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Dialogue kicks off ‘one of a kind’ immersive campaign for Joseph’s début novel
Dialogue Books has embarked on an extensive PR and marketing campaign for its lead 2022 title, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph, including an immersive walking tour in which Joseph plays Sancho.
The Hachette UK imprint says publication day today (6th October) will be the culmination of almost 10 months of careful strategising and planning to create a one-of-a-kind comms campaign orchestrated by Emily Moran, head of marketing, and Millie Seaward, head of publicity.
Alongside the standard campaign essentials such as advance proofs, early reader engagement and pre-order and on-sale social media advertising, the team has worked to create “a holistic campaign that makes Sancho’s story truly immersive”.
The campaign includes a partnership with audio walking tour guide company Voicemap, introducing readers to Sancho’s London and taking them on a route from Parliament to the British Museum. Written and performed by Paterson as Sancho, the tour is free for public consumption via the Voicemap app for up to a year after publication and readers can scan a barcode on the back of the book to access it.
Publicity also includes a specially commissioned film hosted by Joseph on Charles Ignatius Sancho for “The One Show”, airing on publication day. The author will also be a guest on BBC 2’s “Between the Covers”, discussing his début novel and there will be national radio appearances on BBC Radio 4’s “Open Book”, Scala Radio and Times Radio. Nationwide events come from Fane, Manchester Literary Festival, Off-The-Shelf Literary Festival and Falmouth Literary Festival.
Dialogue has also worked alongside the British Library to film a mini-documentary exclusively for Waterstones that features Joseph delving into the Sancho archive. Waterstones has also facilitated an in-store installation replicating Sancho’s office.
On publication day Joseph will perform as Sancho within the installation with musical accompaniment and in full costume before a Q&A in the Waterstones Piccadilly event space with Louise Hare.
Sharmaine Lovegrove, m.d. of Dialogue Books, said: “When the Sancho manuscript arrived from the office of Gaia Banks I knew we were in for something special. Working with Paterson Joseph has been a dream. He is an incredible human who breathes life into Sancho on every page and I felt like we were doing our ancestors justice during the editing process.
“Emily and Millie’s campaign shows everything we are capable of at Dialogue. They are phenomenally talented in creating spectacular campaigns and every week there’s been more to celebrate. I couldn’t ask for better allies to work on Dialogue Books and am thrilled and inspired by how they take space for our authors and reach a broad spectrum of readers.”
Gaia Banks of Sheil Land Associates said: “Dialogue’s campaign for Paterson’s début novel has been exceptional and a joy to see as it unfolded. Its breadth, ambition, precision and imagination, and the dedication behind it all, are unrivalled.”
