The Movie can aid the Book
That Julia Child and her book's turned avante garde after 48 years shouldn't be surprising. It only goes to prove that when it comes to consumers, e'en the 'dead and gone' can hit home if piloted (read marketed) well. More so if 'visuals' do the talking.
Note the facts. “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child has been given a huge lift from the recently released movie “Julie & Julia,” sold 22,000 copies in the most recent week tracked, according to Nielsen BookScan, which follows book sales. That is more copies than were sold in any full year since the book’s appearance, according to Alfred A. Knopf, which published it.
The visual is powerful as stimuli. Julia Child's book, as a book, is in written form, and so can't score as well as when its visual. Of course there are people who're disappointed by movies and so prefer the original book. 'The Da Vinci Code' is a case in question. Yet that's not because the visual medium doesn't deliver. Its more a failure of a director who can't use the medium to create an offering that rakes in viewers.
Visual stimuli is what we respond to, most. Its because our eyes do most of the 'taking in'. More than any of our other senses. And what's pleasing to the eye can then turn pleasing to an author. Especially when the author's book flies off shelves.
Julia Child, bless her soul, owes much to the movie. Its gotten her book to make its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list of Aug. 30 in the advice and how-to category.
Note the facts. “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child has been given a huge lift from the recently released movie “Julie & Julia,” sold 22,000 copies in the most recent week tracked, according to Nielsen BookScan, which follows book sales. That is more copies than were sold in any full year since the book’s appearance, according to Alfred A. Knopf, which published it.
The visual is powerful as stimuli. Julia Child's book, as a book, is in written form, and so can't score as well as when its visual. Of course there are people who're disappointed by movies and so prefer the original book. 'The Da Vinci Code' is a case in question. Yet that's not because the visual medium doesn't deliver. Its more a failure of a director who can't use the medium to create an offering that rakes in viewers.
Visual stimuli is what we respond to, most. Its because our eyes do most of the 'taking in'. More than any of our other senses. And what's pleasing to the eye can then turn pleasing to an author. Especially when the author's book flies off shelves.
Julia Child, bless her soul, owes much to the movie. Its gotten her book to make its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list of Aug. 30 in the advice and how-to category.
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