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| Section Menu | SuperThrift Online | About the Book | The Promotional Campaign | Radio Shorts (mp3) |
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RE: "THE ULTIMATE SHOPPER" Apr. 1/87
Function
Unlike most of my printed materials, which were manually typed onto a photocopy "master" using my trusty IBM Selectric III, this letter was phototypeset by the publishing shop where I typeset and laid out the book. It was done in the Courier typeface, the monospace standard of the day (Orator was typically reserved for more formal business uses), in 12-point type, and printed on company letterhead.Purpose
The intent of this piece is to explain the meaning of this intrusive waste of an editor's or program director's time, peak the recipient's interest, touch on all the major issues I was "pushing" which were related to the book (thus prompting the reader to see the book and author as a focus for relevant feature news), and make the particular radio/TV station or newspaper aware of my plans for the book, for personal appearances, and for the radio shorts.Analysis
The "royal we" is used throughout this kit. Media are deluged with publicity solicitations from "vanity" publishers of every description, and while I knew I had a newsworthy pitch, I also knew I would be a lot farther ahead presenting Living Skill Books as something more than a three-square-foot section of a desk in a rooming house.I used a variety of templates from known-effective book publicity campaigns and applied some of my own reporter's experience to produce a cover letter that pushes the book's subject as a story rather than the book or author, and kept the hyperbole and "ad-jectives" to a minimum. This was, after all, my first - and potentially only - chance to make an impression on someone in a position to offer me several hundred dollars' worth of free publicity.
For those who may be curious, in pre-DTP days all news copy, from press releases to "fresh" copy typed by a reporter in the newsroom, used --30-- at the bottom of the last (or only) page of copy to alert the editor and typesetter that this is where the item ends.
Our standard of living continues to decline. The two-income household is fast becoming the norm. The twin perils of shrinking dollar values and ever-tighter time constraints threaten to render traditional concepts of consumer education obsolete. There appears to be an urgent need for a rethinking on consumer technique.
"The Ultimate Shopper" was specifically written to fill that need. Over a five-year period, author Steve Winter has assembled a simple, powerful ten-point program designed to produce dramatic increases in purchasing power for practically every consumer and actually reduce the time and effort involved in shopping efficiently.
The program is designed to work for everyone from the diligent pennypincher to the harried single parent to the carefree young consumer who would never think of making a household budget.
The accent is on saving money at the supermarket, but this exciting new book also outlines a wide variety of tips, tricks and techniques for nearly every spending situation, from cough remedies to computers to car insurance. Each section is liberally sprinkled with an array of surprising, little-known "handy hints". The obvious has been omitted; Winter concentrates on what most consumers DON'T know, what other books don't usually discuss.
"The Ultimate Shopper" will be offered by Living Skill Books with a special publisher's mail-in moneyback satisfaction guarantee in an effort to reach consumers who wouldn't normally purchase books on saving money. In a highly unusual marketing move, Living Skill will print this guarantee on the front cover of all copies distributed for retail sale.
The publication date for "The Ultimate Shopper" is May 1, and a generous promotional budget has been allocated. A nine-week series of 60-second "Ultimate Shopper" radio shorts will be offered free of charge to all Canadian and American radio stations wishing to use them. Canadian community newspaper markets will be offered a series of no-cost features aimed at consumers in smaller centers. An author's tour is scheduled to begin in early April; the book will be on sale in mid-March.
After you've reviewed the enclosed material, we would appreciate it if you would complete and return the enclosed response card. We'll see to it that all requested information is forwarded to you at the earliest possible date. We'd like you to see for yourself whether any book on saving money could possibly live up to all this hype.
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