The New York Times says The Shack has been a “surprise best seller.” Published in over 30 languages around the world, The Shack now has over 7 million copies in print and ranked first on the New York Times best seller list for 70 weeks. Some might argue the success of The Shack derives from effective use of traditional and social media marketing efforts. However with most book titles struggling to sell 1,000 copies, might there be something more to the success of The Shack than just good marketing technique?
Written by William Paul Young, The Shack was intended as simply a story for Young’s children and a few family friends. After reading the book, friends encouraged Young to send his novel to publishing companies. However, after rejection by more than 15 publishing companies, Young decided his book probably wasn’t ready for a wider audience. That is, until his friends banded together to form their own publishing company for The Shack.
In an attempt to not spoil the plot, The New York Times writes that The Shack is a “slim paperback novel … about a grieving father who meets God in the form of a jolly African-American woman.” And while the content of the book have made for lively debate on talk shows, religious forums and book clubs, Mr. Young states that The Shack was simply meant as a metaphor for “the house you build out of your own pain.”
With a mere $15,000 for an initial publishing run and a “starter” $300 marketing budget, The Shack became an instant phenomenon as buyers passed the book to friends, and others purchased cases through Young’s website.
And while controversy may have helped create awareness of The Shack, one would be remiss not to appreciate marketing efforts for the best seller.
In addition to use of traditional media to spur sales such as book signings, speaking engagements and website development, publisher Windblown Media also made extensive use of social media.
For example, a specific and bold call to action asked readers to visit The Shack website and share their own personal experiences after reading the book. In addition to an author blog, website visitors could join a Flickr group to share pictures of “beauty,” sign up for email updates, become a fan on Facebook and follow author tweets.
Also of significance, the marketing campaign accessed terrific word of mouth techniques, as the author encouraged readers to share the book with friends, blog about The Shack, buy books for women’s shelters and prisons, and even write reviews for local papers, magazines and websites.
The results? While some authors clamor for even 10 reviews of their book on Amazon.com, The Shack racked up over 4,000! A cursory review of Amazon’s listing shows that the book definitely struck nerves, sparked controversy, and deeply touched readers.
While Paul Young and Windblown Media certainly employed traditional and effective marketing techniques to maximum effect, selling seven million books is no small potatoes. Indeed, The Shack reached a tipping point then quickly accelerated to become an international sensation.
The question remains, why? Is success of The Shack due to marketing, or is there something more?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Tags: Facebook, Marketing the Shack, Social Media, The Shack, Tipping Point, traditional marketing, William Paul Young, Word of Mouth Marketing
Hi Paul. You provided a great, concise summary of “The Shack” success. The book had already been a bestseller by the time I heard about it, recommended by several guys from a men’s small group I belong to. I’ve read it twice and participated in a group study on this unique work of fiction.
As both a writer and marketer I marvel at how this “simple” story grew to such blockbuster status. Although I believe social media and other marketing efforts helped to catapult sales beyond simple word of mouth, I think marketers should not think this success can be repeated with any good book using similar techniques. “The Shack” is not a perfect book, but it is a true original (Seth Godin would likely consider it a “purple cow”). It grapples with universal issues in a unique way through a great fiction read–few books can pull that off.
The next “The Shack” will not come from a writer copying its approach or a publisher attempting to duplicate its marketing. It will come from someone new who is willing to risk it all to produce something original that connects with readers.
Patrick, what a terrific quote you provided; “”The Shack” is not a perfect book, but it is a true original. The next “The Shack” will not come from a writer copying its approach or a publisher attempting to duplicate its marketing. It will come from someone new who is willing to risk it all to produce something original that connects with readers.”
Purple cow indeed. The Shack touched on universal themes such as grief, shame, forgiveness, rejection and many more. And your quote, “risk it all” is appropriate as Mr. Young has a bevy of ongoing critics. Yes, there are rewards for publishing such a tome, but one must also have a thick skin and a dose of bravery as well. Appreciate your comments Patrick!
Thanks for a great article. My wife and I were talking about this very subject just the other night as we have both read the book and are amazed at the success. For me, there are many things that have come together that have contributed to the success of this book — a Perfect Storm, if you will. I agree that the marketing of the book and the use of social media has played a portion – a large portion – with its success. It’s been innovative and has pulled people in so they are part of the movement / experience.
