Mantle sets sail on major campaign for Mosse’s The Ghost Ship

Pan Macmillan’s Mantle has embarked on a major marketing and publicity campaign for Kate Mosse’s 10th novel The Ghost Ship (6th July), with activity including a especially commissioned sea shanty and a partnership with Adnam’s Brewery.

The shanty has been written and performed by The Bookshop Band and will be released a single on Spotify on 23rd June. It can be viewed now on YouTube.

Suffolk-based Adnam’s Brewery has created a beer called Ghost Ship, and galleon pin-badges have also been created for booksellers as part of the campaign.

In addition, there will be an extensive social media promotion, POS available for all retailers and outdoor and radio advertising. Mosse will be embarking on a major in-person author tour – currently running from 27th June until October 2023 – with 44 events already confirmed and further dates to be announced. A special edition hardback of the book has also been created for independent book shops, with sprayed edges embellished with an image of a ship, taken from the book’s cover.

PR activity includes interviews including BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, BBC One Show, BBC Radio 3 The Verb, Times Radio Fi and Jane and Sky Arts, along with print features in the Radio Times, Hello magazine, Good Housekeeping and the Sunday Times. A blog tour engaging 30 literary bloggers will also run alongside the traditional PR, launching on 3rd July.

Jamie Forrest, Pan Macmillan’s head of marketing, said: “The Ghost Ship is a novel that takes the reader into the heart of the past. As such, we wanted our marketing campaign to give readers a flavour of its immersive quality, while creating digital, radio and outdoor advertising that was as beautiful and eye-catching as the book itself.

"We believe that our campaign will create word of mouth excitement for this exceptional novel, generating buzz among longstanding Mosse fans, while also introducing her to new readers everywhere."

Christian Lewis, freelance PR director, said: “Kate Mosse is a wonderful author to promote. Devising this extensive book tour has enabled us to reunite Kate with some of her favourite book shops, while also introducing her to lots of new places. We are delighted to have secured interviews not only with Radio 4 Desert Island Discs but also on BBC’s One Show – the holy grail of book PR!”

Kate Mosse said: “I loved writing The Ghost Ship and can’t wait to share it with readers. A big thank you to everyone who’s worked on the campaign and to Mantle and Pan Macmillan for such an imaginative and enjoyable campaign.”