Blurb One : The Complete Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes (+ activities)

Say goodbye to willing away hours of

boredom on your tablet with the new

Puffin edition of the Sherlock Holmes

short stories. Are you at that age

where you want to explore older texts?

Want to be involved in the hype that

surrounds the world’s greatest

detective? This is the best place to

start! The perfect gift for any occasion, this box contains all 56 short stories by Doyle in

thinly bound paperbacks, including fan favourite ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’.

No longer do you have to feel intimidated by the language of the time with this simplified re-

telling of the classics, written specifically for you. Doyle didn’t call these stories,

‘adventures’ for nothing! Explore the thrilling mysteries and exploits of the Victorian genius

in a way that’s fun and easy. Fancy putting your skills as a reader and detective to the test?

With activities in every book to work through, can you solve the mysteries before Holmes

and Watson?

Justification One

For this product, I wanted to focus on a target audience of children aged 10+, as a way to

introduce them to the famous detective. At this age, their literary interests are changing, and

thanks to the popularity of both BBC Sherlock (2010) and Sherlock Gnomes (2018), may

want to engage with the literary icon yet struggle with the intense vocabulary and the

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daunting transition into older texts (Appendix A). Marketing this collection as a ‘simplified

re-telling’ emphasises the story over the literary. Having a colourful box of red and golds,

coloured book spines, and pictures make it a welcoming and eye-catching product for any

gender.

It fills a largely ignored gap in the market in regard to Sherlock publications by

targeting a younger demographic. Due to the popularity of book sets (Appendix B), for

example by Roald Dahl, my product utilises this packaging. Similarly, the best publishers for

this edition would be Puffin because of their child-friendly and vibrant marketing. My blurb

uses language to engage a young audience, for example: referencing their ‘tablets’, posing

questions they’ll answer ‘yes’ to which associates positivity with the collection, and a sense

of inclusion by using phrases, ‘be involved’ and ‘written specifically for you’. Furthermore, I

set a challenging tone to ‘beat Holmes’ fuelling a desire to do so. I also aim to target the

guardians of my imaginary audience with the inclusion of ‘the perfect gift’.

The blurb aims to garner a new audience from old stories and introduce kids to close

reading via the activities that are included at the back of each book. For example, quizzes and

word searches based on the story, useful skills in further education. Each short story will be

its own individual thin paperback to adhere to their short attention span in this media fuelled

era. It gives the impression of reading more and thus an inclination to pick up another and

ignites a sense of accomplishment and confidence as they finish each book.

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Blurb Two: The Mind of Hercule Poirot: Case Files from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

‘I meant it to be published someday as the history of one of Poirot’s failures!’ quotes Dr

James Sheppard in the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and published it is, but not as a failure, as a

success story. Welcome to Hercule Poirot’s case files from the notorious investigation that

left people stunned.

A fan of the novels or countless adaptations? Then take a look inside the mind of the

undefeated detective and iconic literary figure, Poirot. Read his research notes, see the clues

he gathered, absorb the theories he posed, and understand the logic behind his progression

from suspect to suspect. All from the hand of the great detective himself.

Learn the tips and tricks of the trade from Poirot’s analytical deep dive into the case. See the

story as never before, outside the confines of the unreliable, criminal narrator, and from the

hand of the great detective himself.

Justification Two

Two popular novels adaptations are BBC Sherlock (2010-present) and Agatha Christie’s

Poirot (1989-2013). The former has resulted in many fan books, both by BBC books and

self-published authors, including A Guide to Deduction (2017). Because of this correlation,

and with Poirot having a fan following of both older and younger viewers, I concluded that

marketing a fan product similar will garner an audience.

This product also provides a marketing strategy similar to A Guide to Deduction

which used the social media platform, Tumblr, to post snippets of the book (Appendix C). By

revealing small sections of pages online, it becomes a way to target a younger audience and

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garner hype around the release of the book. From the research I conducted, the best

publishers for this book may be Octopus Publishing group who publish many ‘as seen on TV’

books, including ITV based products, which would work perfectly in association with the

show.

Using a quote from the original novel associates this product with the literary,

automatically appealing to that audience. Similarly, the use of ‘unreliable, criminal narrator’

provides additional security that the author has that knowledge of literature, and the original

story. It will also pique the interest of novel fans at the opportunity to see the novel from a

new perspective. Furthermore, using terms such as ‘analytical deep dive’ and ‘tips and tricks

of the trade’ connect the book with those fans who may consider themselves amateur

detectives or mystery fanatics, who will want to learn more about Poirot’s methods.

Due to the popularity of fan-based books, there is a clear market available for fictional

stories and characters seeping into our reality, for example, The Return of Sherlock Holmes:

The Case Notes (2015). My product will be based on the appearance of this book with its

clippings, fold-out pages, and personal tone (Appendix D). Marketing this book as the ‘real’

case files of Poirot grounds the story in reality and thus becomes of interest to fans.

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Blurb Three: A Collection of H.D. Poetry and Activities

Explore Hilda Doolittle’s tantalising Imagist poems in a whole new light with this adult

activity book. Indulge yourself in reading the beautiful and thought-provoking poetry of H.D,

while challenging yourself with the activity accompanying it. Whether you’re a morning

crossword enthusiast, love a word search, have reawakened the amusement found in adult

colouring, or enjoy the complexity of anagrams, this book has everything to keep your brain

stimulated while you’re relaxing.

Rediscover or nourish your love of poetry and uncover new meanings and themes to

Doolittle’s poems as you work your way through the activities. We promise to teach even the

most esteemed H.D. fan something new, through our carefully curated selection of poetry and

pen to paper games. The perfect book to keep your mind engaged by the fireplace on those

lazy winter evenings, or during leisure time on your patio in the summer sun, this book will

become your ideal companion.

Justification Three

Based on the popularity of adult colouring and activity books in the past few years (Appendix

E) I decided to market a selection of Hilda Doolittle’s shorter poetry as a collection with

activities alongside them. Due to the compact nature of many of her poems, it will work with

the structure of the book to have a poem on the left-hand side of the page, and activity on the

right-hand side; whether that be a crossword, word search, a colouring page, anagram, etc.

My target audience for this product is professionals, over the age of sixty, possibly

retired and with a disposable income. Upon my research, I found that Emerson Park was a

popular area for this demographic, where couples are living without children and with a lot of

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leisure time now on their hands (Appendix F). The imaginary audience being of a

professional background is important to this product, as they may be familiar with H.D or

have an interest in literature in general. The book aims to combine the act of reading and

perusing poetry, with a perhaps familiar activity to them, doing a daily crossword in the

newspaper. Hence the mention of such in the blurb, making that association for the reader.

H.D. is a poet rarely in print but this book aims to bring new life to her work. Penguin

classics are responsible for publishing many poetry collections, as well as a book of puzzles

in 2017, making them my chosen publishing house for this collection. The blurb aims to

appeal to the reader’s senses, invoking a summer’s day outside and a winter’s evening inside,

while using inviting terms such as ‘we promise’, giving the reader both a sense of familiarity

and security in the product. Similarly, I used a high level of vocabulary in the blurb such as

‘tantalising’ and ‘curated’ because of the professional audience I am advertising to.

Finally, I made sure to emphasise the dual purpose of this product through the use of

both ‘stimulating’ and ‘relaxing’, making the reader associate two things at once means

they’ll be more likely to believe they are getting more for their money when purchasing.

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Appendix A

An example of the daunting nature of Sherlock publications in regard to children/YA viewing:

Appendix B

When searching for ‘children book collections’ on Amazon, the first few options are packaged in colourful, illustrated boxes:

Appendix C

How the author of A Guide to Deduction uses the social media platform, ‘Tumblr’ to market her book:

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Appendix D

The realistic nature of how I would market The Case Files of Poirot:

Appendix E

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Searching for adult activity books on Amazon, publications in 2018 showed me that the interest in producing these books is still prevalent:

Appendix F

Via ‘Find My Hood’. The area includes all four aspects of my marketing: my imaginary audience of over sixty, couples living alone, professional occupation, and proof of a disposable income:

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Bibliography

- Agatha Christie’s Poirot, TV Series, London: ITV Studios, 1989-2002

- Christie, Agatha, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Harper, 2013

- Dahl, Roald, Roald Dahl 16 Book Box Set Collection, Puffin, 2016

- Doyle, A.C., ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia’, Strand

Magazine, Vol 2, June. 1891.

- Doyle, A.C., The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Knickerbocker Classics, Race Point

Publishing, 2013.

- Editor: Martz, Louis L, H.D. Collected Poems 1912-1944, New Directions, 1986.

- Ferguson, Margaret, Slater, Mary Jo and Stallworthy, Jon, eds, The Norton Anthology

of Poetry, 5th edn., New York: Norton, 2005. (pp.1311-1316).

- Find a hood, 2019, Web, Accessed on 25 February 2019

(https://www.findahood.com/locations/emersonpark/6275809)

- Jessup, Joel, The Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Case Notes, Andre Deutsch Ltd,

2015

- Kodak, K.D, 101 Word Puzzles, Independently published, 2018.

- Moore, Gareth, The Penguin Book of Puzzles, Michael Joseph publishing, 2017.

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- Rogers, Hannah, A Guide to Deduction, 2nd ed, MX Publishing, 2017.

- Sherlock, TV Series, London: BBC Studios, 2010-present.

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