James Patterson: Some of his new books will self-destruct
James Patterson has a magic trick for you: If you participate in a promotion for his upcoming book "Private Vegas," your copy of the book will disappear after 24 hours.听
One thousand readers will have the chance to download 鈥淰egas鈥� as an e-book before its official release, but they鈥檒l only have 24 hours to finish the book. And if you're one of those thousand readers, beware: Other readers will know how far you are in the novel and some may try to steal your time. It's all part of the unusual promotion campaign.
In addition, one copy of "Vegas" will be available for $294,038. If you鈥檙e the reader who purchases that special copy, you鈥檒l get a first-class flight to a mystery destination, a hotel room for two nights, dinner with Patterson, gold-plated binoculars that have the author鈥檚 initials on them, and autographed copies of the 鈥淎lex Cross鈥� books. This journey will involve an exploding book, too 鈥� according to the for the opportunity, a bomb squad will be involved with the destruction of that particular copy of 鈥淰egas.鈥�
As for those who want the free e-book copy, according to the , they can head to the self-destructing book beginning at 12 p.m. on Jan. 21 to receive a code to get the self-destructing e-version.听
For the rest of the public, 鈥淰egas鈥� will be released on Jan. 26.听
Patterson worked with the creative agency Mother New York to create this unusual promotion, according to .听
鈥淧ublishing, in my opinion, needs to get out there competing with everything else in the world 鈥� movies, television, etc. etc.," Patterson says. "It just seems to me I鈥檓 in a position to do that. I went to a very good small advertising agency [and said], 'Let's do something that's relevant to what I do, very unusual, that will draw attention to books and this book in particular.鈥�
