Pop-up record store will promote Michael Chabon's new novel
In Michael Chabon鈥檚 new novel "Telegraph Avenue,鈥� old friends Nat and Archy have every reason to worry. They're the struggling co-owners of Brokeland, a used record store in Oakland, Calif. And now a new megastore is set to open up near them on Telegraph Avenue.
But if prospects are dim for Nat and Archy, the opposite seems to be the case for "Telegraph Avenue." With the novel鈥檚 release set for Sept. 11, HarperCollins is pulling out all the stops on the marketing of the latest book by Chabon, according to a report in .
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In order to gain publicity for "Telegraph Avenue," Harper Imprint鈥檚 marketing team has made plans to take an actual bookstore 鈥� Diesel, in Oakland 鈥� and transform it into a live counterpart to the fictional Brokeland Records. From Sept. 7 to Sept. 14, the store will sell used jazz records supplied by independent record seller Berigan Taylor.
Brokeland Record signs will be put in the place of the Diesel signs and Brokeland Records鈥� bags, buttons, and stamps will be sold. Diesel鈥檚 website will also temporarily offer a webpage for 鈥淒iesel in Brokeland.鈥�
On Sept. 12, the store will hold a promotional party for Chabon that will include a fundraiser for the nonprofit organization 826, which offers classes in writing instruction and tutoring for students. Chabon has donated an 8-track player and a 鈥淭elegraph Avenue鈥� mix to put up for raffle as prizes.
Leah Wasielewski, the imprint's director of marketing, that estimates that the budget for this new publicity drive is more than $250,000.
Chabon previously wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay." "Telegraph Avenue" is his first novel in five years. The film rights to "Telegraph Avenue" have been bought by the film and television producer Scott Rudin, who produced the 2011 film "Moneyball."
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Harper put out a sampler of the e-book version of 鈥淭elegraph Avenue鈥� in July. When the full e-book is released, it will contain an interactive map of Oakland, eight videos of Chabon, a playlist put together by Chabon, an animated cover, audio book clips done by actor Clarke Peters, and a 鈥淭elegraph Avenue鈥� theme song written by Peter Lerman.
Elizabeth Drake is a Monitor contributor.
