I’m sure everyone by now has heard of Groupon, the creative offspring of marketing and social networking. In a nutshell, a retailer submits the idea for a coupon, members (i.e. the “Group”) vote if it is a good idea or not, and if it passes muster, the coupon is released as a daily deal.
Usually Groupon coupons are two-for-one type deals for restaurants or other attractions, but recently a movie company used it to drive their marketing to a whole new level. Cinemablend reported recently the producers of The Lincoln Lawyer (sorry I won’t link to a product if I don’t know it) used a Groupon deal to boost its number of viewers by nearly 200,000. Only 40,000 showed up to actually see the movie, but of those, 89% said they wouldn’t have seen the film otherwise.
As a stubbornly independent author, I’m always looking for great ways to cheaply market my work. I’m wondering if Groupon might be an avenue for me and other like-minded artists? I took a look at the site and saw a magazine subscription, but no novels, so I’m unsure if it would be something that might work.
Have you ever used Groupon? Do you know of any novels sold off Groupon? Would you consider purchasing a novel off a Groupon deal?
EDC
Edward D. Casey 