The Jury-Along: An Innovative campaign for Conviction by Jack Jordan
On 22nd of June, Simon & Schuster UK published Jack Jordanโs CONVICTION - an additional title by the author of DO NO HARM which absolutely stunned our community in 2022. We knew we had to find a new, innovative way to bring this compulsive new novel by Jack Jordan to our community in just as exciting a way as we did DO NO HARM.
Rich from S&S asked us to find a new way to get our readers involved - โsome kind of jury voting system?โ heโd asked. And thus, the JURY-ALONG was born.
Our bespoke designed โvoting casterโ for our jury of readalongโers
At the culmination of a lengthy pre-order campaign, in collaboration with S&S, we created Conviction: The Jury-Along, which consisted of 50 readers receiving jury-themed welcome packs including court documents, visitors passes, and business cards from key players in the novel, inviting them to join us on the jury for the case of the year.
Once weโd kicked off our week-long readalong, we also instructed our Jury (the readers) that everyday before 6pm, that they would have to cast their vote for the day. Is Wade Darling GUILTY or NOT GUILTY? Their answers were stored in our bespoke designed voting caster which they could view throughout the week. We were able to track on a day-by-day, section-by-section, basis what our readers were feeling for our main character, and man in the dock, Wade Darling.
Perhaps one of the biggest testaments to Jackโs writing is that right in the crux of our readalong when the verdict in the novel was about to be revealed, the voting caster read 50% of our readers had filed their final vote as GUILTY, whilst 50% had voted NOT GUILTY. It was a hung jury - the ideal emotional state for our readers to have, when they know whatโs resting on the verdict.
โI loved the daily vote on whether the main character was guilty or not guilty. It was a really fun interactive feature.โ - @a_dreamofbooks
โI loved this readalong. Especially where we had to cast our vote on whether Wade was guilty or not!โ - @bevvybooks
โMy first readalong, very fun. I especially enjoyed voting in the poll each night for guilty/not guilty.โ - @emilydaisyreads
As an additional โdigital firstโ for our readalong format, we identified a super-fan early on to support our campaign. Stu Cummins had read along with us on DO NO HARM and quickly became a huge Jack Jordan fan - it felt only right to invite him to write a โsuperfan creative challengeโ for the readalong - for all of the readalongโers to complete.
This allowed us to support Stuโs bookstagram, feature him on a special one-off readalong card, and really underline our engagement with bookstagrammers and how they support their favourite authors.
โLoved the jury service type vote daily on whether male character was guilty or not guilty.โ - @bookwormstephanie
โThis was such a fun readalong and I'm so happy and feel so privileged to have been a part of it. The guilty/not guilty verdicts that we needed to submit daily was an added bonus. The book was so good!โ - @laurajadeslibrary
โI loved the suspense of reading the book as a group and conferring each day on the new events. The whole readalong from start to finish was well organised and a joy to be a part of.โ - @theseasonofbooks
โI absolutely loved the voting system everyday. Allowing us to vote guilty or not guilty. Added to the immersive experience!โ- @hollyschapter
This campaign garnered a higher than average engagement rate, which we believe was down to the innovative immersive campaign elements and sheer love and joy that the readers felt from Jack on social - an active author really does change the game!
If youโd like to read more about this book, and our campaign, you can find the dedicated webpage here.
