🎪 What the Circus Taught Me About Book Marketing

— and why your next favorite book might need a flash mob

Well hello Scribblers,

Hope to see many of your lovely faces at our Northern Publishers’ Fair at Manchester Central Library tomorrow from 11am - I hear our authors John Ironmonger and Alice Fowler are coming along, so you’ll be able to get your books signed! If you’re local to Kent, you’ll want to head to the Folkestone Bookshop instead on Saturday morning, to take place in Rosie Garland’s short story writing workshop. Lastly, if you’re thinking: Isabelle, I’m not in the North OR the South, I’m in SCOTLAND, great news - we’ll see you next Wednesday evening at Waterstones Glasgow Sauchiehall St for our 1920s party launch for cosy crime ‘The Devil’s Draper’ by Donna Moore.

We’re super excited to say that Donna will be on BBC Radio Scotland Wed 30th April at around 11.30am with Kaye Adams. We’re very proud!

P.s. Writers - we’re open next Thursday for novel and novella submissions! Details here.

Now today’s post topic is a little experimental - and yes, I have been to see a circus show recently!

At Fly on the Wall Press, we believe bold stories deserve bold audiences. But in the saturated world of books, simply shouting “buy my book” into the void doesn’t cut it. (Though I have to say, I saw Actor Miriam Margolyes walking a loudspeaker around a bookshop to get people to buy her latest - and it did work… So there are always exceptions! ;) )

I’ve always admired the way that when a travelling circus comes to a city or a town, I ALWAYS know about it - I see the posters everywhere. They seem to have relationships with every local business and offer discounts with the most unlikely of collaborators, believing that their product is for everyone. And I have to say that I’d employ their marketing teams for publishing in an instant.

In a marketing thesis I stumbled upon — Tytti Pennanen’s Marketing Plan for a Circus Production — I found a treasure trove of ideas about visibility, vibe, and community. Her focus was on a contemporary Finnish circus group (Cie Nuua), but her insights apply uncannily well to small press publishing.

Here’s what I learnt from the ringmasters.