How would it feel to be Dan Brown right now? I'm talking about the Dan Brown responsible for writing the DaVinci Code, the book that sold more than 80 million copies. After five long years (at least for his publisher, Doubleday), Brown is back with The Lost Symbol, which will be released in hardcover and electronic versions simultaneously. The Sept. 15 publication date has taken on such prominence it's being called D-Day within the industry.

Depending on how you feel about Dan Brown and his books it’s either a day that will provide a much-needed boost to the book industry, or, if you’re not a fan, it’s a great occasion to mock. Consider “Accounts Payable and Demons,” or “Brown-Out,” or “5 Million Reasons the day stood still,” all courtesy of GalleyCat blog, which invited readers to submit their own profound – or profane – suggestions for the hyped-up day.

Sloganeering and snarking aside, Sept. 15 is a big day. The publishing industry has seen sales flatten during the past year. The Book Industry Trends report for 2009 forecasts revenue growth of 1.8 percent in 2009. The industry’s greatest hope for turning around slow sales is pinned on Brown's book, which will have a record-setting 6.5 million print run world-wide. That's a lot of pressure. According to his website, Brown spent five years researching this book, and all those years served to raise the bar in terms of expectations for The Lost Symbol  to equal, if not better, his previous books’ sales. Then, when the economy took a hit during the past year and book sales floundered, Dan Brown was hailed as the potential savior.

It’s been quiet on Brown’s end, but that’s not unusual as the author tends to be reclusive. A revamped, interactive website is up and running. In June, to build and maintain the buzz until the book is on the shelves, the publisher began dropping clues to fans via cryptic tweets on the social networking site Twitter. Brown also has a Facebook fan page with more than 70,000 fans to date, many of whom share trivia about topics covered in Brown’s books, such as Freemasonry (a topic of forthcoming The Lost Symbol). Beginning this week, the Today show will hold a week-long treasure hunt that offers viewers’ clues to the top-secret locations that are integral to the book. The answers will be revealed Sept. 16, the day after book sales start.

Article Author: Paula Krapf

Paula Krapf is chief operating officer of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., a marketing and publicity firm that specializes in Internet promotion, strategically working with social networking sites, blogs, micro-blogs, ezines, video sites, and other …

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