The Versatile Master Artist

”Book advertisements?”

Koizumi Katsuko was the first to notice the Scholastic Group logo flashing across the phone screen.

She casually remarked, ”Mr. Gu, have you noticed that more and more publishers and film companies are starting to adjust their promotion focus to related fields on the internet? My brother Gang Chang wanted to collect a promotional illustration poster of the well-received ’Slam Dunk Master’ released this year as a keepsake, and he had to go through several streets to find one.”

Major foreign book publishers all have their own long-established traditional publicity methods.

Common methods range from posting promotional posters on the street to hosting reader meetings; these methods are very mature even dating back to the nineteenth-century era of Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas publishing their works.

Incidentally,

Don’t underestimate those posters with illustrations posted by publishers on the street. They’ve always been a very important trade category of illustration art pieces.

These posters have not only publicity value but also collector value.

The early promotional posters for Mickey Mouse, Pooh Bear, Tom and Jerry, and Iron Man are sought after by enthusiasts in various pawnshops and flea markets across North America.

The famous Larry Gagosian’s art business empire started by selling these illustrations for 50 US cents each on a balcony in New York’s Red Light District.

But as YouTube and TikTok begin to dominate people’s social hubs in life,

The focus of book marketing channels has shifted to internet advertisements.

Last year, North America’s largest physical bookstore seller Barnes & Noble successfully attracted almost one million readers’ attention to a dull cliche Mary Sue high school romance novel titled ’How I Became Beautiful in the Summer,’ thanks to marketing pushes on TikTok.

It thus topped the New York Times Bestseller List for six weeks, earning over ten million, and was announced by Amazon streaming to have its rights bought for a TV series adaptation.

In book marketing studies, the term ”BOOKTOK” was specially coined for this marketing plan.

No matter the quality of the book.

As long as it can draw enough audience discussion on these must-compete platforms of self-media video platforms,

It signifies successful sales.

”Unfortunately, it may be an innovation commercially, but these video promotions are becoming increasingly homogeneous, making it hard to capture my attention. A sufficiently beautiful and exquisite poster on the street is more likely to draw my interest. It’s not necessarily a good thing for illustrators either.”

Koizumi Katsuko cut a piece of beef and put it in her mouth, showing no interest in the content playing on the screen.

Her impression of this network book marketing is somewhat negative.

Miss Sakai saw this Scholastic Group ad on YouTube for the first time.

But paper publishing is so competitive now; all major publishers will desperately push their new books on short-video websites.

Anyone who uses Twitter or TikTok can hardly avoid encountering similar lead-exposure campaigns.

Katsuko saw quite a few similar ads.

Various similar scholar promotions, inviting several film stars, sports celebrities to endorse a book in front of the camera, passionately talking about how much they love the book.

Same script routine with just different book titles filmed back and forth.

After the initial novelty, people are tired and bored of watching.

Koizumi Katsuko is a painter.

In her heart, this book internet promotion method is even less profound than the colorful promotional posters crafted by top illustration studios in the past.

The previous promotional illustrations could be preserved for a hundred years, two hundred years.

The illustration poster drawn by an illustrator for Hugo’s romantic drama ’Othello’ when it premiered at the French Opera House on February 25, 1830, is carefully hung in the opera house’s hall today.

Whereas these self-media push-stream ads are just burning clove cigarettes of the fragmented era.

After the initial numb stimulation, they will be completely forgotten.

The average stay time in people’s minds is really just the time of a puff of a cigarette.

Katsuko doesn’t expect that the Scholastic Group can produce any uniquely innovative promotional work.

”My YouTube family membership account still has two unused shared spots, I’ll send you an email later, click the link, and you’ll be added. This way, you won’t waste time; you can directly skip these boring promotional ads in the future.”

Katsuko suggested while hovering her clean left hand that didn’t touch food over the phone screen where Gu Weijing stood by the window.

She was ready to skip this ad directly after the mandatory ten-second viewing at the start.

During the conversation,

The publisher’s logo fades away, and the advertisement officially begins playing.

Completely beyond the girl’s expectations.

No boring sales messages.

Nor did Jennifer Lawrence appear as Katsuko expected, sitting on a chair holding Colin Hoover’s new book, speaking about how she draws strength from the feminine essence in it (Note).

(Note: This is now a classic book promotion ad template. Colin Hoover is the most famous TikTok influencer writer in the West in recent years, with annual sales nearing 100 million US Dollars. Recently, during its peak, two-thirds of TikTok’s overseas book promotion columns were advertisements about this best-selling queen.)

The first image is a close-up shot of a crying little girl.

”Wow...”

All the clips are real scene edits.