Challenge

Lawyer turned author, Michael Jordan, knew his debut thriller The Company of Demons had a strong hook—a troubled lawyer is stunned when a friend is brutally murdered and he is accused of the crime, the technique echoing through the city of Cleveland as matching that of the notorious Torso Murderer.

Jordan also knew that the mystery and thriller genre boasts loyal and voracious readers and that he had to connect with those readers early and often in order to earn their approval, build buzz, and create demand for his book.

To achieve this goal, Jordan worked with the team at Greenleaf on an out-of-the-box marketing campaign as well as a Cleveland-based publicist to capitalize on local media interest. As a result, The Company of Demons continues to have a strong presence in bookstores across the United States and a wealth of 5-star reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads.

Book Seeding

With nearly 8,000 books published every day in a market that continues to be increasingly crowded, authors especially debut authors—have to pull out all the stops to reach readers and get their books noticed. The most efficient and effective way to generate the kind of word-of-mouth and potential reviews that encourage readers to take a chance on a new author is through strategic book giveaways to target readers within relevant book communities.

Jordan saw the value that influential readers could provide in exchange for an advance copy of The Company of Demons and heavily seeded both print and digital copies with the following communities:

• 300 print books, along with stickers and bookmarks, to Goodreads members
• 600 Kindle ebooks to Goodreads members
• 100 print books to BookishFirst members
• 500 digital books to NetGalley members

Thanks to the pre-publication exposure offered by these seedings and the early reviews they helped to generate, the newly-launched and New York Times-profiled, Books on the Subway selected The Company of Demons to feature to their social media following of over 1M readers and place copies of the book throughout the New York City subway system on the publication date.

Jordan also partnered with Forbes-profiled Bedside Reading for a special Halloween partnership, placing 500 copies of The Company of Demons in rooms at the Mandarin Oriental DC throughout the month of October.

Bookstore Outreach & Events

The support of independent bookstores was also critical to the success of The Company of Demons, and Jordan worked tirelessly to build relationships with booksellers, schedule local events and signings, and meet readers.

Outreach began four-months prior to publication with a mailing of advance reader copies, bookmarks, stickers, and other promotional materials to 100 independent bookstores in major cities, including Cleveland, Chicago, and New York, bookstores with a mystery and thriller focus, and bookstores with robust event schedules.

Once packages were delivered Jordan personally followed up with each bookstore buyer for orders, feedback, and to schedule events. To date, Jordan’s book tour has visited more than a dozen independent bookstores in three different states.

Local Publicity

The historical elements inspiring the novel and Jordan’s local ties to Cleveland bolstered the authenticity and suspense of the story and offered unique opportunities to be featured in local media.

Cleveland Sun News called The Company of Demons “excruciating to put down because of the craving to see what happens next” and Cleveland Scene called Jordan “a cross between John Grisham and Stephen King.”

News 5 Cleveland featured Michael Jordan as an expert in their UNSOLVED investigation profiling the Torso Murderer, which was promoted throughout the city on digital billboards, highlighting his book as the most recent catalyst for bringing the case back into the spotlight.

Successes

The Company of Demons has exceeded expectations with a smart focus on getting the book into readers’ hands and tireless dedication from Jordan to foster the relationships that were sparked by the book seeding efforts. Thanks to those factors, The Company of Demons has achieved a number of milestones:

• Amazon Best Seller in Historical Thrillers; Mystery, Thriller & Suspense; and Serial Killers
• Ranked among the top 500 Kindle ebooks
• More than fifty 5-star Goodreads reviews at publication
• More than seventy-five 4- and 5-star Amazon reviews within 30 days of publication
• Selected for features with Goodreads and BookBub, selling over 1,500 Kindle ebooks in 24 hours

"The authenticity and suspense of the story offered unique opportunities."

Michael Jordan has been a trial lawyer and arbitrator for over three decades, recognized as an Ohio Super Lawyer® and named to Best Lawyers in America®. The Company of Demons is his first novel.

Greenleaf Book Group is a publisher and distributor best known for its innovative business model, distribution power, and award-winning designs. Named one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States by Inc. Magazine, Greenleaf has represented more than 3,800 titles, including over 75 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestsellers. You can learn more about Greenleaf at www.greenleafbookgroup.com.