BLURB COFFEE & QUILL SOCIETY

“If you can write it, you can publish it.”

Blurb » 2014

— SKILLS EMPLOYED —

Creative Direction ・ Content Strategy ・ Copywriting ・ On-Camera & Voice Talent

A pioneer expands its frontier

Blurb pioneered the self-publishing revolution. We democratized the process so anyone could create and print their own high-quality printed books, whether they wanted 1,000 copies or only one.

After years establishing ourselves as a premier source for photo and art books, in 2014 Blurb made a major push into “trade” books for authors—novels, memoirs, and nonfiction. We launched lower-cost formats optimized for text, rolled out a network of professional service vendors to help authors polish their work, and introduced new ways to sell those books on Amazon or through major distributors.

“We'll get you started, and keep you going.”

Our big news called for a bold new campaign. As an aspiring author myself, I had the inspiration that we should meet our new audience where half a million of them were already gathering.

We partnered with the beloved nonprofit initiative National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to launch the Coffee & Quill Society, a content program designed to help writers complete NaNoWriMo’s annual challenge of writing a novel in just 30 days.

Coffee & Quill provided friendly support through online guides, video, podcasts, and swag. And we put our product where our mouth was. Those who successfully completed the challenge could get a free copy of their finished book, created with Blurb’s design & layout software.

Keeping it grounded

I gave the campaign a face and voice, writing most of the copy myself. I also conducted live webinars with NaNoWriMo’s leaders, and produced a series of podcasts covering all stages of the publishing process.

I also teamed up with cartoonist Tyler Page to create a series of comic strips for social media. Tyler’s comics followed the emotional roller-coaster of NaNoWriMo, from initial exhilaration to the inevitable crash into writer’s block, and finally powering through to achieve a “bucket list” goal.

selfpublishing-novel-atoz

The campaign received tremendous press coverage, spreading the word of our new product offerings and gaining the attention of a previously untapped author market.