Welp. This was not on my bingo card… BUT I LOVE IT.
Jennifer L. Armentrout just released, in collaboration with HELLMAN’S, a garlic-scented book. AND Hellmann’s has a new craven-proof garlic aioli (check it out here).
Over the last couple of days, this has gone viral on BookTok and it makes sense why.
A garlic-scented book is a novelty (I’ve certainly never seen this done before) and instantly makes you stop your scroll
Given the cravens (vampire-like creatures), Jennifer features in the book, it makes the garlic-scented book that much more on brand.
Hellman’s coming out with a new garlic aioli line just adds to the fun, making it easy for people to share content and share with friends when they buy one.
Jennifer is amazing, but of course, getting a multi-billion dollar consumer-packaged goods company to collaborate with you on a new food product is… possible… but not easy.
Instead, I want to give you a few more accessible ways you can make your books stand out and become a spectacle.
Claw marks on covers, vampire bites in the corner of your book… you get the idea 😉.
Books wrapped in flowers, wreaths, plants, or other ways to merge nature with your stories.
Unique formatting for your story, such as dark mode
Personalized story: POD with different people’s faces on the covers (can set up an automation to manage this process between an AI model and Lulu’s API)
The key question: How can you modify your physical book (book mods!) to enhance the reader experience?
Here’s a podcast I recorded a little over 6 months ago that dives deep into the weird ways authors have turned their books into experiences that make money…
My New Publishing “Schedule”
I missed last week’s upload of Beyond the Book and am two days “late” on sending you this article.
Truth is things are growing so quickly, that I’m having to slow down to move fast again.
I’m so grateful for everyone here trying out the Movie Machine by Creatorwood (we turn scripts, books, and other stories into shows and movies with AI).
I’ve never been perfect about sticking to a weekly posting schedule here, but I’m usually on the ball 80-90% of the time.
With us now rapidly growing the team at Creatorwood, my head is down preparing for our public launch and making sure we have the right support, engineering, and other resources in place.
It reminds me of the last growth spurt I had 5 months ago when starting Creatorwood. Setting up that foundation for the product and growth for Creatorwood meant 1-2 months where I was publishing newsletters and podcasts less frequently and less regularly.
I anticipate these next 1 - 2 months through the holidays to be pretty similar.
I promise, when an email hits your inbox, it will be interesting, help you learn how to market your books better as a writer, and be something I am super excited to share with you.
In the meantime, it’s been so wild but fun to now be growing the team at Creatorwood and bringing on some of my favorite people in the world and author community to help me.
I’m sure I’ll share some more of that behind the scenes soon.
But for now, it’s back to work.
We have a rare opportunity to change the film industry forever.
Our beta has proved to me that it’s possible.
Now we gotta make it happen. Luckily, we have the best community in the world supporting us. AND… we are now building the best team.
I’ll see y’all soon with another episode of the Beyond the Book Podcast.
As always, don’t forget…
Together we are boundless,
Michael Evans
The Author Sidekick