The Seven Rays. I Want This Book!

I have been hearing about this book for the past couple of months. It’s called The Seven Rays by Jessica Bendinger who is actually an acclaimed Hollywood screenwriter, love it! She was the one who wrote Bring it On. Remember that movie with Kirsten Dunst.

I tend to swim in the popular opinion pool. Don’t get me wrong, I like to dabble my toes in the quirky, weird and independent streams as well, but for the most part if something is hugely accepted by the general population, I’ll most likely accept it too. Prime example, Twilight. The Seven Rays has been getting huge publicity and this is a prime example of media hype and marketing done very well. Advanced copies of the book were sent out to celebrities and other influential people who then were seen photographed with book in hand.

Here is the premise of the book as described from The Seven Rays website. The story follows 17 year-old, Beth Michaels, who uncovers elements of the supernatural on her journey of self discovery. The words: “You are more than you think you are” mysteriously present themselves to Beth and ultimately drive her quest. The novel reaches well beyond the interest of young adults, appealing to all as it explores the universal question—“Are we making the most of our lives?”

Cool, right? I know. I can totally see myself getting lost in this story.

As I was scanning the book’s website I came across the most genius marketing campaign EVER!!! The website has launched ‘The Seven Rays Script-a-Scene Adaptation Competition’. Seriously, this is a marketing/PR Managers dream. Think about how many people, whether they have a dream of becoming a screenwriter or not, will buy this book so they can enter this contest. Here is the link to the contest if you want more details: http://www.thesevenrays.com/script-a-scene/

I need to keep talking about this website. If I wrote a book and launched a website, I would want it to be like this. Another genius move…there is a soundtrack on the homepage to go along with the book. Brilliant…I always thought authors/publishing houses should do this. I naively thought this was my idea, but apparently someone beat me to the punch. Shit.

You can also download the first chapter of the book online, just enough to suck you in turning your desire for wanting this book to NEEDING this book. They are tapping into every social network possible. You can find out everything about this book from twitter, MySpace, Facebook, RSS feeds. They even have a book trailer, another genius move.

Here is the website for you to check out, http://www.thesevenrays.com/

Maybe Santa will leave this in my stocking.