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Orion has relaunched its Cherry Picks women’s fiction community as One Book Lane, catering to readers of all genres, today (14th October).
The community has a new website, and its first monthly email will be sent out this week, while the Cherry Picks Twitter and Facebook accounts will also be rebranded.
The creation of One Book Lane followed research into Orion's target market and it is designed to house all books those readers are interested in. The website contains a number of “rooms”, including the attic for thrillers and crime, the bedroom for romance novels, and the kitchen for cookbooks and “mouth-watering stories”.
The website, which will house long-form content, is designed so that rooms can be added and taken away – there is currently a Halloween room, and there are plans for other seasonal rooms.
The community will primarily be told about books from the Orion fiction and Weidenfeld & Nicolson imprints, but there is also scope for titles from other imprints, such as Gollancz, to be included.
Orion said the room structure allowed it to get away from labels like women’s fiction, which it said did not resonate with readers, according to its consumer research. Research carried out by Orion included a survey among the Cherry Picks audience and focus groups of existing and potential audiences.
Vics Tranter, consumer insight manager, told The Bookseller: “Cherry Picks to One Book Lane is a fantastic example of how insight can be used to inform strategy but also inspire us to be more creative. From the start this project was a collaborative process with the results guiding decisions and sparking conversations, all with the end consumer in mind.”
Digital marketing director Marissa Hussey said: “We’ve spent quite a lot of time hearing directly from readers and we know the last thing they want is for us to ‘cherry pick’ what they see. We’ve limited ourselves in what we communicate to this market in the past, but the new One Book Lane allows us to let all of our relevant authors and books play in this space, and for our readers to pick what they want to know more about, and talk with other readers who want the same.”
As part of the launch of One Book Lane, Orion will be asking people on social media to share their ideal book to give as a housewarming present under the hashtag #bookhousewarming, and their images of places they want to read using the hashtag #myonebooklane.
A Pinterest board of “dream reading rooms” has also been set up on the Orion Pinterest account.
Three short stories have been written by Orion authors for the launch of One Book Lane, either set on One Book Lane or about reading.
Julia Pidduck, senior digital marketing manager, said: “The people who make up our existing community, along with the potential new audience for One Book Lane, are some of our most devoted, vocal readers and book buyers, so the way we communicate with them is crucial. Our chosen platforms give us the opportunity to speak directly to consumers and that conversation is at heart of our digital marketing strategy.”
The first featured author on One Book Lane is Cathy Kelly, and the community will also interact with reading groups through a special section on the site.
The One Book Lane team comprises of members of the Orion Digital, marketing, publicity and editorial departments.