September1August-September 24th, Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House invited Mr. Cui, a famous Korean writer, to conduct a six-day cultural exchange between China and South Korea in Beijing, and cooperated with the publication of Firebird in early September. During this period, the sales volume of the book increased, which attracted the attention of nearly 100 different media. Recently, the news from Beijing Open Book Research Institute shows that Firebird has occupied the seventh place in the comprehensive list of new books in September less than one month after its official release (see the monthly market report for details).

There are many ideas and practices for domestic publishers to invite foreign authors to China for book promotion. However, it is more difficult to organize such activities than to invite domestic authors: first, the financial pressure, the cost of tens of thousands of yuan so that ordinary people look down; Secondly, it is difficult to invite internationally renowned authors, who are very busy with their work and time is tight. Organizers need to do more work to choose a suitable marketing opportunities for China. Thirdly, it is also a great challenge for book marketers to overcome language communication and cultural barriers and organize multi-level cross-cultural marketing activities in a short time. Speaking of Cui's Chinese cultural journey, Luo Xin, who is in charge of planning this activity by Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, said: "This activity draws on the marketing concepts of commercial and industrial industries and positions it as a cultural journey. Through careful planning, satisfactory results have been achieved. "

Orientation: Cultural Journey

Luo Xin said that the idea of inviting the author to China for a marketing activity had already taken shape as early as when Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House negotiated the introduction of copyright. Firebird's marketing strategy was initially completed shortly after signing the contract, characterized by its positioning as a "cultural journey".

Cui is one of the most popular writers in Asia. His Shang Dao and Wang Dao sell well in South Korea and various Asian regions, with millions of copies sold. As soon as his works entered China in 2003, they quickly reached the bestseller list. At the beginning of this year, Cui published a revised edition of Firebird, which caused a sensation in South Korea. This novel, called "self-portrait" by the author, became famous at an early age. It has been adapted into movies and TV series four times, including the TV series Hong Kong Express filmed in Hong Kong. Therefore, the copyright of this book has attracted the attention of many domestic publishing houses.

Luo Xin, who was in charge of copyright trade as a publishing house at that time, got a better understanding of the author Cui and his works in the process of copyright negotiation: the author was very interested in the history and culture of China since he was a child, and Shang Dao showed the author's profound understanding of the history of China. Cui Renhao has been to almost all cities in China, especially Xi 'an and Luoyang, which are very famous ancient capitals in history. Besides traveling around China, Cui has a certain understanding of contemporary culture in China. For example, he especially praised films such as Red Sorghum directed by Zhang Yimou.

"Because of Mr. Cui's unique personal charm and public awareness, he has the function of brand influence and advertising media carrier. Therefore, our agency did not stick to the old way of signing books, but made full use of the author's cultural background and the characteristics of simplicity, frankness, unique personality and publicity of Koreans, and with the help of social attention to' Korean Wave', it turned the event into an interactive experience marketing activity with profound cultural connotation, thus forming a wider public concern. " Luo Xin said when talking about the planning ideas of this event.

Implementation: careful planning

After Shang Dao and Wang Dao were published in China, their sales were very good. It is said that the publishers of these two books also intend to invite Cui to China for book promotion. However, due to the author's busy work, it is difficult to participate in activities at ordinary times and has not been able to make a trip. This time, he cooperated with Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House for the first time and agreed to come to China. What is the reason? On the fourth day of the activity, when our reporter mentioned this problem to Cui in an interview, the 6 1 year-old author said: "The soil is the death of a confidant."

"Our club has never done such an activity before and has no experience in this respect. But the leaders of our society fully support this matter, and we have made careful plans in advance. We once made an activity plan that lasted for 15 days and had full communication with the Korean side. Therefore, I moved Mr. Cui. " According to reports, the Mid-Autumn Festival happens to be a big festival in South Korea, and there is a 7-day break, so Mr. Cui purposely took advantage of the break to come to China to participate in activities. For this activity, it is very hard for him to double his daily workload after he comes back. And this, inadvertently, also created a topic for the media: Mid-Autumn Festival to China.

In order to make full use of the precious six days, the planner of the agency made the itinerary two weeks in advance. During the "Cultural Tour", we arranged speeches and book conferences from Beijing, interviews with celebrities from Sina, international interviews with CCTV, interviews with many media in Beijing, readers' interaction in prime time in china national radio, book signing, Tianjin media's China cultural tracking experience, and telephone interviews with many Korean media.

This trip takes into account several major marketing activities interspersed and reasonably arranges the author's physical strength. Among them, the keynote speech activities of colleges and universities also considered other colleges and universities, and later decided to be in Beijing Foreign Studies University, because there are more foreign exchange activities here, and there are more students and teachers familiar with Korean language and culture. Sure enough, the atmosphere was very warm, and the audience kept asking questions. Teacher Cui's answer was humorous and was welcomed by the audience.

This activity also successfully mobilized the media. "When inviting foreign authors to China for marketing, readers and the media's understanding of the authors is the most critical! The author likes to communicate with his own media and readers. " After determining the date of the event, the media were notified in early September, mainly by mail and telephone. In the materials for the media, Changjiang Literature and Art Society introduced the author's resume, main works, writing style, features of new works and comments from all walks of life in detail, and attached the activity schedule. The media can contact the organizers for interviews according to their own needs. About hundreds of media outlets across the country have been notified.

The Changjiang Literature and Art Society sent two people to finish the reception in Beijing. Luo Xin and his colleague Miriam Yeung mobilized some friendly relations and cooperation for this activity, such as the full support of Beijing Foreign Studies University and university leaders, the support of friends from Tsinghua University Publishing House, the support of well-known business circle planners, and the transportation provided by many cultural companies in Beijing. The cost is mainly borne by the publishing house, which is about 60 thousand yuan.

Effect: Directly promote sales.

With the cultural journey of South Korean writer Cui China, the news center on Sina's homepage kept the news headlines linked with striking colors for three consecutive days, and Beijing Evening News introduced Mr. Cui and Firebird in color. In the prime-time marketing activities in china national radio, the participants will get the Firebird signed by Mr. Cui after winning the prize. Shenyang evening news, Chongqing Business Daily, Chengdu Evening News and other local media serialized books. There are still media requests for interviews.

The publicity of the media promoted the popularity of Firebird. Cui signed 65,438+040 books in Zhongguancun Book Building, which even the author said was "unexpected". Luo Xin and they didn't expect that once in front of the history museum, a nun from South Korea asked to take a photo with Mr. Cui. South Korean media also paid attention to this trip to China, and there was a telephone interview, saying, "Being far away in South Korea, I also felt Mr. Cui's enthusiasm for activities in China through the Korean media.".

This activity enhanced the author's friendly relations with Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House and Luo Xin. Knowing that the author intends to write a work about China, Luo Xin specially arranged to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with Mr. Cui and his wife in a high-rise apartment in Beijing. In a modern room decorated with beautiful China lanterns, Mr Cui also showed off his rich baritone.

However, Luo Xin also believes that the lack of time also makes some of his activities not fully carried out, such as communicating with other China writers and going to other cities.