When Primary Colors, a not-so-veiled roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, hit bookshelves in February of 1996, the question on everyone's mind, and tongue, was who wrote it. Published anonymously, the Random House book (which sold more than one million copies in hardcover) created a media storm as readers and pundits tried to guess who in Clinton's inner circle might have penned the juicy novel.
While Primary Colors remains the gold standard among anonymously published titles—then-Newsweek columnist Joe Klein ultimately took credit for the book—some in the industry believe other books can benefit from the practice. Three publicists working on recent books with anonymous authors talked to PW about the advantages and disadvantages of dropping bylines from jacket covers.
At Bloomsbury, galleys for its May novel Academy X were shipped with the author's name noticeably absent from the cover. The book, which publicized its writer as a teacher at a private high school in New York City, chronicled the behind-the-scenes goings-on at a private Manhattan school for the offspring of the rich and famous. While the book has only 30,000 copies in print, the anonymous gambit did have its desired effect. Shortly after it was released with author Andrew Trees's name on it, the New York Sun ran a piece about the book, the publicity stunt and the dismay of at least some parents at Horace Mann (where Trees teaches).
Although Yelena Gitlin, publicity manager at Bloomsbury, said keeping Trees's name off the galleys was more about protecting his students—she claimed the imprint didn't want to "distract" them, especially while the school year was still underway—she readily admitted that there were some nice "side effects" of the move. "[Putting out a book anonymously] always does pique people's interest... and a lot of reviews mention the fact that the galley was anonymous."
At Black Cat, the Grove imprint that will release the pseudonymously written vampire novel Sabine in October, there was no choice about how to publish the book. As publicist Deb Seager explained, the imprint acquired the book, which was published in England by Bloomsbury UK last summer, without knowing who wrote it. Seager, who described the title as a "pulp fiction noir" set in the 1950s at a French boarding school that may be run by vampires, said the book passed muster on the merits of its writing and not the mystery surrounding who wrote it.
But Seager acknowledged that Black Cat is hoping to stir up interest around that very question. Though the imprint is pushing forward with a modest print run of 15,000, Seager hopes the book—the writer is listed simply as "A.P."—generates attention for its nameless author, as she said it has in England. "Not only is the book itself a mystery, but there's the added mystery of who wrote it." While no marketing plans have been put in place yet, Seager said it's possible that a bookseller contest could be set up revolving around who the author might be.
Will Weisser, associate publisher and marketing director at Penguin's conservative imprint Sentinel, said a number of options were discussed before the decision was made to publish the November book Unprotected anonymously. The nonfiction title is by "a psychiatrist at a major American university," called "Anonymous MD," and it's described as a whistle-blowing work about the disastrous effects of a politically correct social climate on college campuses. With bullet points claiming to lift the hypocritical lid on everything from health centers that "tacitly approve promiscuity" to the "anti-religion" aspect of on-campus counseling, the title provocatively claims that all this PC mental and physical health care is "making students sick." Published anonymously because, as the same copy claims, "a campus atmosphere of intolerance" forces it, Weisser is hoping the effect will make an already controversial book seem even more so.
That said, Weisser admitted that taking this tack will make some in the media skeptical about the book and author. "This isn't something you do lightly, and it does make publicity harder in some respects." One thing that's particularly tricky, Weisser said, is convincing the TV talk shows to host the author, since many are hesitant to film someone who's concealing his identity. (And still others will question whether the unidentified author really possesses the credentials he claims to.) With the print run still to be settled on—it will largely be determined, Weisser said, by the reaction he gets from the TV side—it's mostly a waiting (and hoping) game right now. Harking back to Primary Colors, Weisser said he thinks the key to this kind of marketing is having content that's provocative enough to warrant—and sustain—the anonymous tag. And that, as always, is a guessing game.
