Elena Marsh · 2026
A debut novel that sold out its first print run
AI-generated video trailers and a single-purpose pre-order page turned a first-time author's quiet mailing list into a sold-out launch week.
Results: pre-orders vs. target 218% · email list growth +3,900 · first print run Sold out
The brief
Elena had a finished novel, a publisher with a modest marketing budget, and 4,200 email subscribers who had never been asked to buy anything. Her publisher's plan was a cover reveal and hope. She had eleven weeks until release and no video, no landing page, and no way to tell which of her efforts were doing anything.
What we did
- 01
Built six AI-assisted video trailers from a single storyboard session — three character-led hooks, three premise-led — and ran them as organic shorts before spending anything on ads.
- 02
Replaced the publisher's generic book page with a dedicated pre-order landing page: one offer, one button, sample chapter above the fold.
- 03
Instrumented the whole path from video view to pre-order so we could kill the two hooks that were pulling views but no clicks by week three.