Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal took a look at an emerging trend in the publishing world — using viral videos to promote new books. The strategy, which hasn’t yet generated much in the way of sales, is being used to market books by established authors (take Jodi Picoult’s 19 Minutes for example) and new authors as well. One video not mentioned in WSJ’s piece is the fairly slick clip that promotes Toby Barlow’s début novel Sharp Teeth. Barlow, when not writing, is the creative director of a large advertising agency. Hence perhaps the willingness to take this approach:
