Regan Books is known (among other things) for its unusual approach to publishing, and a book on the imprint's fall list certainly demonstrates such "out of the box" thinking—by packaging a book inside a box. The Beauty Buyble: The Best Beauty Products of 2007 combines a 144-page paperback with 33 samples of beauty products that the book recommends, all wrapped up in a bright pink box and tied with a matching ribbon. The limited run of 75,000 boxes, priced at $19.99, will go on sale in September, and 5,000 have already sold through Amazon.
While selling a book with products may not be entirely novel—Running Press has cornered the market on "mini-kits," and Klutz has been doing kids' activity books for years—The Beauty Buyble does have a unique quality: its authors had to persuade beauty product companies to donate 75,000 samples each.
Authors Maureen Regan (a literary agent and the sister of publisher Judith) and Paula Conway (a beauty writer) surveyed hundreds of women around the country as well as celebrity makeup artists and other beauty experts to compile data on the best beauty products. They liken their book to a Zagat's guide for things like eyeliner and shampoo, only there are no negative reviews. Their original plan was to include coupons in the back of the book for some of the products mentioned, but then Judith Regan suggested they make a box and fill it with samples of the products.
Getting beauty companies to donate 75,000 product samples each wasn't easy—Regan and Conway estimate their rejection rate was 99%—but they managed to convince 33 companies to do it. "We spent two years turning 'no' into 'yes,' " said Maureen Regan. They managed to persuade drugstore brands like Vitabath, Cetaphil, Maybelline, Banana Boat and Nivea, along with some upscale ones like MD Skincare (a company that makes a $40 bottle of sunscreen) to pony up 75,000 samples each. Adding a Willy Wonka—esque aspect to the project is the placement of "extra" goodies in every box, as extravagant as a three-night stay for two at the Canyon Ranch Spa and as thrifty as a bottle of Sally Hansen nail polish.
Naturally, the book has a large specialty sales market; Regan is working on getting the boxes into Sephora, Anthropologie, Fred Segal and Henri Bendel. The authors plan to update the book every year, and are considering doing similar boxes for men's products and baby products.
