Saturday, January 9, 2010

Finding the "Vanished"

Vanished: True Stories of the Missing is newly out from Scholastic Book Club. That means it's available exclusively from Scholastic, in one of two ways: by ordering from those wispy catalogs they send home with elementary school students or by calling 800-724-6527, then prompt 3, then prompt 1.

In other words, unlike most of my other books and most new books in general, this book has virtually no ongoing exposure in the physical world or online.

Yet this week I began to get a notable number of blog hits from people who've searched "vanished marc tyler nobleman." Aside from me telling them, the only way they could know the book exists is if they saw it in that book club catalog. I'm sure it's already obvious to you, but it took me a moment to figure out what was going on.

The first catalogs featuring
Vanished shipped recently, so these hits must be parents and/or students looking for more info on the book than a single line of copy and a cover thumbnail (actually closer to a pinkienail).

And if not for this blog,
finding info on Vanished could've been like looking for some of the people profiled in it—a longshot. And such a lack of info could discourage a sale. But thanks to the searchiness of a blog, the book has been given a wider lease on shelf life.

2 comments:

Kathy Kendall, MS, RD, LD said...

My daughter wants to read the book so I logged into the Scholastic order page. Not finding it because it was last month's catalogue that listed the book and only current books are listed. Will try that 800 number. Very frustrating!

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Yes, Kathy, I'm glad you wrote in. I put VANISHED info on my blog exactly for people in your position - people who missed the book in the catalog but want to order it. Here is more info from another of my blog posts:

* Call Scholastic at 800-724-6527, push prompt 3, then prompt 1.
* Using a credit card, order item #514472; price $4.95.
* Wait by your mailbox nibbling on your nails..