DWTS, 'Supreme Glamour', and Cross Marketing: Did It Work?

Leading up to the anticipated appearance on DWTS there was considerable discussion about the great cross-marketing platform that the appearance would provide the book. In the shadow of the near-immediate elimination, a valid question is: Did the appearance [[and the attendant litany of interview appearances) help book sales? For reference, current meta listings from the three largest book distributors [[updated daily) are as follows:


Amazon USA: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,188 in Books
Amazon UK: Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #15,497 in Books
Barnes & Noble: Sales rank: 20,726

What do we think? Did it work?

A friend of mine who manages a Barnes and Noble saw quite a few copies being sold over the recent days and he was surprised that it was all younger people buying the book.

I think it has. There are youngsters who know who Diana is that probably had no clue who Mary was and now they do. To be honest, the RTL fallout made me wanna look into Mary more. Before, it was just Diana and Flo lol

Oh it is working. I have been hearing that Mary Wilson's new book is selling like hot cakes and it ain't even Christmas yet! LOL!

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Originally Posted by marv2

Oh it is working. I have been hearing that Mary Wilson's new book is selling like hot cakes and it ain't even Christmas yet! LOL!

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Did Mary ever send you a copy or is she giving it to you next time shes in concert and your in the audience>?

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Originally Posted by Roberta75

Did Mary ever send you a copy or is she giving it to you next time shes in concert and your in the audience>?

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Oh no Roberta, I think you are mistaken

I don’t believe Mary will allow Marv any access t her - evidently she wasn’t happy with him. Do you know anything of this?

The book, officially released last Tuesday, immediately shot to the top of the Amazon best-selling chart.

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Originally Posted by marv2

The book, officially released last Tuesday, immediately shot to the top of the Amazon best-selling chart.

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No.1 Amazon Soul Music with great reviews.

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Originally Posted by detmotownguy

No.1 Amazon Soul Music with great reviews.

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Go Mary!!!! Thanks DET!

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Originally Posted by detmotownguy

No.1 Amazon Soul Music with great reviews.

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It's only been out a week here and it is number one already? Wow!

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Originally Posted by PeaceNHarmony

Leading up to the anticipated appearance on DWTS there was considerable discussion about the great cross-marketing platform that the appearance would provide the book. In the shadow of the near-immediate elimination, a valid question is: Did the appearance [[and the attendant litany of interview appearances) help book sales? For reference, current meta listings from the three largest book distributors [[updated daily) are as follows:


Amazon USA: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,188 in Books
Amazon UK: Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #15,497 in Books
Barnes & Noble: Sales rank: 20,726

What do we think? Did it work?

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When this book was released in the UK it quickly went to no.1 in the Amazon fashion/photography chart. However that is a very specialist chart, and the highest it actually went in the overall sales chart was around 400, which kind of illustrates just what a small market share that category has. It plummeted out of the top 1000 chart within one week. I suspect the charts Marv and his lapdogs are quoting from are fashion/photography rather than actual overall sales figures. Your figures are probably more accurate.

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Originally Posted by Bluebrock

When this book was released in the UK it quickly went to no.1 in the Amazon fashion/photography chart. However that is a very specialist chart, and the highest it actually went in the overall sales chart was around 400, which kind of illustrates just what a small market share that category has. It plummeted out of the top 1000 chart within one week. I suspect the charts Marv and his lapdogs are quoting from are fashion/photography rather than actual overall sales figures. Your figures are probably more accurate.

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Unfortunately you are correct about Amazon's genre 'charts'. These are a controversial bot plan of Amazon's to get almost any book you look up to score highly on a chart and make that book look more inticing. It s a similar move to recording stars giving away free copies of a new cd along with ticket sales to get the cd on the charts. The figures I cut-and-pasted are directly from the websites of the sellers and reflect where the title actually sits on that seller's sales charts. Now, it is true that like an elegant [[and old) oak tree late on a summer's afternoon I can throw shade down the block, but I have never once created or misquoted information here on the blog. Again, the figures quoted can be looked up on their attendant seller websites at any time.

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Originally Posted by floyjoy678

A friend of mine who manages a Barnes and Noble saw quite a few copies being sold over the recent days and he was surprised that it was all younger people buying the book.

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That's good to hear; certainly SG is a labor of love and has yielded all-around positive reviews. A new round of publicity is in order!

I have little doubt that Mary’s much-hyped appearances on DWTS could only have helped to increase interest in her and to bolster sales of the book. It’s mighty pricey for non-diehards who otherwise might pass it over. The almost endless cycle of TV, radio, and web interviews placed her squarely in the public eye. I’m sure many non-fans have not even been aware of how active Mary has been in the industry and elsewhere for all these years, so the onslaught of media attention was a boon for sure. The book is well designed and visually stunning, but it’s not all that well bound for the price. I fear this binding might eventually give it up, as I’ve seen happen with other books bound in this way, and care should be used when leafing through it.

I think the main benefit of DWTS and the book is that it stirs up publicity and it might get bookings that pay a little bit of money for both the FLOS and Mary Wilson. I would think that is why Scherrie showed up at a book signing and the FLOS have had some pretty decent bookings lately.

That really is the only way these people are making much money these days because royalties just aren't much anymore and the money off the book isn't going to be significant.

I'm not sure any of this stirs up any more interest in Diana; she is appearing in different venues and is asked to different events than the FLOS or Mary would be.

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Originally Posted by jobeterob

I think the main benefit of DWTS and the book is that it stirs up publicity and it might get bookings that pay a little bit of money for both the FLOS and Mary Wilson. I would think that is why Scherrie showed up at a book signing and the FLOS have had some pretty decent bookings lately.

That really is the only way these people are making much money these days because royalties just aren't much anymore and the money off the book isn't going to be significant.

I'm not sure any of this stirs up any more interest in Diana; she is appearing in different venues and is asked to different events than the FLOS or Mary would be.

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It's tempting to think the cross-marketing would work, but I have to argue that in the case of DWTS that audience is a discreet & separate population. Other than follow-up chat show appearances, I don't guess the main audience are book buyers. I don't watch the show; just my opinion. Anyone [[other than DWTS fanatics) know who won last year? And ... the sales figures of SG speak volumes. In-person signings are the way to go. Fans show up and BUY, a few casual shoppers get in line and buy a copy, usually the author will sign some more copies to feature after the event as autographed editions, and these sales help a title get to the real charts.