FREAKONOMICS Bookplate Success Story

Perhaps the most successful bookplate book signing promotion in publishing history is the one employed by the authors of Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. This best-selling, non-fiction collection of economic solutions to non-economic problems has sold more than three million copies world-wide.

I asked Dubner by e-mail about the free bookplate offer that he and Levitt have employed for more than three years since the publication of their book. How many bookplates have they sent out so far, for example?

“No idea, really. We’ve changed interface and methodology a few times along the way so we don’t have a cumulative count. Best guesstimate would be between 20,000 and 30,000,” Dubner replied.

This is a staggering number, and I doubt whether it has ever been duplicated. If it has, I’d like to know who has done it.

I inquired whether the authors or the publisher paid to produce and mail the bookplates.

“The publisher supplies the bookplates, envelopes and mailing costs. We collect the addresses (readers request them via a form on our website,) collate and sort the addresses, and print the address labels. Then there’s the act of signing. I usually sign a thousand or so and then we ship them off to Levitt, who signs them and ships them back to us. Then my assistant takes them to the publisher, puts them in envelopes, and mails them. So the costs and time are split between us and the publisher.”

How successful has the signed bookplate offer been?

“Sure, successful, but impossible to quantify in any meaningful way. But, while the numbers are elusive, the warm feeling is pretty substantial.”

The free bookplate offer is still being made on the Freakonomics website, so I wondered how many requests are still being made weekly.

“I think we only get about 100 requests per week these days, although if we call attention to it on the blog, that number can increase tenfold or more.”

And, notably, “Xmas is a big time.” This appears to indicate that bookplates are definitely an incentive to purchase the book for gift-giving.

The experience of the authors of this best-selling blockbuster should be encouraging to any author who wants to increase sales through signed bookplates. Few authors will duplicate anything close to the numbers that Dubner mentions, but he leaves no doubt that bookplates are a worthwhile marketing tool.

I’m still interested in hearing from other authors’ experiences with bookplates.

Jack McLaughlin