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Publishers' submissions for the new Richard & Judy book club must be completed by Monday (28th June) after the TV duo made the surprise announcement of a new club with W H Smith. WHS has said that the selected books would be “ratecarded", but has denied that the books will be selected based solely on publishers' ability to pay.
W H Smith's buying team will create a longlist of titles, across fiction and narrative non-fiction, which will be submitted to Richard and Judy's team who will select the final six. W H Smith is keeping its marketing and pricing plans under wraps but TV advertising is likely. The retailer's books business unit director Rachel Russell said: “The campaign will be a fully integrated marketing plan across all media."
Russell declined to reveal publishers' contributions to the campaign. She said: "There's a contribution to the major marketing spends we are putting behind the book club but that has no bearing on the final selection criteria. The books have to be good—that's the most important thing."
Russell said the promotion would look for rising stars rather than the established names promoted through its Times Recommended Read or Book of the Week offers. She said: “If you think about the authors R&J made famous, people such as Victoria Hislop, they were lesser known names. It's important that there is a pipeline for the authors of the future and that's what we are aiming for." The promotion will run at 1,055 W H Smith stores.
Kerr MacRae, executive director at Simon & Schuster, said a lack of regular television spots, contrasting with Richard and Judy's original book club, would not hinder the campaign. He said: “The big, successful books were selling way beyond the television audience. Richard and Judy's branding is recognised now by book buyers so most of the work establishing the brand is done."
Chris Rushby, buying director at Bertrams, was sceptical that other retailers would benefit from the promotion of the book club titles. He said: “There is the argument that all publicity is good publicity but I don't think a Smiths advert promoting the R&J titles will be a route to riches for the whole trade."
Cactus TV m.d. Amanda Ross, who produced Channel 4's “Richard and Judy" with the original book club and whose “TV Book Club" returns to More4 on Sunday, said: “I founded the first British TV book club because I'm truly passionate about books, reading and literacy. Anything that encourages more people to pick up books—single retail promotions and beyond—is always something we'd support."
But she stressed books had to be picked on merit: “We take the selection process very seriously to ensure readers are recommended genuinely good books and have never been influenced by commercial interests."