Music As A Marketing Tool

Back in December, my publisher asked me to select a song to represent my book. Actually, she asked all of the Year Of The Womxn authors to select songs so that she could make a playlist for our cohort. She then asked all of us to create playlists for our books, songs that somehow speak to what we wrote in an attempt to interest readers in our work. The playlists were, in essence, to be used as a marketing tool. How exactly creating a playlist for my memoir Stolen: Love and Loss In the Time Of COVID, is going to help sell copies I have no idea. Nor did I ask. I just did as I was told, especially since it seemed like it could be fun.

Choosing the song to represent my book was easy. I went with Luke Combs’ “Even Though I’m Leaving.” The song is about a son’s relationship with his father. It begins with a young boy not wanting his father to leave him alone at night because he is scared, but his father reassures him that “Just ‘cause I’m leaving, it doesn't mean that I won't be right by your side.” The song follows the father and son until the end when the father is dying and the son is not ready to face life without his father. Again, his father comforts him, “Even though I’m leaving, I ain’t going nowhere.” What better song to represent my memoir about my own father’s death than this one. Plus, the song was released in September of 2019, just six months before COVID shut down the world and my dad got sick. After he died, since the song was still relatively new, I heard it frequently and it resonated with me. Each time I heard it, I cried because I could relate to it so well. I still cry when I hear it.

As for the rest of my playlist, I chose songs that I mentioned in my memoir. In the last chapter, I wrote that “We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters was my parents’ wedding song and “Wind Beneath My Wings,” sung by Bette Midler, was the song that played when I danced with my dad at my wedding. Of course both those songs needed to be on the playlist. I also wrote about Billy Joel because he was my father’s favorite singer. “Piano Man,” was dad’s favorite Billy Joel song and “Movin’ Out,” will forever remind me of driving over the Verrazano Bridge while going on vacation when I was a kid, so both those songs made it along with “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and “Vienna,” which my son asked me to add. 

Every Christmas, while we were decorating my parents’ tree and when we visited on Christmas Eve my Dad played Christmas music and his favorite to play was Celine Dion’s Christmas Album. His favorite song on the CD was “The Prayer” which Dion sang with Andrea Bocelli. Whenever Dad heard the song, he always sang along. To fill out the rest of my playlist, I asked my son and spouse what songs reminded them of my father. We brainstormed, remembering fun times we spent with dad. My spouse added “The Sweet Escape,” by Gwen Stafani which brought back memories of Dad driving us to the beach in Long Island during our summer visits. 

So the playlist was fun to make, and I enjoy listening to it when I drive, but I don’t really know how effective it will be in terms of helping my book reach a larger audience. If you are interested and would like to give it a listen, you can find it here.