"First, a confession: I have not read Jennifer L Armentrout's latest novel, The Primal of Blood and Bone. Nor have I sniffed it, or licked it. Which might be an odd thing to do, but for the fact that a special edition of the romantasy book has been released with garlic-infused ink. Armentrout is a hugely-successful hybrid author, both self- and traditionally published, and has made the New York Times bestseller list on numerous occasions."
"Hellmann's has teamed up with Armentrout and her publishers, Blue Box Press, to release a special edition of The Primal of Blood and Bone which is printed with ink mixed with their garlic aioli the Craven being vampires, remember, and so averse to a bit of garlic. This is, of course, is an attempt to grab the TikTok generation by the throat. Understandably so: the video-sharing social media platform has become one of the biggest book marketing opportunities for publishers in modern times."
"And it is here, dear reader, that I heave a world-weary sigh and reveal myself to be yet another grumpy, middle-aged, largely unknown author waving his fist at the clouds in the style of Grampa Simpson and raging against the dying of the light or at least, against the shift away from the seemingly outmoded idea of publishers just trying to sell books because, y'know, they're books, and they're good."
A romantasy series installment features vampire-analogue creatures called the Craven. A special edition of the book was produced using garlic-infused ink, courtesy of a partnership between Hellmann's and the publisher, aiming to exploit the vampiric weakness to garlic as a gimmick. The promotion targets TikTok-savvy readers and reflects how social media has become a dominant channel for book marketing. A middle-aged, lesser-known writer narrator expresses bitterness about marketing theatrics overshadowing a focus on selling books for their intrinsic quality, lamenting shifting publishing priorities.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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