Publishing Opportunity or Marketing Technique?

“Do something. If it doesn’t work, do something else. No idea is too crazy.” – Jim Hightower

Move over hardbacks, paperbacks, soft covers, Kindles, and e-books! Clear the shelves! We need room for toilet paper books. Yes, you read that right—toilet paper. Sorry to be a bit indelicate here, but if the new literary experience being launched in Japan succeeds, carrying reading material into the bathroom may no longer be necessary.

According to a recent article on news.yahoo.com, “Horror Story Printed on Toilet Paper in Japan,” a Japanese company is now selling a nine-chapter novella printed on bathroom tissue. Click here to see a photo of the packaging.

The novella, Drop, is written by Koji Suzuki. He’s a best-selling author and has been described as Japan’s answer to Stephen King. Being promoted as “a horror experience in the toilet,” the roll sells for about $2.20. The story takes up about three feet of a roll and requires only a few minutes to read. Appropriately, the setting is a public restroom.

I’d like to know if Suzuki’s royalties are paid by the sheet, roll, or Costco size bundle. Read more about Koji Suzuki here.

Will the trend catch on here? If so, perhaps we’ll soon see an American version with Stephen King’s A Very Tight Place, which for the most part, takes place in a portable bathroom. Personally, I find visiting public restrooms scary enough. I don’t really want to read more horror stories about them.

What do you think of this idea? Are toilet tissue books a new avenue in the publishing world or are they an ‘outside the box’ marketing idea?

Thanks for stopping by.


Tags: Jim Hightower, Koji Suzuki, Stephen King, novella on bathroom tissue, A Very Tight Place, Drop,