Week Six: Promoting Horror Materials
At my library, horror books are interfiled with general fiction books. This can make it hard for the occasional reader who likes horror to discover new authors. It can also frustrate reluctant readers looking for a book with the emotional appeal of a horror story only to discover they cannot easily browse for this type of book.
To draw attention to our horror stories I want to create an endcap display that we fill regularly with horror books. The display will include bookmarks featuring classic horror imagery that fit in with the type of horror book it is, for example, a haunted house, a shadowy figure in the doorway, etc. Some of the bookmarks would include specific classic tv show/ movie/ book imagery that can be placed in books that are read-alikes for the tv show/ movie/ or popular title. For example, a red balloon for fans of IT the movie (or book) or the Christmas light alphabet from Stranger Things for the show's fans. These bookmarks would also say "If you like (book, tv show, or movie title), then try this book!"
These bookmarks could then be placed in books throughout the regular collection so that readers can find additional materials in the stacks.
This is such a fun, simple, yet effective idea! I love turning bookmarks into like multipurpose tools to not only convey the tropes/themes of the book, but to also connect it to other pieces of media that they might like if they enjoy the book. It's like a mini RA session that can be easily produced and replicated on Canva! Patrons at my library are always looking for more bookmarks (we never seem to have enough), so I have a feeling that if we did implement an idea like this with a genre display, it'd be a huge hit for multiple reasons.
ReplyDeleteMolly, I would be SO into this!
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of haunted houses and ghosts in my horror books, its almost exclusively what I read. But your completely right, horror is hard to pick off the shelf when they are mixed into all the fiction. I would also love to have a bookmark with a simple image of a haunted house with different authors that write in that setting! It would be simple to distribute and create, and would be really effective!
-Emma
Simple and extremely effective! My library has similar bookmarks and they go out like hotcakes!
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