by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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