Saturday, November 29, 2008

so... here I am at Neil's....

...and he gets all these great ideas, i don't know how, or from where,
but he always seems to be brewing up one thing or another--
maybe because he's British and living here in the United States,
or maybe it is because his IQ is exponentially off the charts,
who can say.
Maybe during his childhood, he shook hands with a demon on a highway
or perhaps saved an angel from drowning, not certain.
There are legends...certainly he was born under some kind of lucky stars...

Anyway, last night, Neil came up with a plan which he posted on his well-read blog
a blog which brings people from every undusted corner of
this planet, people who love to witness his ideas, to watch over his shoulder
as his stories spill like gems from his pen...
this plan of his was simple.
He put me in charge of fifty precious GRAVEYARD BOOK posters,
fifty which I watched him sign, to give to the bright stars out among you...

here is Neil's plan and i quote:

So what I'm going to do is this:

First I'm going to sign a bunch of posters -- probably about 50. Then I'm going to give them and the BPAL Graveyard Book scents to the wonderful Cat Mihos. And I'm going to tell her that we're running something that isn't exactly a competition, but is sort of smaller and more informal and a bit more easy-going. It's this:

From here until the end of the year (and further out than that, if the stuff holds out), if you do something effective to help get other people reading The Graveyard Book, tell Cat, and she'll send you a signed poster.

(Something effective in this case would include persuading your bookshop or library to do a Graveyard Book display, and taking a photo of it and sending it to Cat, teaching it in your school, reviewing it for your local paper or doing something equally as imaginative.)

If you do something Awesome and Amazing to get other people reading The Graveyard Book (for example, talking your whole town or city into having one of those months where everyone in the town reads the same book, and it's The Book In Question...) then you get a signed Graveyard Book poster and you get one of the BPAL Graveyard Book scent collections. And she'll probably throw in one of the Graveyard Book Neverwear tee shirts as well.



(Like this one.)

Possibly even give you a Kendra Stout Graveyard Mousepad.



(Like this one)

Send email, photos, cuttings from your local paper, proof that it was you and you alone who talked Oprah or Richard-and-Judy into doing The Graveyard Book on their TV book clubs, etc., to Cat Mihos, Furrytiger@Gmail.com . Do not send them to me. I will not have the swag. I will not be handing it out. I'm merely going to set this thing in motion and sign fifty posters -- twenty five on the McKean side, the other twenty five on the Riddell side.

Cat's decision is final. She'll blog the things she gets in as she goes along at the Neverwear Blog (http://kittysneverwear.blogspot.com/). And then every now and then I'll do a round up here.

How does that sound?

It is Kitty here again,
I have already started to receive some emails with big claims, so I will be evaluating them,
and in the meantime, will be doing some specials here at Neverwear.net.
Thanks go out to all of you readers, with each book you read, you earn an angel some wings...

ps it is snowing here at the Gaiman Mansion. Thank you, Quiche!

7 comments:

Dragonsally said...

Of course Quiche,being Empress, has the power to make it snow.

Already plotting how I can twist the arms of my librarians...

spacedlaw said...

Already getting the Graveyard Book into the English or International bookshops of Rome might be beyond basic human miracle.

Snow! I had plenty in Amsterdam last weekend and now I am pelted with hail. I have to have a word with Lorraine on the subject.

EmilyLady said...

So far I've contented myself with pushing everyone to read it: "He is brilliant and this is the best thing he's ever written."

~Emily

Dan Guy said...

I wonder if we'll see people in the crowds at sporting events and in the background on Good Morning America, holding aloft signs plugging THE GRAVEYARD BOOK?

Yoga Gal said...

The best marketing scheme is word of mouth, we all have blogs, why not write and sing the praises of Mr. Gaiman's wonderful book on our blogs? I wrote about Mr. Gaiman's wondeful short stories on my blog once and got a lot of replies from my blog friends that they will be looking into his work. Just an idea. Good luck and enjoy the snow! I envy you so, it was 80 degrees today in West Hollywood! Sweated up a storm in yoga class.

on the deck said...

Heh! It pays to have real librariani in the family. And teachie friends! Kitty - give a copy to Tina!! ~seester

on the deck said...

Maybe the family Doc can assign it to his studenti?