SuicideGirls.com, Thriller Author Team Up To Release Groundbreaking Online Promotion Of A Very 'Novel' Novel June 8, 2009 For immediate release Press contact: J.C. Hutchins -- 7thSonNovel@gmail.com For high-resolution photos: Nicole Powers -- nicole@suicidegirls.com
In an innovative cross-promotion never seen in publishing, alternative pin-up website SuicideGirls.com has partnered with St. Martin's Press and thriller novelists J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman to prove that paper and ink can transcend the two dimensional printed page in surprising and sexy ways.
To celebrate the June 9 release of Hutchins' and Weisman's groundbreaking supernatural thriller novel Personal Effects: Dark Art, SuicideGirls will debut several multimedia-fueled experiences on its popular site, including videos, an interactive scavenger hunt for readers, and a steamy Personal Effects-themed pin-up photo set featuring Suicide Girls Annika and Lumi. Hutchins will release and/or link to this content at his website, JCHutchins.net.
It's a saucy, unconventional way to promote an equally unconventional book. Personal Effects: Dark Art chronicles the life of Zach Taylor, an enthusiastic art therapist who uses patients' personal effects to treat their psychoses. In a thrilling twist, these personal effects actually come with the book, propelling readers into novel-enhancing narratives told via email, phone, and on the Web. Readers can investigate the novel's dangerous mystery, and discover plot twists that hero Zach Taylor may never experience.
Further blurring the lines between reality and fiction, Personal Effects character Rachael Webster is now guest blogging at SuicideGirls, writing its "Hit Play" gaming column, which has garnered a loyal following. Rachael also has her own blog at PixelVixen707.com.
"Personal Effects blurs the lines between reality and fiction in an interesting way. It's a compulsive, page-turning mystery with characters that leap off the page and compel the reader to seek answers beyond the confines of the book's covers. We're very excited to be a part of J.C.'s paper and pixilated vision, which is unique, smart, sexy, geeky and creative -- like those in our community," says SuicideGirls' co-founder, Missy.
Hutchins agrees. "It's a perfect match, from an audience perspective," he says. "SuicideGirls' readership is edgy, well-educated, progressive and online-savvy. Further, SuicideGirls has a lot to offer my current fans -- killer interviews, exceptionally-crafted columns on culture and Internet life."
In addition to Rachael Webster's "Hit Play" column, SuicideGirls and Hutchins have several special Personal Effects-themed promotions planned for release at their sites, including:
- An innovative, sexy photo shoot featuring Suicide Girls Annika and Lumi, and the trailblazing personal effects that accompany the novel, such as business and ID cards, photographs and legal documents. Several clues are also embedded in the photoset.
- SG will release video blog posts, mentioning its friend Rachael Webster (who is also tattooed, pierced and geeky), and her "Hit Play" column
- SG personalities will be "committed" to Brinkvale Psychiatric (the spooky setting for Personal Effects), and share their authentic-looking patient paperwork with SG readers...
- ...they will blog about their stay at "The Brink"...
- ...clues in their blog posts and patient paperwork will propel SG readers to Brinkvale's website (BrinkvalePsychiatric.com)...
- ...and there, fans can "hack" into a doctor's profile page, and learn more about the staffers' incarceration via additional SG-exclusive content.
- SG Managing Editor Nicole Powers will provide a video testimonial, endorsing the novel
"SuicideGirls truly 'gets' the reality-blurring intent powering the Personal Effects experience, and is fully embracing it," Hutchins says. "The staff loves the book, and wants to integrate that 'out of book' experience into the website for their readers. I think SuicideGirls fans, and fans of my work, will get a kick out of this cross-promotion."
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About J.C. Hutchins – JCHutchins.net Since 2006, J.C. Hutchins has released free serialized audiobook thrillers, using the Internet and unique "zero budget" promotions to build his audience, reaching nearly 4 million episode downloads to date. The first of these novels (titled 7th Son: Descent) will be published this fall; the series has been optioned by Warner Bros. Hutchins' work has been covered in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time.com, Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and on the BBC. Personal Effects: Dark Art is his print novel debut.
About SuicideGirls – SuicideGirls.com With a vibrant, sex positive community of women (and men), SuicideGirls was founded on the belief that creativity, personality and intelligence are not incompatible with sexy, compelling entertainment, and millions of people agree. The site mixes the smarts, enthusiasm and DIY attitude of the best music and alternative culture sites with an unapologetic, grassroots approach to sexuality. In the same way Playboy Magazine became a beacon and guide to the swinging bachelor of the 1960s, SuicideGirls is at the forefront of a generation of young women and men whose ideals about sexuality do not conform with what mainstream media is reporting.
SuicideGirls features the hottest modern pin-up pictures of tattooed and pierced women who challenge and redefine notions of beauty. Similarly, SuicideGuirls champions freethinkers and those with an alternative perspective. Featured interviews include Leonard Nimoy, Larry Charles, Sofia Coppola, Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Hopper, Marilyn Manson, Joan Jett, and Twitter CEO Evan Willaims, to name but a few. Celebrity and guest columnists include Steal Back Your Vote's Greg Palast, Star Trek's Wil Wheaton (who writes a monthly Geek In Review column), Anthrax's Scott Ian (Food Coma), Rob Corddry and Margaret Cho.
Although started as a two person operation out of a loft in downtown Portland, OR in 2001, in five short years SuicideGirls grew its audience to over 5 million unique visitors a month, becoming a cultural phenomenon along the way. Today, SuicideGirls has hundreds of thousands of subscribers, over a thousand models, a successful book, several TV specials, a clothing line and two DVDs in stores (with a third on its way). SuicideGirls has also just released Flip Strip, which became the fourth most popular free iPhone App at the iTunes store, garnering more than 1 million downloads in a matter of days following its release.
About St. Martin's Press – StMartins.com St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the iconic Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press (mainstream and bestseller books), St. Martin's Griffin (mainstream paperback books, including science fiction and romance), St. Martin's Minotaur (mystery, suspense, and thrillers), Picador (specialty books), Thomas Dunne Books (suspense and mainstream), and Truman Talley Books (business and specialty books).