Shotgun Lovesongs

A Novel

by Nickolas Butler

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

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Pub Date Mar 04 2014 | Archive Date Apr 24 2014

St. Martin's Press | Thomas Dunne Books

General Fiction (Adult)

Description

Hank, Leland, Kip and Ronny were all born and raised in the same Wisconsin town—Little Wing—and are now coming into their own (or not) as husbands and fathers. One of them never left, still farming the family's land that's been tilled for generations. Others did leave, went farther afield to make good, with varying degrees of success; as a rock star, commodities trader, rodeo stud. And seamlessly woven into their patchwork is Beth, whose presence among them—both then and now—fuels the kind of passion one comes to expect of lovesongs and rivalries.

Now all four are home, in hopes of finding what could be real purchase in the world. The result is a shared memory only half-recreated, riddled with culture clashes between people who desperately wish to see themselves as the unified tribe they remember, but are confronted with how things have, in fact, changed.

There is conflict here between longtime buddies, between husbands and wives—told with writing that is, frankly, gut-wrenching, and even heartbreaking. But there is also hope, healing, and at times, even heroism. It is strong, American stuff, not at all afraid of showing that we can be good, too—not just fallible and compromising. Shotgun Lovesongs is a remarkable and uncompromising saga that explores the age-old question of whether or not you can ever truly come home again—and the kind of steely faith and love returning requires.

Advance Praise

"Nickolas Butler ripped my heart out with rare honesty and good old-fashioned unapologetic love."
—Matthew Quick

"A Midwestern masterpiece [that] has done for the modest splendor of verdant farmlands what Larry McMurtry did for the brutal beauty of small town Texas." —Amber Dermont

"You will be moved to laughter and tears, plugged in to a melody that brilliantly shares the story of all our lives." —Benjamin Percy

"Nick's literary focus...explorations of the human quest for meaning and value...is a much-needed addition to contemporary fiction in that it explores beyond the conventional repositories of 'self' -- job security, family bonds, for example -- and reintroduces us to the settled world of nature, where we can explore into both new and ancient meanings of the term." —James Alan McPherson, Pulitzer-Prize winner

Marketing Plan

*National Author Tour
*National Review Attention
*National Print Publicity
*National Radio Publicity
*Media Lunch in New York City – October 17
*National Print Advertising in the New York Times
*Pre-pub Online Advertising such as The New Yorker, The New York Times and USA Today.
*Pre-pub Shelf Awareness Ad with galley giveaways
*Pre-Pub PW Daily Ad with galley giveaways
*National ARC Distribution with over 7500 galleys.
*The Nick Butler Heartland Walking Tour: Nick to drive through the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota) to “meet and greet” booksellers, distribute ARCS in the heartland. To include a lunch with B&N folks in Chicago.
*Blog Outreach: extensive campaign pre-pub and at-pub to, indie, music and literary book blogs.
*Bookreporter.com pre-buzz early reader campaign with ARCS
*Book Browse First Impressions campaign
*Early Reader Reviews on Goodreads.com & LibraryThing.com
*Book community Website Advertising Campaign: Goodreads.com advertising and eblasts targeting readers of Richard Russo, Philipp Meyer, Tom Perotta and similar authors
*NetGalley eblasts to 40,000 readers
*National Indiebound Campaign
*Author Video for Accounts
*Facebook Advertising
*NPR Insight: Daily two minute sponsorship segments that run each day for two weeks. The program runs on a guaranteed 70 NPR stations and over 200 commercial stations
*Promotional & Advertising Campaign targeting indie audiences:
-Litbreakers Ad Campaign (network of indie fiction sites such as >>>>>>>>)
-Promotions through websites such as The Millions, Large Hearted Boy, Flavorwire, SoulPancake, etc.
*Music Industry Cross Promotion due to book’s loose inspiration of bon Iver: hiring of an outside music industry consultant to implement cross-promotions in music industry from September through march.
-ARC distribution to musicians, managers and tastemakers (ranging from Bonnie Prince Billy to the Black Keys to Superchunk, Sharon Van Etten, and more
-Online PR
-Marketing Tie-ins
-CMJ Trade show Participation
-SXSW promotions
-Facebook Advertising targeting Bon Iver type bands
*Social Media Outreach targeting “moms” who are fans of Meg Wolitzer and Jennifer Egan via M.O.M. (Miles of Marketing) facebook promotion sharing word of mouth giveaways, excerpts, sweepstakes, etc.
*Promotional and Advertising Campaign to engage a male audience through email companies like Thrillist or Urban Daddy.
*Branding outreach to New Glarus Brewing (beer in Wisconsin tied to book’s setting) and men’s trendy clothing catalogs like carbon2cobalt and The Field.
*Discussion Guide Available Online
*Library Marketing Campaign
*Author Available for Call-ins to Bookclubs
*Featured Title at ReadingGroupGold.com