However, I think the success of the book really has to do with the fact that is a story that touches on subjects (faith, religion, family, regrets) about which people have deep routed beliefs and feelings. These feelings are not only being shared within the social media space but also in book clubs, in carpools, at work, on the sidelines at sporting events, etc. The social media aspect just gives folks another outlet to express these feelings. Just the fact that Mr. Young’s friends were so committed to this story that they came together to get it published speaks volumes as to the passion around this book.
As I said, I believe social media has contributed to its success – I don’t mean to mitigate its importance; however, I think whereas in years past when books impacted people so greatly, their ability to have a conversation about them was pretty much limited to finite circles – their immediate social circles. Now, though, they are able to contribute their thoughts and impact the conversation within vast networks of people previously unavailable to them. That is the greatness of social media. In fact, it’s what I am doing just now…
Thank you,
Chris Litster
First, you have the subject of the book. The
Chris, regarding your quote, “I believe social media has contributed to its success – I don’t mean to mitigate its importance; however, I think whereas in years past when books impacted people so greatly, their ability to have a conversation about them was pretty much limited to finite circles – their immediate social circles.”
At this point in spring of 2010, case studies of effective social media use are plentiful. However, back in the summer of 2007 when “The Shack” was first published, marketers were just starting to understand the power of social media. And Paul Young and Windblown media should be commended for recognizing the power of networking, word of mouth, providing great content and use of myriad platforms to build buzz and conversation around “The Shack”.
I agree — not taking anything away from Windblown or Mr. Young. I think what they’ve done is amazing. I also love the fact that the book has been on the NYT best seller list for 93 weeks running. What’s even better is the fact that when the book started getting its notice and people started really talking about it, the forums were available where they could contribute their thoughts and extend their conversations. It’s great to see those forums taking off right around the time it entered the Best Seller lists and then grow like crazy at the end of 2008 and all during 2009 when the book was everywhere.
I believe that monetary success is largely a function of luck, otherwise many of the literary giants and great painters from our past would not have been poor.
Yes, THE SHACK, succeeded, but you have not told us how many social media marketing projects have failed. Failure is a measure of success.
Ah Ann, the bias of N=1. Indeed, failure is a measure of success as you so aptly put it. I am sure there are many lessons learned from social media projects that didn’t go exactly as planned. For those, my colleagues on the FIX who are SM experts can surely provide some examples…
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While I totally concur with the comments above, there is also an element that gets overlooked whenever something happens that is inexplicable (like miracle cures, healings, impossible outcomes). That element involves the spiritual realm, the power of belief and faith that surpasses our limited understanding and achieves something so amazing, so ovewhelming that we have to take notice. I’m not invoking angels and supernatural powers here–just pointing out that this story moved through religious communities and then secular circles with blinding speed, passed from one to another, promoted from pulpits, accomplishing something most authors can only dream about. It is a phenomenon and it defies our meticulous efforts to measure, parse, and dissect from a marketing standpoint. This book connected with people in such a visceral way that it became the “must-read” for believers and doubters alike. When I first picked it up, I was turned off by the level and quality of writing–it sounded a little sophomoric and absurd to me. But I kept reading and found myself so engaged that I couldn’t put the book down. I ended up listening to an audio-book version of it and found that even more compelling. So go figure–The Shack has become a force onto itself, defying all reasonable expectations for such a little book.
Carolynn, thank you for commenting on this column.
While I won’t deny the spiritual element of the book may have greatly contributed to sales and interest in various communities, I found the WOM marketing tactics extremely effective. What’s more the author’s specific call to actions were compelling – he “asked” his readers to do something (blog, buy copies for friends, write letters, review the book on websites etc…) instead of simply hoping the book would catch buzz and then take off.
Young himself said, ““Word of mouth is still the most effective tool for a book like this to gain traction in the wider culture.” And he’s right – the way the Shack was “marketed” is an impressive WOM case study.
Two years ago I emailed William P. Young and asked him what the secret to his success with The Shack was. He kindly replied back and said he knew alot of people and it was in the marketing. So as a new author, I bought every book on marketing and applied this strategy and I’m thrilled to report that my book has sold over 5,000 in the first year and a half and is a bestseller in Christian fiction reaching #11 for 2011. It was all in the marketing.
Patience