Chapter 128 - Basics to Alternative Marketing

July 5, 2012 – Tuesday 2pm – Los Angeles, California 

"Man, how'd you think the showing'd be?" Aaron asked his band members.

They just passed by "Welcome to Los Angeles" sign along Highway 99. Since they parted ways with Tayaw in their opening night in Kentucky, they made their way across 8 states cutting through the middle of America. 

Two months: 8 states: 18 cities: 19 out of 22 sold out venues. The band never expected that in each of the places they performed at, they were warmly welcomed. Never in their life had they expected to be at the level of fame they are enjoying but they had to get used to it. 

A part of getting used to their sold-out venues is the anxiety of their upcoming venues being sold out as well. It is not that they do not want to be informed of the ticket sales of their tour, but their promoters told them it is better not to find out and just prepare to perform at any venue like it is sold out.

Los Angeles especially is a city that the band is both excited and anxious to be at. It is not known for its country music scene and there are plenty of musicians and artists belonging to different genres to satisfy the city population's music needs. 

"I think it'd still be fine. Look, LA has over 2 million people in it. There has to be country fans among the people. Even if the venues won't be sold out, I think there'll be a lot of people." The band's manager said.

"What he said." Rez said, who unlike the anxious Aaron, looks a lot more relaxed. 

"Ooh! There's finally data signal! Hey Blake, did you promote Isaac's film on our social media?" John suddenly exclaimed.

"Yeah, I did. Every two or three days. Why are you doing this for him though?" Blake, the band's manager asked. 

"We owe him. Big time. We won't be here and you won't be here without him." Bobby replied and did not explain any further.

"Huh… Well then, it's good that I took it seriously. I sent the venues a copy of the movie posters. California is a movie town after all. Oh, you don't mind if I plug his twitter and Facebook, right?" Blake asked. 

"Yeah. You do that too." John said. 

---

New York City – 11 AM – Pink Apron Headquarters

"Phil! What the fucK?!" A man barged in Phil's office.

"For f.u.c.k's sake, Rahul. Stop yelling and sit your ass down. Who are you scaring?" Phil said to Rahul, Pink Apron's Chief Operations Officer. 

"Phil. I'm alright with Tayaw's posters on our boxes, but why did you include his f.u.c.k.i.n.g CD too? Behind my back too?" Rahul said after taking a seat.

Rahul is currently complaining about the CDs of 'September Ninth' soundtrack that Tayaw had Phil include in the Pink Apron boxes.

"Ughh. Because I know you're a … purist. I know you won't agree. Want to hear why we're doing this?" Phil said.

"Fine." Rahul said, calming down a bit. 

"You already know that we're not retaining most of our subscribers, right? So, to appreciate and improve loyalty of our subscribers, Tayaw decided to give them a freebie. Not only are those CDs not for sale currently, people can only get them if they're our subscriber." Phil explained.

"Okay. I get it. That all sounds good and all, but how much did that cost us?" Rahul asked.

"Nothing. The cost of CDs, setting up the promo codes, to the cost of printing his flyers, they've all come from Tayaw's pockets." Phil explained. Rahul calmed down totally at this.

"Hmm. But why is he using our company? Yes, he's majority owner, but why Pink Apron?" Rahul asked confused.

"Here's the thing. This is a two-way promotion. We promote his film; the film will show our company. He made a scene that specifically shows our pink box being used by the main character. It appears organically too and it's not an obvious advertis.e.m.e.nt." Phil explained.

"Product Placement!" Rahul said in excitement.

"Exactly. While we were dreaming of doing it before, Tayaw already is doing it for us." Phil said.

---

Jericho, Long Island – 11 AM

"Mm. Finally." Tayaw finally had his Facebook and Twitter accounts as 'T.L.D. Grimmauld' verified. 

T.L.D. Grimmauld's social media accounts have been active for a while now and have been posting quotes from his book along with photos that might relate to the quotes. Tayaw also uploaded some photos of Agew's potteries inspired from Tayaw's books. But because he does not have the coveted blue check mark, his social media accounts do not have the credibility of actually being T.L.D. Grimmauld's. 

Unlike in the future where the verification process is very stringent and requiring at least 500 followers, the verification in 2012 is simpler and having 10 followers is enough. The process for verification also has one step that Tayaw did not want to deal with; the Photo I.D. for identification purposes. So, after failing on circ.u.mventing that step, Tayaw resorted to Erik's help.

All Tayaw had to do is have Topaz Publishing's president, Erik Goomal, and Black Deer Pictures' president Yarag Darbut, call Twitter and Facebook's offices in Teungeb to vouch for Tayaw's identity.

"Now, let's do this." Tayaw said as he started typing with a sh*t eating grin on his face.

---

*CRASHHH!* A woman is currently playing in her bas.e.m.e.nt bowling alley.

"Nice one Jas. You're getting better at this." Her friend complimented as she prepared for her turn.

"Double strike, girl. I'm catching up." Jas said. 

*Crash* "Phew. At least I have chance for a spare." The friend said after only knocking 7 pins.

*Whistle! * Jasmine's phone received a Twitter Notification.

