Telegraph: Omid Scobie sent copies of ‘Endgame’ to ‘Sussex Squad influencers’

Guess who has two thumbs and got quoted in the Telegraph? This bitch!! MOI! It all started when I was lucky enough to get to read an advanced copy of Omid Scobie’s Endgame with the caveat that I had to sign an NDA. I read the book over the weekend, all while anti-Scobie and anti-Endgame tweets were all over the Twitter timeline. I decided to just tweet out a general, no-spoiler preview in a few tweets while confirming that I signed an NDA. Well, it looks like the Telegraph lurks on my dang Twitter, because on Monday, they published “Omid Scobie sends copies of new royal book Endgame to ‘Sussex Squad’ influencers; Author is using NDAs and non-traditional marketing strategy to promote tome, which is published on Tuesday.” You guys, I’m a Sussex Squad influencer??? From the Telegraph:

Omid Scobie sent advance copies of his new book on the Royal family to favoured social media influencers who were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The author, whose book Endgame is published on Tuesday, is understood to have largely masterminded his own marketing strategy – with publishers required to ensure that every decision is signed off by him personally.

Eschewing traditional practices, he opted to send the 400-page tome to a select group of “Sussex Squad” bloggers who have long proved supportive.

One of them, who identifies herself only as Kaiser, the head writer for a blog called Celebitchy, revealed that she had signed an NDA and read it at the weekend.

She wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the Windsors came in for a “mauling”.

She tweeted: “One of the big takeaways, for me, is how none of the left-behind Windsors can manage their way out of a paper bag.”

One review said the book sets the record straight on ‘petty slights’, including a row between the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Sussex.

The various social media influencers and bloggers who were sent the book pre-publication will be expected to give it a lucrative push online when it is published on Tuesday.

The US-based arm of Scobie’s publisher, HarperCollins, is understood to have largely left UK colleagues largely in the dark about the pre-publication plan.

The author’s effort to secure favourable coverage began with an interview in the American magazine People, which tends to shy away from controversial or negative subject matter. He then gave an interview to Paris Match, which published extracts of the book in French, and to The Sunday Times.

[From The Telegraph]

From what I know of modern book promotion, many authors cherry-pick who gets advanced copies of their books. I was not the only one, clearly, and while I’m too close to the situation to judge it objectively, I absolutely think it was a smart strategy for Scobie in particular. I love the fact that few in the British media got their hands on advanced copies. Scobie likely learned from what happened with Prince Harry’s Spare, which was “accidentally” released early in Spain, then poorly translated and excerpted all over the British rags. If this was a thought-out strategy by Scobie to release the book to a few “friendly” Sussex-influencers (OMG!), then good for him.

“The various social media influencers and bloggers who were sent the book pre-publication will be expected to give it a lucrative push online when it is published on Tuesday.” CUT ME A CHECK!! I acknowledge that here at Celebitchy, we’re giving free media to the book, but guess what? So are British outlets with their salty commentary.

My tweets from Sunday. I’m still dying laughing that they accurately quoted “none of the left-behind Windsors can manage their way out of a paper bag.”

A few hours ago, I signed an NDA to read Omid Scobie's Endgame and I won't spoil anything, but all of you guys complaining about it before you've read it should hold your tongue – Scobie is MAULING the Windsors. Like, I'm laughing out loud, it's soooo good.

— Kaiser@Celebitchy (@KaiseratCB) November 25, 2023

OK, I've finished/skimmed #Endgame – my mini no-spoiler review is: Chapter 2 is one of the funniest royal-takedowns I've ever read; there are many pieces of new gossip, but mostly it's a richly detailed narrative about how the institution is antiquated, cruel, ridiculous, etc

— Kaiser@Celebitchy (@KaiseratCB) November 26, 2023

I mean, we’ve seen that in real time, but the way Scobie lays it out in a coherent and compelling narrative, even I was like “wow, they are such unbelievably incompetent managers”

— Kaiser@Celebitchy (@KaiseratCB) November 26, 2023

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