Anatomy of a Publicity Stunt

It was a friend in college who introduced me to the concept that luck comes with hard work. He'd just beaten me at some game, on what I felt was a lucky shot. I told him so and he replied, "You make your own luck."

I've found it's double-edged sword to work in publicity. Rarely can a publicist claim full responsibility for some good press, yet it's often that a publicist can claim at least some of it. This week, some hard work paid off in the form of a lucky break, but it was a fan boy blogger and the quick-thinking, fastest pro cyclist in the world who deserve most of the credit.

In the 24 hours after Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in the first stage of the Tour of California last Sunday, a book I'm promoting got mentioned on ESPN.com (since updated), in the New York Times (since updated), the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle (since updated), the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and two cycling websites. This is a mother lode of publicity, more than many small publishers could hope for in a few years!

Last winter, we acquired Mark Cavendish's autobiography, Boy Racer, which  from the original UK publisher as a late addition to our fall 2010 list. We planned to publish the book in June, a comfortable month before the start of the Tour de France. In February, we made some print-on-demand ARCs (advance reader copies) of the book. Book publishers make ARCs to send to taste makers to ask for their endorsement and to magazines to line up publicity during the months it takes most magazines to plan out, develop, and publish their editorial content.

In March, I shipped out 20 ARCs to the big cycling print magazines and in April, I shipped 10 more to cycling websites and bloggers. I didn't ask for an embargo (because I think publicity embargoes are cheesy, especially in a small market like cycling), but I asked the magazines to consider book reviews and excerpts for their pre-Tour guides and mentioned to the websites that I was hoping for publicity after the Tour of California start.

Cav won the stage, which meant he was expected to take questions from the cycling media during a press conference soon after the race. Velonation described the scene like this:

"Following the race, Cavendish was relaxed and confident, and answered the myriad of questions with aplomb, but in an almost whisper. When asked about the Tour de Romandie victory salute debacle and whether he was thinking about that as he crossed the line, Cavendish was blunt and didn't pass up on an opportunity to give a healthy nod to his recently released book.

"I honestly don't think about my celebrations too much. You should read my book, Boy Racer. It's out in America now. I'll be doing some book signings during and after the Tour of California. It's a good book. In the book, I talk about how I switch off my emotions during the race. As soon as I cross the line, it all comes out. Most things are pretty impromptu, it's just all that emotion built up inside. When I cross the line first, sometimes I'm a quick thinker and come up with something, but for the most part, it's pretty impromptu."

At this point, a journalist in the crowd pulled out a copy and handed it to Cavendish. He dutifully held the book up and flashed a big grin." 

It looked like this.

That journalist was Richard Masoner, the blogger behind the Cyclelicious website, to whom I had sent a Boy Racer ARC just a few weeks before the race. He had taken his ARC with him to the Tour of California, hoping to get Cav to autograph it so that he could give the signed book away to a reader.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat described the events with more snark:

"Sprinters in cycling are like sprinters in track. They strut. They like to call attention to themselves. They are divas, showmen, who blossom like a peacock in front of a camera. When Cavendish stepped in front of the camera Sunday in the post-race press conference, he couldn't resist. From the podium he motioned to a man in the audience, presumably, and embarrassingly, a journalist. The journalist rose from his seat and brought to Cavendish a book.

It was Cavendish's recently published autobiography. That alone speaks volumes. Cavendish is only 24 years old. Some NFL wide receivers could get tips from this guy on self-promotion – which would soon become readily apparent.

The Brit then propped up the book, its cover facing the audience, pointed to it and said, “It's a good book.”

He smiled and he didn't stop smiling and he kept the book propped up for the couldn't-be-ignored photo op. Yes, maybe he had to squelch a defiant urge when he crossed the finish line but Cavendish couldn't be rung up for self-promotion."

It was Cav pimping his book after his win that caught the attention of the New York Times, ESPN, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and Velonation.

I learned about all this on Monday morning when I checked Google Reader and noticed the New York Times headline about Cav winning the stage. My jaw hit the floor when I saw how the book was mentioned, and then I raised my arms in victory!

It looked like this.

As any good publicist would, I printed the page to pdf and hit Google to search for more. I soon stumbled onto the ESPN and LA Times versions. (Quick aside: I noticed a lack of AdWords ads in the search results, so I took a few minutes to set up a campaign for Boy Racer.)

Another victory salute and then, having recovered my wits, I publicized the victory to some coworkers and our book trade distributor.

Finally, I noticed an email from Richard Masoner in my inbox. It said:

"Hi Dave,

I had Cavendish's book with me at his stage win in Sacramento Sunday afternoon. He saw it, grabbed it from me, and held it up at the press conference telling everybody they should read it.

The LA Times and NY Times both mentioned Boy Racer in Sunday's story on his win.

He also autographed the book for me. Is it okay if I give this pre-publication copy away in a contest?

Richard

http://www.cyclelicio.us/ is yummy!"

Yummy indeed! If I get the chance to meet Richard, I owe him a round of beers. Perhaps more than one round!

Of course, there are few less-than-perfect circumstances. First, the book isn't actually available yet nor is Cav actually scheduled to sign books during the remainder of the race. The book was bound and shipped to our distributor's warehouse a few days ago, which means it's sitting at a truck stop somewhere instead of selling like hotcakes; cycling fans who are now assuredly scrambling into bookstores are pawing through the shelves and walking away confused, frustrated, and disappointed. Publicity pushed demand, but the supply wasn't ready, and that means lost sales. I can only hope that Amazon and other online retailers just saw a bump in pre-orders.

Second, the cover on the ARC isn't the final one, and it's not as good as the final one. This is a pretty minor quibble considering only Cyclelicious posted the photo of Cav with his book.

Third, the book mentions have since been taken out of the ESPN and New York Times articles (which is why it's so important to print to pdf!). That afternoon, I emailed the book press release, cover image, and photo of Cav with book to all the reporters who mentioned the Cav-ARC incident to offer them a finished copy when they arrive next week. I hope this isn't what prompted ESPN and the Times to remove the mentions (both reporters were interested in receiving a copy). Should this happen again, maybe I'll wait a few days before thanking the reporter.


So if it's true that you make your own luck, then I'm happy to have placed an ARC in the right hands, even if it was those hands that put it in Cav's.

UPDATE: A coworker managed to catch Cav at the team bus today and got the final book into his hands!

It looked like this.

Photo of Cav with ARC used with written permission of Richard Masoner/Cyclelicious.
Photo of Dave with ARC and Cyclelicious website showing photo of Cav with ARC taken by Renee.
Photo of Cav with the final book used with permission of Ben Pryhoda.