"Ugh. Another hate post… Hm? Blue mark? T.L.D. Grimmauld…. WHAT THE FU-?!" Jas exclaimed at her phone.

"Girl, what's wrong?" The friend asked.

"Someone just attacked my book!" Jas said. 

"What? You get hate comments all the time?" Jasmine's Friend asked.

"This is different, Casey! It's that fantasy book author! How dare this.. how dare he.." Jas could not even finish her sentence before she started tapping away at her phone.

Casey looked at Tayaw's post and was annoyed too. " 'A book for teenage girls'?! WHAT?!" 

|I can't take your comment seriously, coming from you who wrote fairy tales'| … This *sshole." Jas cursed as she sent her reply. 

Jasmine Brown, or Jas to her friends and family, is one of America's most beloved novelists known for her romance novels. Her 350 thousand Twitter followers is an evidence of how famous she is. T.L.D. Grimmauld is very memorable for her because Tayaw's books always outsold her books despite the extensive marketing her publisher does. 

---

"Hmm good point…" Tayaw mumbled as he considered for a moment. A few seconds later, he started typing.

---

|@JasmineBrown Well, I can't take your book seriously. Coming from an author who targets a.d.u.l.t audiences, the romance in your book is even more unrealistic than my fairy tales. Good job. You're a better fairy tale writer than me. |

"What the f*ck is wrong with him??!!!" Jas said and is now struggling for a reply.

Unlike any other hate comment she dealt before, Tayaw never attacked her identity or personality but stayed focused on her book alone. Had Tayaw attacked her personality or identity, she would have the right to accuse Tayaw of libel or defamation.

Before she can even think of a reply, *Whistle* another reply came in.

|@jasminebrown I mean, a guy following her love interest home? That's not a prince charming, that's a creep. Handsome, yes, but a creepy stalker nonetheless. |

*REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* Jas screamed in frustration. Her friend on the other hand, is trying not to laugh at Tayaw's tweets.

---

It did not take long before Jasmine's fans took notice. 

"Who the f*ck are you? You f*ckin nothing!"

"What's your problem? How about you write a book?"

"You're in trouble now, I'll have you hacked, *sshole!"

The Jasmine's fans started backing up Jasmine once they noticed that Jasmine did not reply to Tayaw any further. 

While the fans are busy defending Jasmine, some spectators are enjoying the show and started sharing Tayaw's posts about Jasmine.

"Oh my God! I can't believe it! Grimmauld is crazy!"

"Holy sh*t! That makes sense! HAHAHAHAHA"

"I read the book, but I didn't see it that way. Now that I think about it, ***** is really a stalker! Hahahaha!"

---

|***** having ample beard but has hairless shiny chest? How on earth did that happen? You should have written that he went for a Brazilian, and then your novel would have been a comedy as well. An architect going for a Brazilian like a vain celebrity? Now that's funny. |

Tayaw made another post. He made sure to stay on Jasmine's book alone. If he attacked anything else about Jasmine, it would also ruin T.L.D Grimmauld's reputation. Tayaw only criticizing Jasmine's book will only make him appear as an outspoken and unreasonable critic. 

It is also not in Tayaw's nature to attack someone's identity as a person. 

---

"I don't care! He's perfect!"

"You have the hairy chest!"

"Don't you have something better to do with your life?"

Jasmine's fans are still proving their loyalty.

"LMAO" "Yooooo…"

"I'm an architect, and I assure you I don't know any of my associates going for a Brazilian. Hahaha."

Jasmine's fans, however are obviously starting to lose ground. Them not addressing Tayaw's nitpicky but logical posts and instead are attacking Tayaw's identity is making them look like an unreasonable mob to the eyes of the spectators. 

"Hey! Now I know where I saw that name from! He's the guy who wrote 'The Halfling'!"

"He also wrote 'Grimm's Fairy Tales'!"

"Oh my god! I never thought he's like this! HAHAHA!"

The spectators who were wondering who it was that had the balls to attack Jasmine, also started looking up and figuring out T.L.D Grimmauld's identity.

---

"Haha. It's going easier than I thought." Tayaw chuckled at the number of followers his Grimmauld account now.

Before Tayaw had received the verification notice, T.L.D Grimmauld's Twitter account only had 50 or so followers but after only a few minutes of antagonizing Jasmine, his followers grew to more than three thousand. 

|If I would be writing romance, I wish it would be like a book version of 'September Ninth'. It's that movie that won Fioro D'Oro this year. The premise is unrealistic but the romance is cool. | 

He is attacking Jasmine to get traction and promote his movie. He could have used other ways to gain internet fame, but becoming infamous is way easier. He is also inspired to do this by how the social media stars in the future would attack each other both online and in real life to boost their following.

The social media of the celebrities, belonging to the companies that bought Tayaw's songs, have also promoted his movie. While their promotions gained attention of their fans, Tayaw is not satisfied with the uncertainty of how much movie goers they will attract.

The reason why he chose to attack Jasmine first is because she is also an author. His persona attacking another author would get more attention. And the second reason is Tayaw actually read Jasmine's books because he got curious at the best-selling author. He did not like her books however.